54. When they heard. The beginning of the action had in it some color of judgment; but at length the judges cannot bridle their fury. First, they interrupt him with murmuring and noise, now they break out into envious and deadly cryings, (472) lest they should hear any one word. Afterward they hale the holy man (out of the city,) that they may put him to death. And Luke expresseth properly what force Satan hath to drive forward the adversaries of the word. When he saith that they burst asunder inwardly, he noteth that they were not only angry, but they were also stricken with madness. Which fury breaketh out into the gnashing of the teeth, as a violent fire into flame. The reprobate, who are at Satan’s commandment, must needs be thus moved with the hearing of the word of God; and this is the state of the gospel, it driveth hypocrites into madness who might seem before to be modest, as if a drunken man who is desirous of sleep be suddenly awakened. Therefore, Simeon assigneth this to Christ, as proper to him, to disclose the thoughts of many hearts, (Luk 2:35.) Yet, notwithstanding, this ought not to be ascribed to the doctrine of salvation, whose end is rather this, to tame men’s minds to obey God after that it hath subdued them. But so soon as Satan hath possessed their minds, if they be urged, their ungodliness will break out. Therefore, this is an accidentary [accidental] evil; yet we are taught by these examples, that we must not look that the word of God should draw all men unto a sound mind.

Which doctrine is very requisite for us unto constancy. Those which are teachers cannot do their duty as they ought, but they must set themselves against the contemners of God. And forasmuch as there are always some wicked men, which set light by the majesty of God, they must ever now and then have recourse unto this vehemency of Stephen. For they may not wink when God’s honor is taken from him. And what shall be the end thereof? Their ungodliness shall be the more incensed, so that we shall seem to pour oil into the fire, (as they say.) But whatsoever come of it, yet must we not spare the wicked, but we must keep them down mightily, although they could pour out all the furies of hell. And it is certain that those which will flatter the wicked do not respect the fruit, (473) but are faint-hearted through fear of danger. But as for us, howsoever we have no such success as we could wish, let us know that courage in defending the doctrine of godliness is a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God.

(472) “ Infestis clamoribus,” hostile clamor.

(473) “ Qui impiorum aures deliciis mulceri volunt, non tam respicere profectum,” who would pour soothing wrods into the ears of the wicked, look not so much to their profit.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL REMARKS

Act. 7:54. Cut to the heart.See on Act. 7:33. The word describes a keener pang than pricked in Act. 2:37. Gnashed on him with their teeth.Lit. snapped their teeth against him, like ferocious animals. The phrase only occurs here. The Sanhedrists had passed beyond articulate speech into the inarticulate utterances of animal ferocity (Plumptre).

Act. 7:58. They stoned Stephen.An illegal and tumultuous proceeding, as the Jews at this time had not the power of inflicting capital punishment without the authority of the Romans (Joh. 18:31); most probably to be explained, like the murder of James (Act. 12:2), by supposing that it took place in an interregnum, perhaps about A.D. 37, after the removal of Pilate, and before the arrival of his successor (Renan, Hausrath).

Act. 7:60. The words fell asleep suggest the Christian view of death (Act. 13:36; 1Co. 15:18, etc.).

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.Act. 7:54-60

The Martyrdom of Stephen; or, the First Taste of Blood

I. Stephens last look into heaven (Act. 7:55).

1. Where he stood.

(1) In the council chamber. Baur was greatly exercised to understand how Stephen could have seen the heavens opened in the room in which, doubtless, the sitting of the Sanhedrim was held; but the eye of faith can see heaven from any spot on earth. Moses beheld it from the land of Egypt (Heb. 11:27), Isaiah from the temple (Isa. 6:1), Ezekiel from the banks of the Chebar (Eze. 1:1), Peter from the house top (Act. 10:11), John from Patmos (Rev. 4:1).

(2) Confronted by infuriated foes who gnashed upon him with their teeth. No external circumstances can dim faiths eye, or prevent it from looking within the veil. Varied as were the situations of those just mentioned, all alike gazed on things unseen (Heb. 11:1).

2. How he looked.

(1) His internal condition. Filled with the Holy Ghost. As water rises to its level, so does the Holy Spirit of which water is an emblem. As fire and flame ascend to the skies, so does the Holy Spirit, of which these are symbols, ever soar heavenward. The Spirit, which is Gods breath in man, habitually returns to its (place of) birth (George Herbert). The Holy Ghost, descending from above and entering the human soul, instinctively impels it to look above.

(2) His external manner. With steadfast gaze, like that with which the apostles followed the departing Christ (Act. 1:10), he fixed his eyes upon the scene which unfolded itself before his mental vision. There is no need to ask whether he saw the sky through the chamber window. The upward glance was only a symbol of the inward look.

3. What he saw.

(1) The glory of God. The luminous symbol of the divine presence which Abraham beheld in Ur (Act. 7:2), Moses upon Sinai (Exo. 33:23), and Ezekiel at Chebar (Eze. 1:28), which filled first the tabernacle (Exo. 40:34), and afterwards the temple (1Ki. 8:11), which shone round the shepherds (Luk. 2:9), and appeared upon the transfiguration mount (Luk. 9:32).

(2) Jesus standing on the right hand of God. As if He had risen to protect or receive His servant, say some, though it is doubtful whether any special significance should be attached to Christs attitude. The point of importance is that Stephen, on the eve of martyrdom, enjoyed a vision of the glorified Christ. Saul (Act. 9:17), and John (Rev. 1:13), had similar visions, though neither of these occurred at death (see Hints on Act. 7:55).

II. Stephens last testimony for Christ (Act. 7:56).

1. Introduced by a note of exclamation. Behold! as if he meant to say: This from a dying man receive as certain, or to call attention to its supreme importance as his last word of testimony that would fall upon their ears.

2. Continued by a startling declaration.

(1) That he was looking into heavenI see the heavens opened, those heavens out of which Christ affirmed He had come (Joh. 3:13; Joh. 6:38), and into which His disciples had beheld Him depart (Act. 1:11); which heavens, therefore, were a reality, and not merely a fiction of the mind (Joh. 14:2), and nearer to them than they had ever imagined.

(2) That in heaven He beheld JesusI see the Son of Man, referring to Him by this name that there might be no mistake as to whom he meantthe personage they knew so well, who, when He stood where Stephen then stood, had called Himself by this designation (Mat. 26:64)no mistake as to His identity, and none as to His continued existence in a bodily form, and therefore none as to His resurrection.

(3) That the Jesus whom he saw was standing on the right hand of God. Perhaps a circumstance full of comfort for the dying deacon, as if it indicated that Christ had risen from His throne in holy eagerness, either to support and protect, or to receive and welcome His courageous servant (but see above), certainly a statement fitted to alarm those who remembered that Jesus of Nazareth had used similar speech concerning Himself (Mar. 14:62), and had even spoken about coming with great power and glory (Mar. 13:26), fitted to suggest that the Son of man, whom they had crucified, had already started up, and was on the move to avenge His death.

3. Interrupted by a fierce demonstration.

(1) By an angry shout, crying out, most likely, that he should be silenced and put to death, as the people had before cried out against his Master (Mat. 27:23; Joh. 19:12), and afterwards against Paul (Act. 22:22-23).

(2) By a suggestive action, stopping their ears, as if they could not listen without holy horror to what they regarded as blasphemy. (Compare Zec. 7:11.)

4. Followed by a murderous infliction. The assault which ensued was

(1) Sudden. They rushed upon him, under the impulse of blind and unreflecting fury, feeling, perhaps, with regard to the thought that was in their hearts, that twere well it were done quickly (Macbeth, i. 7).

(2) Unanimouswith one accorda striking contrast to the one accord of the disciples (ii. 46), a unity of hate and sin rather than of love and grace.

(3) Violent. They cast him out of the city, as the inhabitants of Nazareth had once done to Christ (Luk. 4:29), and they stoned him, as the men of Jerusalem had more than once threatened to do to Christ (Joh. 10:31; Joh. 11:8).

(4) Illegal. At this time the Jews possessed not the power of inflicting capital punishment. (See Critical Remarks.) Yet

(5) Deliberate. The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. This accorded with the Hebrew law, which required the accusers to begin the work of lapidation (Deu. 13:10; Deu. 17:7). Many who shudder at breaking the letter of the law have no scruples at violating its spirit.

III. Stephens last cry for himself (Act. 7:59).Uttered

1. With perfect calmness of spirit. Recognising that his end was come he quietly prepared to receive the lethal missiles. No cry for mercy from his enemies escaped his lips, no fluster or fear appeared in his countenance, speech, or manner. With absolute composure he resigned himself to diein this furnishing a bright example to Christians. (Compare the fortitude of Paul, Act. 21:13; Act. 25:11.)

2. With unfaltering trust in Christ. Addressing Him as Lord Jesus, Stephen intimated in the hearing of his executioners his faith in Christs divinity (Lord) and ability to save (Jesus). Such faith has enabled multitudes since Stephens day to die in peace. Nothing else will impart the calm which Stephen displayed.

3. With certain hope of felicity. As Christ, following the example of the Psalmist (Psa. 31:5), had commended His spirit to the Fathers hand (Luk. 23:46), so Stephen now commends his spirit to the hands of Christ. A proper model for the dying Christian. So the dying Huss was often heard to repeat the words: Into Thy hands. O Lord, I commend my spirit; and was followed by his fellow-martyr Jerome of Prague (Neanders Church History, vol. ix., pp. 536, 549, Bohns Edition). Since Christ is in glory, the soul that His hands receive must be blessed indeed.

IV. Stephens last prayer for his enemies (Act. 7:60).

1. Its manner.

(1) With reverent humilityhe kneeled down. As Solomon did when invoking Jehovahs presence to come into the temple (2Ch. 6:13); as Daniel when he prayed towards Jerusalem (Dan. 6:10); as Christ in Gethsemane (Luk. 22:41); as Peter when raising Dorcas (Act. 9:40); as Paul at Miletus (Act. 20:36) and at Tyre (Act. 21:5). Kneeling most suitable when the soul is charged with deep emotion. Stephen stood when he prayed for himself: he kneeled when he prayed for his enemies (Trapp).

(2) With fervent supplicationhe cried with a loud voice, thus marking the intensity of his desire. Although noise in devotion is not always to be mistaken for spiritual ardour (2Ki. 18:28), and although feeling may sometimes be too deep for utterance (1Sa. 1:13), yet as a rule suppliants, who are in earnest, cry aloud and spare not (Psa. 142:1; Mat. 20:31).

2. Its burden. That the sin of his executioners and murderers might not be laid to their charge. A prayer modelled after Christs on the Cross (Luk. 23:34). Such a prayer as had never been offered till Christ set the example (contrast the prayer of Zechariah, 2Ch. 24:21), and such a prayer as has no parallel outside the Christian Church, though within such parallels are not wanting. John Huss, the Bohemian Reformer, when the order was given to kindle the flames around him, only uttered these words: Lord Jesus! I endure with humility this cruel death for Thy sake; and I pray Thee to pardon all my enemies (Waddingtons Church, History, p. 595).

3. Its effect. What impression Stephens prayer produced upon his enemies cannot be told, though, it may be surmised, that one at least never forgot it, and that Augustines remark is true, If Stephen had not prayed the Church would not have possessed Paul. As to Stephen himself, his devotions calmed his spirit and enabled him to fall asleep. And what a falling asleep it was! He fell asleep among flints and awoke among jewels (Besser). The same writer adds: Stephen means a garland or crown. When his mother named her child so she little thought of an imperishable crown of honour; but Stephens spiritual mother, the Holy Church, honours the first bearer of her martyr crown by celebrating his memory on the day after Christmas, according to the motto yesterday was Christ born upon the earth, that to-day Stephen might be born in heaven (Besser).

Foremost and nearest to His throne,
By perfect robes of triumph known,
And likest Him in look and tone

The holy Stephen kneels,

With steadfast gaze, as when the sky
Flew open to his fainting eye,
Which, like a fading lamp flashd high

Seeing what death conceals.Keble.

Conclusion.They who would share with Stephen the glory of wearing that immortal crown must

1. Look by faith into that opened heaven into which he gazed;
2. Contemplate with believing adoration that exalted Christ whom he beheld;
3. Testify by their lives, as he did by his, to the Saviour in whom they trust;
4. Commit themselves to Christ as he did when they come to die; and
5. Fall asleep as he did, breathing forth forgiveness upon all.

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Act. 7:56. The opened Heavens.

I. For the glory of God to shine through.

II. For the grace of God to come through.

III. For the spirit of man to pass through.

1. By the exercise of faith.
2. In the offering up of prayer.
3. At the hour of dissolution.

Act. 7:58. Changed Stones.The stones cast by the world against Christs witnesses are changed.

I. Into monuments of shame for the enemies of the truth.

II. Into jewels in the crowns of the glorified martyrs.

III. Into the seed of new life for the Church of Christ.Gerok.

The young Man named Saul.

I. His early biography.

1. His birthplace. Tarsus in Cilicia (Act. 9:11, Act. 21:39, Act. 22:3).

2. His parentage. The son of a tent-maker, or worker in hair cloth (Act. 18:3). That Paul had a sister is mentioned by Luke (Act. 23:16); that he had a brother (2Co. 8:16-24) whom he afterwards converted to Christianity (Hausrath) is, to say the least, doubtful.

3. His citizenship. Roman, obtained by birth (Act. 16:37; Act. 22:28).

4. His education. Brought up at the feet of Gamaliel (Act. 22:3; Act. 26:4).

5. His religion. A pharisee and the son of a pharisee (Act. 22:3; Act. 23:6; Act. 26:5; Php. 3:5; Gal. 1:14).

6. His nationality. A Hebrew of the Hebrews (2Co. 11:22; Php. 3:5); of the tribe of Benjamin (Php. 3:5).

II. His first appearance in history.

1. An accomplice in murder. The witnesses laid down their clothes at his feet.

2. A ferocious persecutor. He laid waste the Church, etc. (Act. 8:3).

3. A commissioned assassin. Breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, he asked and obtained letters from the high priest empowering him to hunt them down at Damascus (Act. 9:1).

III. His remarkable conversion (see Homiletical Analysis on Act. 9:1-9).

1. His journey to Damascus.

2. His sudden arrestment.

3. His vision of the exalted Christ.

4. His complete and instantaneous surrender.

IV. His subsequent career.

1. As a missionary of the cross. His three journeys, the first with Barnabas (13, 14), the second with Silas (1618:22), the third with Timothy (Act. 18:23 to Act. 21:17).

2. As a founder of churches. In Asia Minor and on the shores of Europe.

3. As a writer of epistles. Certainly fourRomans , 1 and 2 Corinthians and Galatiansproceeded from his pen; most likely other eightEphesians, Philippians, Colossians , 1 and 2 Thessalonians , 1 and 2 Timothy, and Tituspossibly also Hebrews.

V. His martyr death.His career.

1. Opened by assisting at the murder of Stephen, and

2. Closed by himself being slain.

Act. 7:59. Stephens Three Crowns.

I. The fair crown of grace with which the Lord adorned him in his life and work.

II. The bloody crown of thorns which he wore after his Saviour in suffering and death.

III. The heavenly crown of glory which was reserved in eternity for the faithful martyr.

Stephens Prayer for Himself.

I. The doctrines it contained.

1. The divinity of Christ.
2. The existence of mans spirit.
3. Future immortality.
4. The efficacy of prayer.

II. The spirit it exemplified.

1. Devout adoration.
2. Humble resignation.
3. Hopeful expectation.

III. The lessons it taught.

1. How to pray.
2. How to die.

Act. 7:60. Stephens Prayer for his Enemies.

I. Sin is always, in the first instance at least, charged to or laid to the account of its perpetrators.God can by no means clear the guilty (Exo. 34:7).

II. Sin, however, may in certain instances not be charged to its perpetrators. Forgiveness is not impossible (Psa. 130:4).

III. If sin is not to be charged to its perpetrators account, it is the Lord who must grant the requisite discharge.God alone can forgive sins (Mar. 2:7), but Christ is God, and Christ by His death and resurrection has rendered it possible for sin to be forgiven (Rom. 3:25-26).

IV. The followers of Jesus Christ may and should pray for the forgiveness of sins to others than themselves, even for their enemies. Christ commanded them to do so (Mat. 5:44; Luk. 6:28), and exemplified His own command (Luk. 23:34).

The Sleep of Stephen.

I. Rested him from his labours (Rev. 14:13).

II. Released him from his sufferings (Rev. 7:14).

III. Introduced him to heaven (2Co. 5:1).

IV. Crowned him with glory (Rev. 2:10).

Act. 7:54-60. The First Christian Martyr.

I. The call of Stephen was to martyrdom.Neither he nor the Church knew the honour which awaited him. The office of the first deacons was humble. They were to serve tables, a labour too secular and secondary for apostles. Stephen illustrates the truth that the humblest service leads to the highest. We do not want so much men for large places as men to enlarge small places. What God wanted of Stephen did not fully appear at the first.

II. Stephen was called because he was full of the Holy Ghost.The power of the Pentecostal baptism was upon him to a degree so extraordinary as to have drawn the attention of the Church. In the brief description of his gift, the Greek verb expresses a spiritual state. The gift in him was not occasional or transient. He was habitually a man of spiritual power. The presence of this power in him was recognised as a qualification for his official duties. Through the Spirit

(1) he had a message. The characteristic of his preaching, in distinction from that of all others of his time, was, that he carried the Christian doctrine to a new development. He went beyond the apostles. They continued to worship in the temple. They honoured the ceremonial law. They did not break with the religious class in the nation. It had not begun fully to appear how revolutionary the gospel was. Stephen made the break. He taught that Christianity was a universal religion. As sin is universal, redeeming grace is for mankind. This is biblical universalismthe universality of guilt and of grace. In his so-called defence we see the character of his preaching. He had nothing to say for himself: he preached Christ. God knows his theologians. He chose a deacon. The reason suggested is, that to so pre-eminent a degree he was filled with the Spirit. All true advances of Christian doctrine have been entrusted to spiritual men. The qualification for great teachers, the leaders of revolutions, the qualifications for all teachers sent from God, is the gift of the Holy Ghost. Through the Spirit

(2) Stephen had the power of a holy face. Those in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. What is the characteristic of an angels face? The word suggests softness, purity, spirituality. We apply the adjective angelic to womanly sweetness and grace, but the angels of the Bible are masculine. Sweetness there may have been in Stephen, purity there must have been; but more than these the council saw, what they associated with the heavenly messengers who appeared to Adam and Eve, to Manoah, to David, to the Prophetsglory, spiritual power, the ineffable, Divine light. It riveted them; it awed them. The baptism of the Spirit is an illumination. The face of every new-born soul begins to shine with the light that was never on sea or land. He is transfigured. Through the Holy Spirit

(3) Stephen displayed the Divine union of severity and gentleness. His outbreak was terrible: Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! uttered with that angelic face. The words might be hastily taken as the utterance of passion. The expression of righteous wrath resembles passion; but, as Jesus never had more absolute control of Himself than when He pronounced His great indictments, so at no point in his argument had Stephen more absolute control of his soul than in his final denunciation. This remarkable association of wrath and love, as elements of the same emotion, is superhuman; it is Divine; it is the manifestation of the fulness of the presence of the Holy Ghost. Through the Spirit
(4) Stephen had a vision. He seemed to have a spiritual intimation. He looked up. The earnestness of his gaze was intense. He, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. The vision was inward. No eye but his saw it. Through the Spirit
(5) Stephen was sustained. He triumphed over pain. This power the Spirit gives. Christian martyrs have sung in the flames, and called them beds of roses.

III. The effects of the martyrdom.Stephens death seemed a calamity. Time alone could show the wisdom of Gods large plan. But He makes no mistakes. Notice

(1) the effect on the world. He showed the world how a Christian could die. Observe
(2) the effect upon the Church. In all ages, persecution has been one of the greatest providential agencies for the spread of the gospel. Again, notice
(3) the effect on the apostles. They remained in Jerusalem. Their position must have been of great danger, responsibilility, distress. They did not flee; they stayed at their posts. The influence of their constancy upon the Christians, and also upon their enemies, must have been very great. Observe
(4) the effect upon the devout Jews. Of this class were the men who bore Stephen to his burial. They were not Christians, but favourably disposed toward Christianity. The persecution tested them. At the peril of their lives they paid the murdered man the reverence of burial. They were led to take an open stand. We see, finally
(5), the effect on Saul. Upon him the impression was deep. His reference to the part he had had in the murder, when he was in his trance at Damascus, shows it. One of the goads against which, from that time, he kicked in vain, was then buried in his heart. The immediate result was to infuriate him. He became exceeding mad. Our great intellectual changes are unconscious. They are parts of a larger movement, which is vital. The movement of the life is secret, involuntary, slow, like the growth of trees, like the coming on of summer. We argue against the truth. We triumph in the debate. But an influence has been let into our lives which gently lifts us, loosens us from our old moorings, and shifts us unconsciously to the opposite side of the stream. We find ourselves there. This process of vital movement, this set of the soul, may have taken place with Saul. Stephen may have been, probably he was, his spiritual father. The truth, which could only be answered by stones, lived on invulnerable. It took root in him.Monday Club Sermons.

The First Christian Martyr.Stephen had grown up into Christ in all things. His energy had been prodigiously effective. The whole city had been put into commotion. Bad men were passionately agreed. This deacon stood straight across their path. How might they be rid of him? When it came to speaking, there was really little to be saidto them. Need we talk to a storm? Do we choose words for wolves? It does not appear that Stephen even hoped to move that high-priest. As to what he really did intend, there has been a long debate. But he was probably speaking to the future, thinking aloud, building better than he knew. Providence was taking care of his speech. It was given him in that same hour. So the ideas have no shackles on. The truth has made him free. With a Gentile largeness and liberty of interpretation he expounds the Scriptures. What would be the effect of such discourse upon priests and scribes and elders may readily be anticipated. He has only to look into their angry eyes. But while this tempest rages, and in the midst of it all, there is one still place. It is the martyrs own heart. He is not disturbed. He has no resentments and no fears. It does not seem far to heaven, and it was not far. Jesus, standing, risen from the throne, is ready to aid His friend, to hear his last words, and to receive his spirit. So the sufferer fell asleep. One witness at least there was of these events whose dreams for many a night they disturbed. Like serpents fangs they stung his conscience. It is probable that he had already been prominent among them of Cilicia disputing with Stephen. Perhaps to his hearing of the address before the council we may owe the extended report preserved for us. At any rate, with the mob he strode from the stone chamber to the city-walls. He was close enough to the actual violence to see the face and hear the voice of the expiring Christian.

I. We can see how bad men are made to serve the good cause.A wise prayer for the devil would be, Save me from my friends. It was the design of these conspirators to cripple, and if possible to destroy, the infant Church. But it is manifest how they only strengthened and enlarged it. The people had again seen the contrast between piety and pretence. In such a case the charm of real goodness could not but win friends. It is not safe, indeed, in any case to despise even the humblest virtue. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit. So it proved here. There were men and women who night and day could only think with tears how this brave servant of the truth had been struck down. See, too, how this crime wrought upon the young man Saul. So does a bad purpose blunder and defeat itself. It is like Pharaoh kindling Moses, like Goliath summoning David. A pope makes Luther necessary, and finds Him; King Charles brings Cromwell out; the Georges develop Washington; and a prison gives to the world John Bunyan and his book. At every point, therefore, were the enemies of the gospel made to aid the gospel. They excited popular indignation against their own cruelty. They secured the planting in the mind of Saul of germs of truth which, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, afterwards developed into the Epistles with which we are now so familiar. And the more havoc they made of the Church at Jerusalem the more quickly was the Church established in many distant localities.

II. We seldom know at the time how much good we may be doing.Our opportunity often comes when we are least aware of it. Stephen could not have failed to see that he was fighting a good fight. It perhaps occurred to him that his death might aid the truth more than his life could have done. But how little he suspected the real culmination of his power! If Stephen had not prayed, the Church would not have had Paul, Augustine said. There was the tremendous circumstance. Such opportunities we easily fail to meet. They are not likely to be repeated. If we have no mind for them, no heart for them, life creeps on, commonplace, feeble, small. Stephen made no such failure. Though quite unconscious of the sublimity of the hour, he kept on in duty. That once more proved to be the path of glory.

III. We may also learn that our visions come when we need them.He saw heaven opened, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. To troubled, weary Christians the fear will sometimes arise that the Redeemer has forgotten them. Carest Thou not that we perish? is apt to be the cry of unbelief in storms and perils. But in the nick of time comfort comes. There is grace to help in time of need. Jacob, solitary, absent from home, laying his head upon a stone at Jabbok, has a vision of God and receives the promise.

IV. It is clear that such dying as Stephens is possible only as the fruit of such living as his.Thus far in the brief Christian history death had often served as a dreadful warning. In utter darkness Judas, an apostle, had gone to his own place. Ananias and Sapphira had met their sudden doom. Now, however, in contrast with such dismal dying, comes this martyrs victory. If we would die the death of the righteous, we must be careful to live the righteous life. We need envy no mans triumph, whether in death or in life, as if it were luck instead of labour. Do men gather grapes of thorns? Whoever meets occasions, furnishing what is needed, only discloses the completeness of former preparations of mind and heart. For those who have a little of Stephens grace, Stephens Lord will lead the way to Stephens victory.H. A. Edson, D.D.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(54) They were cut to the heart.Literally, were sawn through and through. (See Note on Act. 5:33.) The word describes a keener pang than the pricked of Act. 2:37, producing, not repentance, but the frenzy of furious anger.

They gnashed on him with their teeth.The passage is worth noting as the only example of the literal use of a phrase with which we are so familiar in its figurative application (Mat. 8:12; Mat. 13:42, et al.). Here it clearly expresses brute passion rather than despair. At this point rage and furythe fury caused by the consciousness that the stern words are truehad become altogether beyond control. They had passed beyond articulate speech into the inarticulate utterances of animal ferocity.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

54. Cut to the heart See note on Act 2:37.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.’

The verbs here are very powerful. ‘Cut to the heart’ indicates that his words had gone home, for good or bad. They were moved to the very depths of their beings. Every nerve was stretched. And it was revealed by their outward expression and behaviour, for the gnashing of their teeth is especially descriptive. They were like wild beasts eager to savage their prey. Psa 2:1 could easily be cited here, for they were certainly ‘raging’. And it would have been very apposite as the next verse reveals.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Final Conclusion (7:54-60).

Learned judges do not like those who are on trial trying to convict them of being criminals, and as they were unwilling to admit that they were wrong the result was inevitable. The uneasy feeling that had grown as Stephen’s defence had gone on, had now become outright anger.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Stephen is Stoned In Act 7:54 to Act 8:1 a we have the account of Stephen being stoned by the Jewish leaders to become the first martyr of the early Church.

Act 7:55-56 Comments Stephen’s Vision of Jesus – It is interesting to note that Stephen recognized Jesus Christ as the Son of man when He saw Him standing at the right hand of the Father. Perhaps Jesus was telling Stephen that He too had suffered in His humanity, but was now glorified by the Father, and that Stephen, too, must suffer in order to be received up into eternal glory.

Act 7:58 Comments – In his book The Call Rick Joyner is told in a vision by Paul the apostle that the memory of the light that was on Stephen’s face during his stoning carried Paul through many trials. Paul felt that Stephen has somehow died for him, so that he could see the true light. [155]

[155] Rick Joyner, The Call (Charlotte, North Carolina: Morning Star Publications, 1999), 213-4.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The glory of God revealed to Stephen:

v. 54. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

v. 55. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

v. 56. and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.

Stephen’s speech was probably not finished as he had intended, but the increasing impatience and the murmuring of his hearers did not permit him to conclude in such a way as to bring Jesus into greater prominence. For the indignant words of the accused cut the judges to the heart, literally, sawed asunder in or to their hearts. In uncontrollable anger they gnashed on him with their teeth, thus cutting off every further attempt to deliver his speech properly. But Stephen was here given a special grace, a manifestation of the Holy Ghost’s power, which caused him to disregard and forget his surroundings altogether, and a revelation of God’s glory such as has been vouchsafed to but few people. He firmly fixed his eyes upward to heaven and there saw the glory and majesty of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand, as though He were making ready to assist and to receive His servant, as one commentator has it. In a burst of ecstasy, Stephen testified to that which his eyes beheld by special grace of God. The Son of Man he called Jesus, the Redeemer, who, according to both natures, has gained a perfect redemption for all men. Note: Jesus, at the right hand of the Father, is ready to receive with open arms of love all those that rely upon the salvation earned by Him. Where He is, there shall also His servants be. He wants to receive them into His kingdom that they may see His glory and the glory and majesty of the Father. Thus the believers are, through the merits of Christ, taken from this vale of tears to their heavenly home.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Act 7:54-56 . ] The reproaches uttered in Act 7:51-53 .

. .] see on Act 5:33 .

. .] they gnashed their teeth (from rage and spite). Comp. Archias 12 : , Hermipp. quoted in Plut. Pericl . 33; Job 16:9 ; Psa 35:16 ; Psa 37:12 .

] against him .

. .] which at this very moment filled and exalted him with special power, Act 4:8 .

] like Jesus, Joh 17:1 . The eye of the suppliant looks everywhere toward heaven (comp. on Joh 17:1 ), and what he beheld he saw in the spirit ( . . ); he only, and not the rest present in the room.

] up to the highest. Comp. Mat 3:16 . It is otherwise in Act 10:11 .

] : the brightness in which God appears. See on Act 7:2 .Luk 2:9 .

] Why not sitting? Mat 26:64 ; Mar 16:19 , al. He beheld Jesus, as He has raised Himself from God’s throne of light and stands ready for the saving reception of the martyr. Comp. Act 7:59 . The prophetic basis of this vision in the soul of Stephen is Dan 7:13 f. Chrysostom erroneously holds that it is a testimony of the resurrection of Christ. Rightly Oecumenius: . Comp. Bengel: “quasi obvium Stephano.” De Wette finds no explanation satisfactory, and prefers to leave it unexplained; while Bornemann (in the Schs. Stud. 1842, p. 73 f.) is disposed only to find in it the idea of morandi et existendi (Lobeck, ad Aj. 199), as formerly Beza and Knapp, Scr. var. arg.

] is to be apprehended as mental seeing in ecstasy. Only of Stephen himself is this seeing related; and when he, like an old prophet (comp. Joh 12:41 ), gives utterance to what he saw, the rage of his adversaries who therefore had seen nothing, but recognised in this declaration mere blasphemy reaches its highest pitch, and breaks out in tumultuary fashion. The views of Michaelis and Eckermann, that Stephen had only expressed his firm conviction of the glory of Christ and of his own impending admission into heaven; and the view of Hezel (following older commentators, in Wolf), that he had seen a dazzling cloud as a symbol of the presence of God, convert his utterance at this lofty moment into a flourish of rhetoric. According to Baur, the author’s own view of this matter has objectivized itself into a vision, just as in like manner Act 6:15 is deemed unhistorical.

] he saw I behold. See Tittmann’s Synon. pp. 116, 120. As to . ., the Messianic designation in accordance with Dan 7:13 , see on Mat 8:20 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

C.stephen is stoned, but dies with blessed hopes, a conqueror through the name of jesus

Act 7:54-60

54[But] When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashedon him with their teeth. 55But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into [to] heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right handof God, 56And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened,40 and the Son of man standingon the right hand of God. 57Then they cried out41 with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran [rushed] upon him with one accord, 58And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young mans feet, whosename was Saul. 59And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God42, and [invoking, and]saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60And [But] he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Act 7:54. When they heard these things.The terms of reproach which the speaker employed, when he reminded his hearers of their ungodly sentiments, their violations of the law, and the guilt which they had contracted by crucifying Jesus, deeply wounded their pride. Their wrath, which they could scarcely control, found a vent, when he uttered the next words. [For , see above, note No. 3, on Act 5:33, appended to the text.Tr.]

Act 7:55-56. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost.While his hearers yielded more and more to their violent passions, and were filled with a carnal fire, and, indeed, with a spirit from the bottomless pit, the soul of this faithful witness, on the contrary, was filled, by the grace of God, with a heavenly firehe was full of the Holy Ghost from above. Instead of looking at the men who surrounded him, and whose increasing fury might have inspired him with fear, or awakened a carnal zeal in his own soul, he looked up, and, full of faith and hope, directed his longing glance towards heaven. And he gazes in the spirit, in an ecstasy, on an object which the eye of the body cannot behold, and which no other person in that place saw at that moment, namely, the (comp. . , Act 7:2), the celestial splendor in which God himself appears; he saw, too, Jesus standing on the right hand of God. As a fearless confessor, he declares aloud all that he beholds. He mentions, in Act 7:56, two particulars which characterize this internal vision:first, the heavens are opened even unto the innermost sanctuary, unto the highest heaven (and here the plural number claims attention) [the third heaven, 2Co 12:2; see the note on the passage in a subsequent volume.Tr.].; secondly, he sees the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. It is remarkable that he here applies the name to Jesus, , which the Saviour himself so frequently employs, while the four Gospels do not mention a single case in which it was pronounced by another; and neither the evangelists nor the apostles employ it themselves in the Gospels, the Acts, or the Epistles. [The phrase: like unto the Son of man, Rev 1:13; Rev 14:14, is peculiar.Tr.]. But here Stephen, to whom, perhaps, the language in Dan 7:13-14, [or, possibly, that in Mat 26:64 (Alford)] occurred at the moment, applies this name to the Messiah, Jesus. The employment of it in the present passage is, unquestionably, an evidence of the historical fidelity of the narrative before us.Another peculiarity in the language of Stephen is the circumstance that he sees Jesus standing () on the right hand of God. The Lord is always described, both in his own statements (Mat 26:64), and in those of the apostles and evangelists (e. g., Eph 1:20; Mar 16:19), as sitting at the right hand of God. Here, too, the language before us strikingly differs from the usual form of expression, and thus furnishes another illustration of the genuineness and fidelity of the whole narrative. What is implied by the fact that Jesus is standing at the right hand of God? Doubtless, that he has arisen, and stands ready to receive and welcome this faithful witness (comp. Act 7:59), quasi obvium Stephano. (Bengel). [Chrysostom had already replied to the question just proposed: . (Alf. ad loc.).Tr.]. The credibility of this statement respecting the vision, is attested by the circumstance that it was seen by him alone, and by no other, inasmuch as the account in Act 7:55 could have been derived only from his own words as reported in Act 7:56. It is needless to resort either to the attenuating interpretation that Stephen merely intended to express his unshaken faith in the glorification of Jesus, and in his own early entrance into heaven (Michaelis), or to the neutralizing conjecture that the historian himself had simply wished to give distinctness and force to his individual view, by expressing himself as if an ecstatic vision had actually been granted to Stephen.

Act 7:57. Then they cried out.The exasperation of the hearers reached its height, and could no longer be controlled, when Stephen bore witness, in accordance with the vision, to the exaltation and glorification of Jesus. They began to utter loud cries, in order that he might not be understood, and stopped their ears, so that they might not hear his supposed blasphemies. Then they rushed upon him in a body, drove him with violence from the city and stoned him. The session of the council was suddenly brought to a close by the fanatical tumult which commenced; and the lapidation which followed, was, professedly, a religious act, an example of popular justice. It is apparent that a judicial decision had not yet been formally announced (Ewald), and, further, that no sentence pronounced by the Sanhedrin had yet been submitted to the Roman procurator, without whose sanction the Jews could not inflict capital punishments [Joh 18:31]. In these respects the proceedings were unjustifiable and illegal. But we are by no means authorized by the facts before us, to assert that such a tumultuary termination of a session of the Sanhedrin (which obviously began amid much excitement), could not possibly have occurred in reality. There is no reason whatever for denying the historical accuracy of the narrative, and assuming, as Baur and Zeller are inclined to do, first, that the whole occurrence was nothing more, even from the beginning, than a popular tumult, and secondly, that the account of the official action of the Sanhedrin should be wholly rejected, as an unhistorical addition.They cast him , in accordance with the law, Lev 24:14, that a blasphemer should be stoned without the camp, in order that the abode of the people might not be desecrated by an execution. [Comp. 1Ki 21:13; Heb 13:12-13.]

Act 7:58. Stoned him; the term is here employed summarily, or by way of anticipation, and is not to be understood in the sense that they prepared or attempted (conatus) to stone him; the fact itself is stated in its proper order in the next verse.And the witnesses laid down their clothes.The men who had witnessed against Stephen, Act 6:13, were required by the law (Deu 17:7) to cast the first stones on the transgressor. In order that they might not be impeded in the act by their wide and flowing upper garments, they laid these aside, and intrusted them to the care of the young man who was named Saul. Then they and the rest of the people hurled stones at Stephen.

Act 7:59. Stephen, calling upon, etc.The dying martyr uttered two exclamations: the first is a petition referring to himself; he beseeches Jesus, the exalted Lord, to receive his departing spirit unto himself in heaven. He utters the second with a loud and distinct voice, on his knees; it is an intercessory petition for the forgiveness of his murderers. [It is copied from our Lords upon the cross, Luk 23:34 (J. A. Alex.), but no parallel to it can be found out of Christian history. (Hack.).Tr.]. . , literally translated, is: Establish not this sin unto them, (comp. Rom 10:3), the antithetic or corresponding term [to , here, subj. aor.Tr.] being . Others translate: Weigh not this sin unto them, i.e. Do not recompense them according to strict justice. Both of the petitions are addressed to Jesus; this is, undeniably, true of the former, unless we offer violence to the text, (namely, by arbitrarily pronouncing to be a genitive); [It is in the vocative case, as in Rev 22:20. (de Wette).Tr.]; it is equally true with regard to the latter, [For the words: upon God, in the English version, see note 3 above, appended to the text.Tr.]

Act 7:60. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.Luke describes the end of Stephen by designedly employing a word [occurring, e. g., Joh 11:11; Act 13:36; 2Pe 3:4], which does not, at first view, seem to correspond in the least to a violent and bloody death. He evidently intends to imply by it, that the end of the noble disciple had, nevertheless, been peaceful, through the divine power and grace of the Redeemer, who overcame for him the terrors of a bloody death, and received his spirit. For although Stephen was overpowered and murdered by lawless violence and a brutal fury that was set on fire of hell, nevertheless, even when he succumbed, he gained a glorious victory by his steadfast faith, his forgiving love, and his patience. The people of Israel seemed, indeed, to have prevailed, when they silenced this enlightened and bold confessor of Jesus, by robbing him of life. But they sustained a vast moral and religious loss, through their implacable hostility towards Stephen, their increased obduracy and opposition to the truth, and the growing power which their mad passions acquired over them. They degraded themselves, became a prey to their delusions and passions, and were, in truth, not the conquering, but the conquered party.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The vision, or view of the opened sanctuary of heaven, which was granted to Stephen immediately before his cruel death, and which was intended to strengthen his faith and establish his earnestness of purpose, was not an objective appearance, but an internal illumination. For it was solely by virtue of the fulness of the Holy Ghost imparted to him, that he was enabled to glance into heaven. The operations of the Holy Spirit, proceeding forth from the soul, not only furnished him with internal views, but also embodied, as it were, the objects seen, and presented them to the external eye, so that he saw with his eyes (, ) what his heart had previously believed. This seeing was a foretaste of that sight which, in the world of glory, will take the place of faith. [2Co 5:7.]

2. The Son of man standing on the right hand of God.Stephen sees and recognizes Jesus; he had doubtless previously known him on earth, loved him as his Lord, and often heard the term Son of man proceeding from his lips. He now sees him, exalted to the right hand of God, it is true, but still appearing as man. The Redeemer is, and remains, He who was born of a woman [Gal 4:4], true man.The Scriptures employ various modes of expression, when the state of exaltation of Jesus Christ is described. The apostles and evangelists say that he sat down (Mar 16:19; Rev 3:21), or that God set him at his right hand (Eph 1:20). Jesus himself says: Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming, etc. (Mat 26:64). And here Stephen sees him standing at the right hand of God. All these terms express, partly, the most perfect personal union of Jesus with God the Father, and, partly, the plenitude of his divine power and authority. But these different modes of expression are, without doubt, designed to prevent the Christian from adhering to any one conception exclusively, as if it alone corresponded to the reality, and to remind him that any term which may be employed, is still only an image presented to our faith, and not the heavenly reality itself as an object of sight.

3. We cannot entertain, a single doubt, suggested by exegetical considerations, that Stephen called on Jesus himself, and prayed to Him. He had, in his ecstatic vision, seen Jesus, looking down on him with kindness and love, willing and ready to receive him. Nothing was, therefore, more natural, than that he should call on Him in behalf of himself and his murderers. Who would censure him for doing so? It is precisely because Jesus is exalted to the right hand of God the Father, is most intimately united with him, and participates in the government of all things, that men are at liberty and under obligations to call on him in prayers addressed directly to him. [The Christians called on Jesus, Act 9:14; Act 9:21; Act 22:16; comp. Act 2:21; Rom 10:12-13. (de Wette); see above, Exeg. note on Act 1:24.Tr.].Such prayers cannot impair, indeed, they rather promote, the divine honor of the Father (Php 2:10 ff.), who has so highly exalted Jesus Christ his Son, that men may honor him, even as they honor the Father [Joh 5:23], The case would, of course, be very different, if an individual should pray to Christ alone, and never call on God the Father; the New Testament furnishes no authority for such a course either by precept or example. The prayers which occur in it, are, in the great majority of cases, addressed to God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. The martyrdom of Stephen is the only case of the kind which is described in detail in the Acts, and, indeed, in the whole New Testament. He is the first of all those who, under the new covenant, sealed their testimony with their blood; a cloud of witnesses followed after him. And the history of these martyrs, who died for the sake of the Gospel, and kept the patience and the faith of the saint

[Rev 13:10], abounds in instructive materials. But here, too, as elsewhere [see Doctr. etc. on Act 7:44-53, No. 1], the sinful tendency of man to substitute the creature for the Creator, and to allow Him to recede from the view, through whom alone salvation can be obtained, and who alone possesses absolutely perfect merit, has more than once betrayed its influence. To this error the history of Stephen is already intended by the Holy Spirit to offer a barrier; for, in the first place, we have here the only case of martyrdom of which the New Testament gives a full account; and, in the second place, even this narrative designs, when its whole tenor is carefully examined, to give prominence and glory, not to Stephen, but, in truth, to Jesus Christ alone. For if the sufferings and death of Stephen exhibit any noble and holy features, and if they, in any form, terminate in victory, this is the result solely of the fellowship of Stephens sufferings with those of Christ, he being made conformable unto His death. [Php 3:10]. As Jesus prayed on the cross: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, [Luk 23:46], so Stephen prayed: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And as the Redeemer offered up the supplication for his enemies: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do, [Luk 23:34], so Stephen offered an entreaty in behalf of his murderers: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. The dying mans soul is, very evidently, occupied with the crucifixion of Jesus, and with the words which he pronounced on the cross. It was, indeed, Christ himself, dwelling in him by faith, who spoke through him and suffered in him; Stephens soul, his words and his acts, like a mirror, reflected the image of Jesus himself. In him and in his martyrdom, Christ was glorified.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Act 7:54. Gnashed on him with their teeth.As a chained dog seizes with his teeth the man that attempts to release him, so wicked men cannot endure the contact of those who desire to deliver them from bondage, and begin to rend them as enemies. Mat 7:6. (Starke.)

Act 7:55. Looked up into heaven.Heaven accepts of that which the earth rejects. (Starke).God grants to many dying believers, through his great mercy, a foretaste of the joys of life eternal.Jesus standing on the right hand of God.The exalted Saviour: I. Sitting on the right hand of the Majesty on high [Heb 1:3; Heb 8:1]; (a) ruling over all with God; (b) the Judge of the world; but also, II. Standing, ready (a) to protect his people against their enemies; (b) to receive them, when they have fought the good fight of faith [1Ti 6:12].

Act 7:56. Behold, I see the heavens opened.The heavens opened above the death-bed of the believer.The Son of man standing, etc.It is only through Christ, and in him, that the heavens are opened, whether we live, or whether we die.Christ, even on the right hand of God, is still the Son of man; the instruction and consolation, which this truth affords, whether we contemplate the present life, or the life to come.

Act 7:58. And cast him out of the city, and stoned him.Blessed are the afflictions that conduct us to God himself! When the world casts us from its bosom, we ascend to Abrahams bosom. (Starke).He, too, was thrust out of the city, whose name Stephen confessed. The faithful witnesses of Jesus still hear the cry repeated: Out of the city! We cannot long preach Christ in any city without molestation; even if stones are not always thrown at us, the filth of slander is heaped upon us. (Gossner).Now liest thou there, beloved Stephen! This is the reward which the world gives to the servants and faithful followers of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Such is the death of true saints. (Luther).The stones which the world casts at the witnesses of God: they become, I. Monuments, proclaiming the shame of the enemies of the truth; II. Precious stones, in the crowns of glorified martyrs; III. The seed of a new life for the Church of Christ.A young mans feet, whose name was Saul.They stone one witness, but God is preparing another to take his place. (Starke).

Act 7:59. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus! This is the glorious battle-cry of the children of God, the watchword by which we recognize one another, the sound of the trumpet at which the walls of Jericho fall down. It rings in the Church of God like the alarm-bell which proclaims that a conflagration is raging in the cityit resounds like the signal-gun when the enemy approaches. Lord Jesus! This is the cry of the new-born babe in Christ, the exclamation of the aged pilgrim who is leaving the worldit is the utterance of all their grief and their hope. Lord Jesus! This is our sword, our pilgrims staff, our whole dependence. Stephen commits his soul into the hands of his King: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! O sure and blessed refuge of the soul! We are happy when we fall into these priestly hands, and are offered up on this altar. Many an individual becomes aware only in the last moments of his life, that he has a soul, which can no longer walk in the same way with the flesh. Whither shall this soul go? Shall it return to the world? But the gate is closed. Shall it fall into the hands of Satan? That would be an awful doom. Shall it fall into the hands of the Almighty? But he is a consuming fire. Shall it seek Jesus? But it does not believe in him. Cruel perplexity! Stephens soul enjoys a holy calmit knows the way of peace. He reposes on the bosom of his Mediator: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! (Krummacher).

Act 7:60. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge!This petition of Stephen, viewed in its different aspects: as the petition, I. Of a dying man; II. Of a man who forgets his personal concerns; III. Of a man who seeks nothing but the kingdom of God. (Schleiermacher).Si Stephanus non sic orasset, ecclesia Paulum non haberet. (Augustine).He fell asleep.Not many words are expended on the pains and death endured by Stephen; they were a light affliction and but for a moment [2Co 4:17], not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. [Rom 8:18]. Hence, the historian briefly says: He fell asleep. It may, in truth, be said, that when the saint dies, he falls asleep; there remaineth a rest to the people of God. [Heb 4:9]. (Apost. Past.).The best will and testament of the Christian: it is that which commends, I. The soul, to heaven; II. The body, to the earth; III. Friends, to the divine protection; IV. Enemies, to the divine compassion. (Starke).The death of Stephen: I. Directing his last glance to heaven; II. Bearing his last testimony to the Lord; III. Devoting his last care to his spirit; IV. Offering his last prayer for his enemies. (Florey).The suffering and dying Stephen, a mirror reflecting the image of the crucified Jesus: I. The shame of the cross; both appearing before the same great Council, falsely accused, unjustly condemned, cast out of the city; II. The glory of the cross; in both, fearlessness in self-defence, patient endurance, ardent love of enemies (the first word of Jesus [Luk 23:34], the last of Stephen), a blessed hope of heaven (the last word of Jesus, the first of Stephen).The Christians chamber of death: I. The battle-field on which faith overcomes the word; II. The sanctuary of holy love; III. The scene of the triumph of Christian hope.The first evangelical martyr: I. The cause for which he suffers; II. The divine aid which he receives; III. The frame of mind in which he dies. (Krummacher).The power of Christ, manifested in believers: I. He enables them to confess him with such joyousness and courage, that no enemies can resist them, Act 6:8-10; II. He adorns them with such purity of life, that even the tongue of slander cannot reach them, Act 6:11-13; III. He fills them with such meekness and love, that they pray even for their worst enemies; Act 7:59; IV. He soothes them in the hour of death, by affording them a view of his eternal glory, Act 7:55; Act 7:59. (Leonh. and Spiegelh.).The example of Stephen: it teaches us, that the Christian possesses, I. The zeal and the wisdom of faith, in his walk and conversation; II. The serenity and the courage of faith, in his trials; III. The confidence and the peace of faith, in the hour of death. (Bachmann).The honorable badges by which the Lord distinguished the nobility of soul of his faithful disciple Stephen: I. He was full of faith and power, and did great wonders and miracles among the people [ch. Act 6:8]; II. He was filled with a cheerful and unshrinking courage, when he suffered from the injustice of the world; III. He beheld the approach of death with firmness and holy hope; IV. His memory was blessed [Pro 10:7], and wrought a new life (Saul), even after he had fallen asleep. (W. Hofacker).Stephen, and his three crowns (his Greek name signifies, a crown): I. The beautiful crown of grace, with which the Lord adorned him in his words and works; II. The bloody crown of thorns, which, like his Saviour, he wore in suffering and in death; III. The heavenly crown of honor, which was laid up [2Ti 4:8] in eternity for this faithful martyr.The three birthdays of the Christian: inconsequence of the birth of Christ, I. Our spiritual birth becomes possible; II. Our bodily birth is a welcome event; III. Our eternal birth is sure. (Strauss, on the festival of St. Stephen [Dec. 26], in allusion to Christmas [Dec. 25].).The manifestation of Jesus Christ is both unto life, and unto death: I. It is unto life (the primitive church; the power of the wisdom and the words of Stephen); II. It is unto death (bodily, spiritual death); III. In death, it is unto life (the happy end of Stephen; the conversion of Saul). (W. Hofacker).The manger, the path to the cross; the cross, the path to heaven. (Kapff).The manger, the cross, and the crown, the three stations in the life of the disciple, as of the Master.The dying Stephen, a conqueror: I. He overcomes the murderous cry of a hostile world, when he looks with the eye of faith into heaven, Act 7:54-55; II. He overcomes the bitterness of death, when he serenely commits his spirit into the hands of Jesus, Act 7:56-58; III. He overcomes his own flesh and blood, when he offers an intercessory prayer for his murderers, Act 7:59.Why is Stephens death the only case of martyrdom described in the New Testament? I. This narrative exhibits the leading features of all succeeding cases of martyrdom; II. It stands alone, in order that here, too, the glory of Christ may not be diminished, and that we may, like the dying Stephen himself, look first of all to Him who is the author and finisher of our faith. [Heb 12:2].

Footnotes:

[40]Act 7:56. Tischendorf, who follows the authority of A. B. C. [also Cod. Sin.], prefers the reading to .; the latter is the usual reading, and is attested by D. E. H., as well as some of the fathers. [Lach. and Alf. concur with Tisch.Tr.]

[41]Act 7:57. , in place of the usual reading, , is found only in one manuscript [a minuscule ms.], and is unquestionably spurious. [The plural, of text rec., is found also in Cod. Sin., and is retained by all the recent editors.Tr.]

[42]Act 7:59. [Upon God is introduced by the Geneva version, and King Jamess, no doubt with a good design, but with a very bad effect, that of separating Stephens invocation from its object, and obscuring, if not utterly concealing, a strong proof of the divinity of Christ. (Alexander).Tr.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

Chapter 18

Prayer

Almighty God, thou hast made thy truth savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. Truly thy word is a fire to enlighten or a fire to destroy. The stone which thou hast set forth in thy Gospel is a wondrous stone. If men fall upon it they will be broken, but if it fall upon men it will grind them to powder. May we know thy Gospel to be the word of life. To us may there be no sound of death in all the utterance of the truth. May our souls leap with joy on hearing the great Gospel of thy Word. We bless thee that we have heard thy truth, that we love its graciousness, and that we answer its music. Thy Word is truth. Thy truth gladdens the heart; thy truth overthrows the last enemy, and fills the open grave with spring’s brightest, sweetest flowers. May we this day enter into thy truth with gladness, with sympathy, with gratitude; and as we study it in the sanctuary of God may light be increased. Open our eyes until our whole life be filled with glory, and there be round about us the very splendour of heaven. Thou dost grant unto thy people occasional seasons of rapture. Sometimes thou dost permit us to look over the boundary line and to see the better land. Now and again thou dost cause us to hear singing which falls from above. We know it by its tenderness, and sweetness, and power to heal. May this day be a day of vision and of much overhearing of heavenly melodies, and may our hearts be lifted up with all the inspiration of blood-bought freedom, and may we gather under the banner which floats from the Cross itself. Wondrous Cross! So mean, so grand! Behold there we see, with our heart’s bright eyes, the dying Son of God, the sacrifice for our sins, the one Priest, the infinite Redeemer. We see him die and we see him rise again, and we know that now he prays for us as he only can pray. Receive us, thou Great Intercessor. Speak in words of thine own the griefs we cannot utter, and tell thy Father in words of thine own choosing the keenness of our penitence. We await great answers. We have brought with us the empty vessels of our heart, and mind, and strength, and every power we have, and we await the opening of the windows of heaven, and the deluge that baptizes but never destroys. Our sin is great, but thy grace is greater. It is to grace we come. It is to grace we direct our hope. It is to thyself in thy love that we now hasten like prodigals whose hearts are broken. Receive us every one. Make the old man young again, and may the white hair be but like the white spring blossom, the sign of a real summer. Make the young be sober, strong, enthusiastic. Recall into thy Church the angels we have banished, the angels of devotion, passion, enthusiasm, self-sacrifice. Let thy Church today be as thy Church of long ago, when she walked abroad in the earth, and men knew her by the fire which glowed in her eyes, and by the graciousness of her persuasive speech. Be with all good and honest men with the missionary here, the evangelist yonder, with the sower of heaven’s own seed, and may we one day see him coming back from the field burdened only because the sheaves are so many. Amen.

The Double Effect of Truth

Act 7:54-60

TRUTH would always seem to produce a double effect. Some time ago we read that when the people heard Peter’s speech they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” When the people heard Stephen deliver substantially the same message they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. This is the history of preaching. It is the history of preaching today. This wonderful divergence of feeling is developed in every congregation where the truth as it is in Jesus is proclaimed with faithfulness and power. The Gospel is either a savour of life unto life or of death unto death, that is to say, it either saves men or it kills them. No man is the same after a sermon that he was before. It is a solemn thing to be in the sanctuary at all, and no man can pass through the services of the sanctuary, with any interest either on one side or on the other, and be precisely the same at the end as he was at the beginning. In proportion as this is not so the Gospel is not preached. We must not confound the permanent with the accidental. If men can hear sermons now, and be simply amused or pleased, gratified or delighted, something has been left out in the statement made by the preacher. He has concealed the Lord’s sword, he has thrown water upon the burning fire, he has delivered but a one-sided message. “The word of the Lord is sharper than a two-edged sword; it pierceth to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow.” Where preaching has become child’s play, and hearing a dreary mind’s pious entertainment, then the great features of apostolic preaching have been lost. Have you come hungering and thirsting after righteousness, earnestly desiring to see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and to hold sweet and fervent communion with the Triune God? Then you cannot be disappointed. God will not allow disappointment to follow such aspirations. He would deny himself if he could, for he has plainly said, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” The Lord is not a host who invites more guests than his banqueting-table will accommodate. There is no shortness in the Father’s house, there is bread enough and to spare. If we bring the hunger, God will find the food. I do not say that the food will be in this portion or in that portion of the service, but it will be somewhere in Psalm, or hymn, or inspired lesson, or exposition, or loving fervent prayer. Nay, if you cannot exactly say where it is, if it be as diffused and yet as near as the atmosphere, you will still feel that this is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven. The righteous man is always satisfied. The good and honest heart never goes away complaining. The effect of truth upon the candid mind is an effect of perfect happiness. Judge the mind you brought to the sanctuary by the result which accrues from its service. On the other hand, let a man go to the house of God with a prejudiced mind, and what is the effect of prayer, exposition, truth, upon him? You cannot get at him. He is behind a cloud; he is ensheathed within the armour of an impenetrable hostility. He has come determined not to hear what he ought to hear. His purpose is to find fault, to gratify the discontent which he brought with him; nay, it is even to prove his own prophecy, for he said that such and such would be the result, and he is bound to confirm his own word. Even Christ failed before the power of prejudice. What wonder, then, if Stephen also failed to touch the soul that had enclosed itself within the most aggravated prejudices which could confine even a Jewish heart?

This brings us face to face with the vital question, in what mind have we come to God’s house? For what purpose have we opened His book? God says himself, to the froward he will show himself froward, and to the upright he will show himself upright. God will be to us as we are to him in these sacred things. This was Jesus Christ’s method of revelation to those who heard him. When men came from curiosity, he never satisfied them. When they reared a great wall of prejudice between him and them, he never spoke over it, but turned away. He was a thousand Christs to a thousand different men. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” “To this man will I look, to him that is of a broken and contrite heart, and that trembleth at My word.”

The truth therefore produces one of two effects. It saves or it kills. It raises men from the dead, or it buries them in a grave sevenfold deep. Verily, it is the great power of God. Is the spring sun which is now shining upon us doing the same thing throughout the forest and the garden to everything he finds there? The other day I looked upon a tree that was full of blossom, and under its wide-spreading branches I saw a huge limb of a tree withering away. Was the sun that created the blossom causing the tree branch to wither? Yes; that was even so. To the living tree whose roots were struck into the earth the sun was giving life, but to the branch cut away, having nothing but itself to live upon, the sun was pouring down arrows of destruction. The great sun, so hospitably full of light, kind, friendly, was feeding, like a mother-nurse, the living tree, and was killing with pitiless fire the sundered branch. As is the double effect of light, so is the double effect of truth. The question therefore comes back, always, What are we in relation to the truth? What is our temper? What is our spirit? What is our supreme desire? If we can prove that we have brought the hunger, and God has not given the food, then we convict God of a false promise. Who can do so? Nay, rather let God be true, and every man a liar. But how difficult it is to find the reason in ourselves when the result is not satisfactory. How readily we blame circumstances, and persons, and situations. Who ever puts the dart into his own breast saying, I only am to blame for this unhappy effect? Consider the distance that lies between us and God. Not in majesty, but in moral sympathy. We do not like to entertain God in our hearts. The Almighty has to exercise the full powers of His omnipotence to bring us even into a hearing attitude. We do not contribute towards the miracle. We do always resist the Holy Ghost; as our fathers did so do we. If we seek the Lord we shall find him. If we come to the house of God for the truth we shall see it. If we return with disappointment we must find the reason in our own badness. Do I accuse men who do not accept Christian truth of insincerity? Most certainly not. There may be men listening to this discourse at this moment who have not accepted Christ as I have accepted him, and yet they may be perfectly sincere. No good is to be gained by bandying charges of insincerity. That some are insincere is too plain. I am not talking of all who reject the Gospel, but of men who claim to be of sincere purpose, earnestly wishing to be and to do what is right. Thus would I conciliate such persons; there shall be no controversy between me and them where they claim consistency of purpose and intent. But even where there is sincerity there may be a subtle action of what I may term intellectual vanity. Not always a conscious vanity. Our life is not measured by our consciousness alone and absolutely. We have a self within a self, and another self deeper still. We are many selves. Oftentimes the mind is its own surprise. Occasionally we feel in ourselves the beating or throbbing of an influence we cannot name. Astronomers tell us that there are pertubations here and there which signify that there is a planet yet undiscovered in the neighborhood of these occasional and singular agitations. The planet has not been seen; it has not been named; its weight and measure are unknown, but because of these perturbations, these eccentric movements, the existence of the planet is known to be a fact. Is it not so also with us? For a time we go on equably, regularly, as if we had ascertained our exact intellectual magnitude, and suddenly a new passion starts up in the soul. Fire unfelt before pierces us like a sting, and for a moment we are other than our usual selves. So there may be a conscious or an unconscious intellectual vanity. See what a man has to give up in accepting God’s truth in the Gospel! He has to give up his own respectability. Who can do it? He has to surrender his own infallibility. He has to say to his own reason many a time, “You are not sufficient for this great service. Reason, divinely beautiful, divinely inspired, divinely sanctified, great reason, strong and noble reason, there is a region you cannot enter, and there is a fellowship of whose language you do not know one word. Stand thou here whilst I go up to worship yonder.” A man has to surrender a good deal before he falls into absolute sympathy with the will and mind of Christ. He has, so to say, to take a sponge and rub out all his own intellectual inferences and conclusions, and make blank places of room which he thought was already filled with inspiration. A man has to empty both hands and say, “In my hands no price I bring.” He has to cast out of his heart everything of the nature of self-idolatry and self-satisfaction, and has to say in effect, if not in terms

A man therefore may be, from his own point of view, sincere, and yet his mind may be narrowed, and perverted, and limited by an unconscious intellectual vanity. There is also a great moral difficulty. If some of you were to accept the Gospel this day you could not go to business to-morrow. Christ is not a partner in your firm. If you offered him a share for nothing he would decline it. This truth would shut up so many places. Perhaps the Stock Exchange would not be opened at all to-morrow if this Gospel of Christ took right hold of the soul and made it a loving slave. These things must be considered in estimating the double effect of the truth. A man may be sincere, and he may not be conscious of intellectual vanity, and yet he may have to consider his family claims, his commercial position, his success in life. He may say, “I will go through this thicket first, and then I will pray.” He may say, “I do not deny the inspiration of the Bible or the claim of the Creator upon the soul, nor do I deny that there is more truth in the universe than I have yet received into my mind; but if I begin today to accept Christ, and to act according to his will, I could not live. My trade is a bad one; it makes people poor and miserable, and it misleads the unwary and the ignorant; it takes into its iron grip the savings of the industrious; it promises great interest and great rewards to those who trust me, and I do not see how I can at present give it up.” A man under such circumstances is tempted to gnash upon every Stephen with his teeth, to call him rude, offensive, personal, and to cast him out and stone him. Do not suppose that stoning was a Jewish method of treating enemies. Stoning is the method of all countries and of all times. We stone men today. We make the Bible so poor by trying to find how much of it was local and temporary. As if we, the leaders of civilization in the nineteenth century, never stoned anybody, when we are stoning men every day! We throw at them hard words, we write about them bitter things. We endeavour to limit, if not to destroy, their best influence. By many a suggestion we seek to blunt the edge of their keenest appeals for Christ. Do not, therefore, imagine that stoning went out of fashion with the ancient Jews, and has never been heard of since.

Now comes the question, What is the effect of truth upon us? What are the sermons we like best? It is curious to listen to the notions of hearers upon that question. There are those who praise the intellectual sermon. They like intellectual truth. They are exceedingly pleased with recondite matter. They are charmed to look into depths which they are never expected themselves to sound. That is useless, and worse than useless. It is not preaching at all, if it be limited to the intellectual treatment of spiritual truth. There are those who enjoy the poetical treatment of truth. They like sweet little touches of art, phrases beautifully-cut, diamond phrases with facets throwing back all the glory of the morning sun. That is useless if alone. The merely intellectual will do you no good, the merely imaginative may but lull you to undeserved rest. What then do we want? We want the intellectual, the imaginative, the argumentative, the doctrinal. We want the preaching that will so apply itself to the lives of men as to cause them to cry out, “What shall we do?” Then we want the great Gospel balm, the evangelical redemption, the Cross of Christ, the Blood of the One Victim, the Sacrifice, all that goes to make up God’s heart-offer of pardon and peace. So would I receive into my confidence and love preachers of all kinds. No one preacher is all preachers. You may regard that statement as trite and paradoxical, but it is significantly true. You must hear all if you would hear the complete one. Do not then stop any man in his career of preaching. Though it be not mine, we are fellow servants, brother prophets, men united in a holy association, having one head, one truth, the one supplementing the other, and both consenting to the mastership and sovereignty of Christ. Do not imagine that the truth is being badly preached because it is seriously opposed. We hear of those who think it to be their duty to attend certain meetings and gatherings for the purpose of forming their own opinion as to their propriety. It is a shocking display of vanity. Who made them judges, and by what standard do they judge? If the standard itself be wrong, the whole judgment is useless and mischievous. Who made them a judge in God’s sanctuary? The only standard should be the outcoming usefulness of the service. Show me men edified in the faith, strongly built up in all holy doctrine and thinking, increasingly obedient to every command of Christ, becoming gentler in temper, nobler in spirit; show me wicked men convicted, show me self-interested men crying out for vengeance; and I may conclude that God’s truth is being preached there with great vigour and great effect. But where there is a feeling of sleepiness, of passive acquiescence, where hearing is an endurance rather than an opposition; where there is no opposition because there is no excitement; I fear that though much may have been said about the Gospel, the Gospel itself has not been heard in the majesty of its moral dignity, and in the tenderness of its redeeming appeal.

Chapter 19

Prayer

Almighty God, this is thine house, and we are safe in it. Thou wilt not suffer the very least of us to perish. There is no death in thine house, thou Father of spirits. We come to thee with great expectation, with the urgency of love and the shame and sorrow following upon personal sin. We stand by the Cross; we feel its falling blood. We need it all. Cleanse us, and we shall be made clean. Multiply thy grace towards us until our sin is lost in its fulness. We have heard of thine abounding grace. Men have spoken of it as they speak of overflowing rivers and fountains of water covering and refreshing the land. To that grace in Christ we now come. We all come. We press towards it. There is no reluctance in our spirit, but a great constraint, to which we yield with expectant and grateful delight. Liberate us from the bondage of sin. Destroy the dominion of guilt. Let the grace of Christ gather up into itself the sin of the whole world, and slay it for ever. We love thine house: behold, it is not far from heaven. Into it the angels come with sweet messages. Here there is no common tongue, no inferior theme, but here the altar burns with heavenly fire, and the whole place is radiant with light above the brightness of the sun. Wondrous light! Everywhere, yet not taking up any room; falling upon the whole universe, but nowhere as a burden. We live in thy light; without it we needs must die. Let thy light find its way into our hearts, there to nourish the roots of all good things, of all high purpose, all noble vows, and all desires after God. Give us such lifting up of soul as shall cause us to see the littleness of earth and the vanity of time, then give us such ideas of duty and sacrifice as shall bring us down to the earth again to do its meanest work as by appointment of heaven. May we not be amongst the slothful servants. May ours be a life of religious industry, so let the Master come when he may, in the morning twilight or in the twilight of evening, or in the bright noon, we shall be ready to meet him.

Thou art taking away one and another and making the earth poor. Thou dost remove the lamp of science, and silence the voice of eloquence. Thou dost show us that no man is needful to thy purposes upon the earth. Thou alone art God, we are but men. The Lord reigneth, and on his throne there is room for none other. It is enough. It is eternal Sabbath, it is infinite freedom. We are thy servants, and in thy service is liberty. Spurn us not from thy feet, for we have been bought by the Son of thy love, by the Christ of God, by the Priest of the Universe. Help us to realize the littleness of our life, and the importance of immediate action. In thy Church may there be no death. May we all live to the very last. May there be no long dying, but working up to the last moment, and then passing into thy peace. Be with those who this day mourn their dead, to whom this is a Sabbath within a Sabbath, who have a Church at home, because of the eloquent that speak not. May they hear the eloquence of that speechlessness, and pray with a wider compass and with a tenderer entreaty of love. Destroy death. Thou dost hate it. It is not in thyself. It is not in thy heaven. There no flower fades, no worm eats the bud of the summer. Death is in us and in our world, and it follows quickly the footprints of our sin. Oh, thou Victor over the grave, thou raised Christ, Man of the resurrection, Conqueror of the tomb, abolish death and give thy people to feel that dying is living, and that farewell in our world is a salutation in a better. The Lord help us; the Lord go with us down the steep places, and help us over the rugged crags and rocks that lie in the way. The Lord speak to the last black river, and let it divide that his children may pass over as on dry land. Amen.

The Defence of Stephen

Act 7:54-60 (continued)

LET us now turn to the fourth aspect of the great speech of Stephen; let us look at this defence as refuting some practical mistakes. We form notions of things, and we say such notions stand to reason, and that being so rational they must of necessity be right and wise, and therefore indisputable. It is very strange to observe how our theories and preconceptions are upset by facts. Given such a case as is represented in the seventh chapter of the Acts, to find what the issue would be, and there would be no difficulty in outlining an issue of considerable pleasantness. As a matter of fact, the issue on the one side at least upsets some of the most mischievous sophisms which vitiate human reasoning. For example, you would say without hesitation that character will save a man from harm. You would maintain this doctrine with some vehemence, it is so plausible. The very sound of the terms is a kind of argument in its favor. With this good character there will be a good passage through society. Character will be its own introduction. Character will be its own defence. Where there is nobleness of character there will be ananimity of blessing. That would be so in certain conditions of society, but those conditions are not present in our life. There are certain conditions in which holiness is an intolerable offence. It mars the bad harmony of the occasion. It stops the flow of evil thinking and evil speaking: it is a check that must be got rid of. Stephen was a man of blameless character, wise, benign, kind to everybody, a servant of the Church, devoted to his ecclesiastical business. Yet when he was called upon to make his defence, and had made it, his character stood him in no good stead. He was treated as an offender. The meanest criminal could not have received more malignant treatment. What, then, comes of your theory that character is its own defence? A bad world cannot tolerate good men. If we were better we should be the sooner got rid of. It is our gift of compromise that keeps us going. It is our trick of playing the double game that saves us from Stephen’s fate. We are ambidexters. We are as clever with one hand as we are with the other, and it is this faculty that may be preserving us from a similar catastrophe.

You would further say that truth needs only to be heard in order to be recognized and accepted. Truth carries its own music. The fragrance of truth is wafted upon every wind, and all passers-by know the sacred odour. Only let a man stand up in his age and speak the truth with a clear voice, with a keen accent, with a burning earnestness, and men will recognize it, and will fall down loyally before it and will assist in its coronation. That would be the theory, what is the fact? Show where truth has ever been crowned so readily and harmoniously. Truth spoken to the true will always be so received but truth spoken to the false invites a conflict and challenges a contest of strength. It is not enough, therefore, that you have the truth in order to make your way in the world instantly and successfully. You have to consider the conditions in which you speak the truth. If men were really in earnest one sermon would convert the world. But men are not in earnest. All parts of a man are not equally in earnest. There is a possibility of a man being divided against himself in this matter. Part of his nature votes one way, and part another, and therefore truth must stand outside until the controversy can be in some degree adjusted.

Then you would, in the third place, frankly say that regularly constituted authorities must be right. You smile at the suggestion that one odd man can have the truth, and seventy regularly trained and constitutionally appointed men do not know the reality of the case in dispute. You would contend that it stands to reason that it must be so. Do you mean to say that the court does not understand the truth better than an anonymous blasphemer called Stephen? Anonymous so far as social influence and social standing are concerned. Consider the case. The Church must be right; the court must be infallible. We cannot allow ourselves to be bewildered and befooled by eccentric reformers and by individual assailants. All history reverses such opinions and misconceptions. The truth, it would seem, has always been with the one man. It is when a man is alone that you get him in reality and in the sum total of his being. The moment another man joins him he is less than he was before. The moment a man enters into a congregation he loses the most of himself. The sense of individual responsibility is almost lost. Your friend is not the same to you in a crowd as when he is face to face with you alone. Then you have him in the totality of his powers, affections, sympathies. So the Almighty seems to have elected the individual man, and through him to have spoken to the crowd, the multitude, or the race. It does seem singular that the regularly constituted authority should be wrong, and that the one man should have God’s message. But he has not God’s message simply because he happens to be one. He must not inspire himself. No man is called upon to make a self-election. You are not great because you are eccentric. You are not wise because you are solitary. Do look at both sides, and indeed all sides of the case, and gather wisdom from the widest inferences. But being called, being inspired, having within you the assurance that what you know is the truth, and being prepared to establish that assurance by daily sacrifice, daily humiliation, and daily pain, go forward, and at the last the vindication will come.

Another mistake which this great defence refutes is that personal deliverance in trial is the only possible providence. Look upon the case. Stephen is one; the enemy is many. God is supposed to be looking on. What did God do for Stephen? Let us sit in judgment upon this, and suppose a possible interposition of the divine hand. Instantly we should say there is only one thing that God can do, and that is to lift his servant right up above the crowd, and place him securely beyond the reach of his infuriated opponents. What a childish solution of the difficulty! Why that is the very idea that would occur to the simplest mind that could look at the case. It is the first rush at a popular riddle. There is nothing in that answer. If that were God’s method of deliverance, his method of prevention would balance it, therefore there would never be any need of deliverance at all. Does the infinite Father wait until his children are in this position, and then simply extricate them from personal danger? If that could be his method at one end, it would be balanced by a similar method at the other; and therefore, let us repeat, his children never could be in any difficulty at all. There must be something better, something grander than this. What it is I cannot tell until I have read the revelation. But my whole nature says that simply to loose the man and send him home from among the crowd would have been a defence worthy only of a manufactured deity. What did God do for Stephen under the painful circumstances of the case? He wrought upon the inner spirit and thought of His suffering one. The miracle was wrought within. “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Any miracle of merely personal deliverance set side by side with that miracle of grace would be an anti-climax and a pitiful commonplace. If Stephen had been delivered bodily, and had then uttered this prayer, it would have been but a mocking sentiment. It would have belonged to an effervescent nature, that being unduly urged by a sense of selfish gratitude wanted to play a magnanimous part in relation to parties who had been defrauded of their prey. But wounded, worsted, overwhelmed, without comfort, without hope, sure only of one thing, and that thing death, he said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” It was a moral miracle; it was a spiritual conquest; and any religion that will evoke such a spirit in its believers, and lead them under such circumstances to offer such prayers, needs no vindication of its divinity. This is the eternal miracle of Christian faith. It enables men in the most distressing circumstances of life to forgive animosity. Who can perform that miracle but God? Silence might have been a sullen acquiescence in an inexorable fate. But under such circumstances, to pray, to pray for others, to pray for forgiveness, is a sublimity of faith we can never know, because we can never live the martyr’s life. But if in these high, heroic heights we cannot so discover the sublimity of Christian faith and patience, there are lower levels open to us every day, along which we may move with the grace of men who can suffer and be strong, who can be stoned and yet pray for the forgiveness of those who inflict injury upon us. If we could pray for forgiveness on account of others, and could really ourselves forgive, our Christianity would be its own unanswerable and triumphant defence.

Another mistake which is refuted by this issue is, that life is limited by that which is open to the eyes of the body. It would have been a poor case for Stephen but for the invisible. “If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable.” Moses endured as seeing the invisible. The old pilgrims sandalled their feet and grasped their staves with a braver confidence day by day, because they “sought a country out of sight.” Should we be the sport of accident, feathers driven by the fickle wind, if we could see heaven open? We should bear our losses as if they were increase of riches if we could see the opening heavens. Stephen said, “I see heaven opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” We see nothing now but flat surfaces badly coloured, paint without blood, feature without fire. We have not had the baptism of suffering which gives a man the inner vision heart-eyes, to whose penetration there is no night. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. I see that is the cry of Christian experience. I see the meaning. I see the further shore. I see God’s purpose. These sights come upon a man in sublime tragedies, in last crises, in the hour and article of death. In great dangers God shows us great sights. What did Elisha ask the Lord to do in the case of the young man who saw the gathering hosts surrounding his prophet master? Elisha’s brief but comprehensive desire was “Lord, open his eyes that he may see.” That is all we want. The enemy is near, I know it: but the friend is nearer. God can come in where there seems to be no room. Like his own light he fills all space, and yet leaves room for every mountain, planet, and blade of grass. He fills all room, and leaves all. The angels are nearer than we suppose. Things are not most against us when they so seem to be. What we want is vision, sight of the heart, inner eyes, and these are the gift of God.

“I see.” Stephen’s spiritual faith made him forget that he had a body. Think of trusting his spirit to a God that had allowed his body to be killed! This is the sublimity of faith. Did Stephen say, “God has taken no care of my body, and therefore he will take no care of my spirit?” That would be rough reasoning, a chain without links, an empty nothing. Stephen showed in this crisis what the spirit can do. He showed what it is in the power of the heart to accomplish. When the spirit is inspired, when the heart is sanctified, when heaven is opened, when Christ rises to receive the guest, there is no flesh, there is no pain, there is no consciousness but in the presence of God, the absorption of the heart in the infinite love. If you feel the body it is for want of the thorough sanctification of the spirit. If the flesh is an encumbrance to you it is because the spirit has not finished its education. When the heart seizes God as an inheritance it fears not them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. The supreme concern of man ought to be not as to the fate of his body, but as to the destiny of his soul. What has happened to the Church? Nothing that was not foretold by Christ. This whole tragedy had been foreseen and fore-described. Before Christ sent out his messengers he told them exactly what would befall them. He took care to reveal all the sorrow, he spared nothing of the dark side of the picture. He said to the messengers in effect, “They will hate you, persecute you, starve you, bring you up before kings and judges, they will not hear half that you have to say, they will spit upon you, they will tear away from you every endearment of life, they will turn your day into night, they will mingle poison in your drink, they will tear you bone from bone, they will set fire to your quivering flesh, they will thrust you down into a nameless and dishonoured grave if they can.” The messengers went out not under summer skies, blue as the morning of heaven, but they went out under a cloud of infinite thunder, and they knew that at any moment that terrific cloud might burst and they be overwhelmed in the storm. How have you gone out from Christ? To exchange opinions, to bandy notions with men to compare your last intellectual drivellings one with another? You have gone out to take a year’s rest, during which time you may revise your theological conclusions. You will not be martyrs! You will come home without a spot upon your garments that will betray hard travelling, and without a single sign of anybody having ever been fluttered for one moment by your most innocuous presence. How have you gone out from Christ? To be his ministers, to speak the truth, to set fire to error, to beard the lion in his den, to challenge the hosts of darkness? Then Christ’s word will be realized in your case, for the word of the Lord endureth for ever.

Stephen condensed a long life into a few days. But recently we have seen he was appointed to his office, and now he lies bruised, mangled, killed. Yet he had a long life. He may live again in the young man at whose feet his clothes were laid down. That young man may rave awhile, but in his raving he is only trying to quiet his conscience. It will be needful for this man Saul to be very violent for a time, in order to keep out of his ears appeals he would rather not hear. He will try to find in madness a solace for what he has done. It is a trick of our fallen nature. We do the wrong thing, and then run away in order to lose in violence the sense of what we have done. Stephen’s resurrection in certain spiritual senses may take place in Saul. We do not know who is hearing us, or who is watching us, or into whom we are transfusing our spirit. We live in one another. God maketh the wrath of man to praise him. What if by-and-bye we find Saul modelling his own speeches upon the lines of Stephen’s defence, and longing to be stoned, that he may find in this suffering some compensation for painful memories? We cannot tell. Life is a mystery, and time its explanation.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

Ver. 54. They were cut to the heart ] But that I believe that God and all his saints will take revengement everlasting on thee, I would surely, with these nails of mine, be thy death, said friar Brusierd in a conference with Mr Bilney, martyr. Another friar of Antwerp, preaching to the people, wished that Luther were there, that he might bite out his throat with his teeth. a Plutarch relateth of the tigers, that if any one do but strike up a drum in their hearing, they grow stark mad, insomuch as at length they tear their own flesh. So, many savage people are extremely disquieted at the hearing of the word, and that merely through their own corruption; like as it is not the tossing in a ship, but the stomach that causeth sickness; the choler within, and not the waves without.

a Erasm. Epist. xvi.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

54 60. ] EFFECT OF THE SPEECH: STONING OF STEPHEN.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

54. ] ., see note on ref.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 7:54 . No charge could have been more hateful to such an audience, cf. our Lord’s words, Joh 7:19 ; see Schrer, Jewish People , vol ii., div. ii., p. 90 ff., E.T. Schrer twice quotes St. Paul’s words, pp. 96, 124, : no words could better characterise the entire tendency of the Judaism of the period. , cf. Act 5:33 . : not elsewhere in N.T., in LXX, Job 16:10 (9), Psa 34 (5):16, 36(7):12, cf. 111(12):10; Lam 2:16 , cf. Plutarch, Pericles , 33 (without , intransitive). The noun is found in the same sense, Ap. Rh. , ii., 83, of brute passion, not the despair so often associated with the cognate noun; cf. Mat 8:12 ; Mat 13:42 , etc.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act 7:54-60

54Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. 58When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.

Act 7:54 “they” This must refer to the members of the Sanhedrin (cf. Act 6:15).

NASB”cut to the quick”

NKJV”cut to the heart”

NRSV”they became enraged”

TEV”they became furious”

NJB”they were infuriated”

This is an imperfect passive indicative. It is literally “cut to the heart” (cf. Act 5:33). Stephen’s message really got to these leaders, but instead of repenting, they turned, as always, to rejection and murder (cf. Act 5:33).

“gnashing their teeth” This is a sign of rage (cf. Job 16:9; Psa 35:16; Psa 37:12; Lam 2:16).

Act 7:55 “Holy Spirit. . .God. . .Jesus” Notice the mention of the Triune God. See Special Topic at Act 2:32-33.

“Being full of the Holy Spirit” The concept of being filled with the Spirit for proclamation of the gospel is unique to Acts (i.e., plro, cf. Act 2:4; Act 4:8; Act 4:31; plrs, cf. Act 6:3; Act 6:5; Act 6:8; Act 7:55; Act 11:24). See full note at Act 5:17.

The biblical truths related to the Spirit are characterized as:

1. the person of the Spirit (cf. John 14-16)

2. the baptism of the Spirit (cf. 1Co 12:13)

3. the fruit of the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22-23)

4. the gifts of the Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 12)

5. the filling of the Spirit (cf. Eph 5:18)

Of all of these, Acts focuses on #5. The early church leaders were empowered, apparently again and again, to boldly and powerfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Stephen’s case the effectiveness of his sermon cost him his life.

“gazed intently” Luke is very fond of this term (cf. Luk 4:20; Luk 22:56; Act 1:10; Act 3:4; Act 3:12; Act 6:15; Act 7:55; Act 10:4; Act 11:6; Act 13:9; Act 14:9; Act 23:1). Stephen looked up, as was typical of the Jewish manner of prayer, but instead of praying, God allowed him to see into heaven itself.

“saw the glory of God” Notice that Stephen is not said to have seen God, but His glory. No one could see God and live (cf. Exo 33:20-23). Job believed he would see God (cf. Job 19:25-27; Act 7:55). Jesus promises that one day the pure in heart will see God (cf. Mat 5:8). See SPECIAL TOPIC: GLORY (DOXA) at Act 3:13.

“Jesus standing at the right hand of God” Jesus being at God’s right hand is an anthropomorphic idiom (see Special Topic at Act 2:33) for the place of divine power and authority. The fact that Jesus was standing shows His interest and care for the first Christian martyr.

God revealed Himself to Stephen in the form and manner that Stephen could receive. This does not mean to imply

1. that heaven is “up”

2. that God is sitting on a throne

It does mean to convey Jesus’ care and concern. We must be careful of culturally conditioned anthropomorphic language as the source of doctrine. Modern western readers’ trying to take every passage literally as a way to show trust or devotion to the Bible is an unfortunate cultural trend. God truly reveals Himself to His creation, but He does so in earthly ways and forms in which they can understand. There is surely an element of accommodation. Fallen, finite, human creatures are not able to fully comprehend the spiritual realm. God chooses things in our cultural and experiential world to use as analogies and metaphors to communicate to us. These are surely true, but not exhaustive.

Act 7:56 “Son of Man” Stephen obviously is identifying Jesus with the “Righteous One” of Acts 5:52. His hearers would not have missed this Messianic affirmation. The term “son of man” has two OT usages:

1. it was a common phrase for a person (cf. Eze 2:1; Psa 8:4)

2. it was used of the divine personage (i.e., Messiah) in Dan 7:13-14 and Psa 110:1

Therefore, it had connotations of both humanity and deity. This is why Jesus used it as a self-designation and also because it was not used by the rabbis who tended to use OT titles in exclusivistic, nationalistic, and militaristic ways. This reference by Stephen is one of only two uses of this phrase outside of the words of Jesus (cf. Joh 12:34).

Act 7:57-58 These hearers believed that Stephen had blasphemed by asserting that Jesus was the coming Son of Man (cf. Dan 7:13). For these monotheistic (see Special Topic at Act 2:39) Jews this was just too much! They did to Stephen what Moses mandated for blasphemy (cf. Lev 24:14-16; Deu 13:9; Deu 17:7). Stephen’s affirmation is either true or he is a blasphemer worthy of death! There can be no middle ground about the claims of Jesus (cf. Joh 14:6-9).

Act 7:57 “rushed at him with one impulse” This is the very term used so often by Luke to describe the unity of the early disciples (cf. Act 1:14; Act 2:46; Act 5:12; Act 15:25). The Sanhedrin was unified in their anger and rejection of Stephen (also see Act 18:12, where the Jews of Achaia reject Paul and Act 19:29 of the anger of the pagans of Ephesus against Christians).

Act 7:58 “driven him out of the city” No one could be killed inside Jerusalem because it was “holy” ground!

“stoning him” It is often stated that the Jews under Roman occupation did not have the right of capital punishment. This shows that that is not always true. Mob violence could not be stopped quickly.

“a young man named Saul” In Jewish circles, one was considered young up to age 40. This is our first encounter with Saul of Tarsus by name, later to become Paul the Apostle. Paul heard Stephen’s OT survey and possibly had heard him earlier in the synagogue of the Cilicians in Jerusalem (Act 6:9). One wonders whether this began Saul’s period of doubt, which he tried to deal with by persecuting Christians.

Act 7:59 “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” This is an aorist middle imperative. Notice that Stephen believed that he was going to heaven to be with Jesus (cf. 2Co 5:6; 2Co 5:8) and not to hades (i.e., the holding place of the dead like the Hebrew sheol, see Special Topic at Act 2:27). Stephen may have witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion, or at least had heard about it in detail because he uses two similar phrases (i.e., Act 7:59-60, cf. Luk 23:34; Luk 23:46).

It is interesting to note that Stephen prays to Jesus, as did the disciples in Act 1:24. However, in the rest of the NT prayer is made to the Father in the name of the Son.

Act 7:60 “falling on his knees” Stoning was not always a quick experience. The text implies it took several minutes.

“he cried out with a loud voice” This also mimics Jesus’ experience. These words were as much for the crowd as for YHWH. These words must have echoed in Saul’s ears.

“he fell asleep” This is a biblical metaphor for death (ex. Job 3:13; Job 14:12; Psa 76:5; 2Sa 7:12; 1Ki 2:10; Jer 51:39; Jer 51:57; Dan 12:2; Mat 27:52; Joh 11:11; Act 7:60; Act 13:36; 1Co 15:6; 1Co 15:18; 1Co 15:20; 1Th 4:13; 2Pe 3:4). This does not affirm the doctrine of “soul-sleep.”

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

cut. Greek. diapriomai, as in Act 5:33.

gnashed, &c. = were gnashing their teeth on him. Greek. brucho Only here. An onomatopoeic word, like brugmos. Mat 8:12, &c. Both are medical words.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

54-60.] EFFECT OF THE SPEECH: STONING OF STEPHEN.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 7:54-60

STEPHENS DEATH

Act 7:54-60 and Act 8:1-2

54 Now when they heard these things,-These things refer to what Stephen had said in his defense, and especially to the things that he had said in verses 51-53. They were cut to the heart, which literally means sawn through, as in Act 5:33. They were not convicted of their sin; they hardened their heart and turned from the truth. This was the effect that Stephens speech had on them; he became the occasion for their hardening their hearts. They gnashed on him with their teeth. This was an expression of the frenzy of rage, only restrained by a brute-like grinding of the teeth. Stephens address had the same effect on his auditors that Peters address had on the Sadducees. Stephen had sent a saw through the hearts of the Pharisees, and they with a loud noise, and a grinding and gnashing of their teeth, like a pack of hungry, snarling wolves, rushed upon Stephen. No uglier sight could be pictured than we have here of these frenzied, religious people.

55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit,-There is a wide contrast in the spirit manifested by Stephen and that of the members of the Sanhedrin. Again it is stated that Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit, and what he said and did was guided by the Holy Spirit. Stephen looked up stedfastly into heaven. He turned his face heavenward and away from such ugly expressions as could be seen on the faces of these frenzied people. As he looked into heaven he saw the glory of God, which was a vision of God and his glory. Stephen also saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. At this time Jesus was standing as if he had arisen to encourage Stephen in his contention for Christ. This is the only reference to the attitude of Jesus as standing after he ascended to heaven. Jesus is usually represented as sit-ting in the majesty and sovereignty of his glory. No one else saw the vision but Stephen, and there is no use to speculate as to the reality of it.

56 Behold, I see the heavens opened,-Stephen described his vision there to this frenzied people. Some think that Stephen here referred to the words of Jesus as recorded in Mat 26:64. Stephen here refers to Christ as the Son of man; this was a name frequently used by Christ when speaking of himself, but never by any other speaker or writer, save Stephen. Such a vision must have comforted Stephen and enabled him to receive with meekness the affliction of stoning.

57-58 But they cried out with a loud voice,-The charge that Stephen had made against them, that they had killed Jesus, was made very irritating now by the declaration that Stephen saw Jesus so exalted. It was an offensive proclamation of the doctrine of the resurrection, which the Sadducees denied; it was also reasserting that the crucified Jesus was coequal with God. They must have regarded this statement of Stephen as one of the strongest examples of blasphemy, spoken here in the presence of the Sanhedrin; hence, they stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord. The word for stopped literally means to hold their ears together with their hands, as if to say that they would not listen to such blasphemous words. No trial was had; no vote was taken; no question was raised about what was the right thing to do; they rushed upon him as the hogs did down the cliff when the demons entered them. (Luk 8:33.) They rushed him out of the city with their wild violence and stoned him. They were scrupulous to observe the letter of the law with murder in their hearts. (Lev 24:10-16; Num 15:35-36; 1Ki 21:13; Heb 13:12.) Witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. This is the first mention that we have of Saul. The witnesses had to cast the first stone. (Deu 17:7; Joh 8:7.) They laid aside the outer garments to have free access with their arms.

59 And they stoned Stephen,-As Stephen prayed, he was stoned; the witnesses against him had taken off their outer garments and Saul had kept the clothes of those who did the preliminary stoning. (Deu 17:7.) It has been discussed frequently as to whether the Sanhedrin passed sentence on Stephen; some think that there was no decision or judgment rendered, and that the Sanhedrin with others became infuriated at Stephens speech and rushed upon him, took him out of the city, and stoned him without any formal trial or decision. Others think that a decision was rendered hastily and the execution as hastily carried out. Another difficulty has been discussed, and that is that the Jews could not put to death anyone they tried; the Sanhedrin could pass the judicial sentence of death, but could not carry it out. (Joh 18:31.) They could pass the sentence of death (Mat 26:66; Mar 14:64), and were as guilty as if they had executed their sentence. Stephens prayer was made to Jesus to receive his spirit. The prayer to Jesus was equivalent to calling on the Lord. (Act 9:21 Act 22:16; 1Co 1:2.) Jesus had encouraged his disciples to expect mansions of rest. (Joh 14:2.) He had also spoken of everlasting habitations (Luk 16:9), or eternal tabernacles. This is similar to Jesus, as he expired on the cross. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said this, he gave up the ghost. (Luk 23:46.)

60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice,-Again Stephens prayer is similar to that of his Lords (Luk 23:34), Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. The spirit of Christ is a spirit of forgiveness; it leads us to love our enemies and to bless them that curse us, and to pray for them who despitefully use us. (Mat 5:44.) As they pelted his body with stones, Stephen took the posture of kneeling in prayer. His last moments were spent in prayer; and when he had said this, he fell asleep. Fell asleep is from the Greek ekoimethe, which is used to denote to put to sleep; our English word cemetery comes from this Greek word, and means the sleeping place of the dead. This is an appropriate figure for the death of the saints. Jesus used the term sleep for death. (Mat 9:24; Mar 5:39; Joh 11:11-12.) Paul also used the term sleep for death. (1Co 15:18 1Co 15:51; 1Th 4:13-14.)

Questions on Acts

By E.M. Zerr

Acts Chapter 7

Who questioned Stephen?

What is referred to by “these things”?

By what titles does Stephen address the hearers?

To whom did God appear?

Where was he living at this time?

In what place did he dwell next?

State what caused him to move.

To what country did he next go?

After what event did he make his move?

How much of the land did Abraham possess?

What did God give him?

How many children did he have at this time?

Tell what sojourning was then predicted.

For how long would this sojourn last?

Name the country referred to.

While there what was to be their treatment?

What would happen to this country?

After that, what?

What covenant was given Abraham?

Who are meant by “twelve patriarchs in the ” 8th verse?

How did they fulfill prediction made to Abraham?

What support did Joseph have in his trials?

State the favor shown him at this time.

What condition arose now?

Tell what countries were affected.

Hearing of food in Egypt what did Jacob do?

When was Joseph identified?

What further introduction was made?

Next, what did Joseph do?

According to this account how many came into Egypt?

Where did Jacob die?

What was !Ione with his body?

From whom was this burying place obtained?

Did all the Israelites leave Egypt at this time?

What promise was made to draw nigh?

As it did what occurred among the people?

State what sort of new king arose.

How did he deal with the servant nation?

In what way did he attempt to reduce their number?

Who was born about this time?

Describe his appearance.

Where was his first nursery?

And where was the next?

Tell something of his training.

What accomplishments did he come to have?

What idea came into his heart?

At what age had he arrived?

Did God tell him to take this action?

What defense did he volunteer?

How far did he carry his defense?

What supposition was Moses acting upon?

Was it correct?

What did he see next day?

How did this case differ from the day before?

How was his action here received?

Which of the two men objected to Moses?

Of what act did he accuse Moses?

At this what did Moses do?

How many sons did he beget?

How long was it until the next call?

Name the site of this experience.

How did God identify himself at this time?

Describe the effect on Moses’ emotions.

What was he commanded to do here and why?

Tell what subject was then introduced?

What was God coming to do about it?

Who was to be his agent in the work?

Was he the same who had been previously refused?

How long required to get them into Canaan?

What prophecy of Moses did Stephen quote?

What other facts showed Moses’ importance here?

Did Stephen’s hearers profess to believe Moses?

Should this have affected their faith in Christ?

How did ancient Israel feel about Egypt?

What did they do as result?

To what did God then abandon them?

To what final threat does Stephen then refer?

What institution is meant in the 44th verse?

To what country did they carry this building?

State what building took place of this one.

Was this the real dwelling place of God?

How does Stephen now describe his hearers?

Of whose death does he accuse them?

How had the law been given to them?

What had been their use of it?

How did all this speech affect them?

How did their rage affect Stephen?

What was he permitted to see?

Tell what he said to the people there.

Did they try to disprove it?

How did they manage to hear no more?

To what place did they take Stephen?

When there what did they do?

Who took charge of the clothes?

While being stoned what was Stephen doing?

Repeat his last words.

Acts Chapter Seven

Ralph Starling

The high priest asked Stephen, Are these things so?

Stephen replied, This is what our history shows.

He began with Abraham, considered number one,

Joseph, Moses and Solomon, Davids own son.

God moved Abraham to where we now stand,

To you, his seed, the promised land.

To your fathers the covenant of circumcision

To be a sign of a special relation.

Later the 12 Patriarchs moved with envy

Sold Joseph into Egyptian bondage.

400 years his descendants suffered ill treatment,

Then God sent Moses to relieve them.

This Moses was their leader for 40 years,

Until a new generation could appear.

Moses was the prophet Christ would be like,

But the people refused Moses and turned back.

In like manner you refused the prophesied Christ,

You have betrayed and murdered Him outright.

You had a heart and ears but wouldnt listen,

And had the Law by Angels disposition.

When they heard these things they gnashed with their teeth,

They stoned him, laying his clothes at a young mans feet.

Stephen prayed the Lord his spirit to keep,

When he had prayed he fell asleep.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

22. STEPHEN AND SAUL

Act 7:54-60

The first martyr in the history of God’s church was Stephen, a faithful deacon, a preaching deacon, but a deacon. The death of this faithful man is recorded more fully than the death of anyone else in the New Testament except that of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a man dying for the testimony of Christ, dying by the hands of wicked men, but dying in grace and dying graciously for the glory of God.

The Spirit of God directed Luke to identify just one of Stephen’s murderers. Those who stoned Stephen “laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.” Saul was probably the man who examined Stephen and had been baffled by his speech when he stood before the Sanhedrin (Act 6:8-10).

HERE IS A STRIKING CONTRAST- Stephen and Saul. Both of them are in glory now. One cannot help wondering how Saul felt when Stephen’s smile met him at the throne! What a joyous meeting they must have had – Stephen and Saul embracing one another! But in the text before us the two men are poles apart. They had nothing in common. Stephen was about to die. Saul was holding the clothes of those who stoned him. Saul was a proud, self-righteous Pharisee. He was proud of his pedigree, his learning, his works, his religious position, and his great reputation. Stephen was a broken, humbled sinner, saved by the grace of God, whose only hope was in Christ. Saul was wrapped up in himself. Stephen was wrapped up in Christ. His heart was elated not by looking into a mirror, but by looking to Christ, his exalted Lord. He drew his comfort not from what he had done, but from what Christ had done for him. Saul was a religious ritualist. He placed great weight and importance on the externals of religion. To him, the law, the temple, the priesthood, and the ceremonies were everything. Stephen’s religion was a matter of the heart, a living, spiritual union with God in Christ. He put external matters in their proper place (Php 3:3; Act 7:48-50). He did not at all despise those outward forms of religion ordained of God. But he knew that religious ceremony without faith in Christ is useless (Isa 1:10-15). Saul thought God was impressed with rituals and ceremonies. Stephen knew what few know – “The Lord looketh on the heart” (1Sa 16:7; Luk 16:15). Saul defended his religion. For the defence of his religion he was willingly cunning, cruel, and callous. Stephen defended the cause of Christ, even at the cost of his own life. The cause of Christ, his church, his truth, and his glory were of greater value to Stephen than life itself. Stephen was gracious to the end, ever truthful, gentle, forgiving, and self-sacrificing. Here are five things to be learned from this paragraph of Holy Scripture and the contrast here given of Stephen and Saul.

1. EVERY BELIEVER’S LIFE AND TESTIMONY IN THIS WORLD IS IMPORTANT, INFLUENTIAL, AND USEFUL. It does matter greatly how you live in this world if you profess to be a believer, a follower of Christ. There are some people who have no knowledge of Christ and his gospel except what they hear from you and see in you. To them you represent the Son of God and the gospel of his grace. Be sure you are a good representative (Tit 2:10).

Saul’s first introduction to genuine Christianity, his first experience with a true believer was Stephen. Stephen was the first person to tell Saul about Christ and the gospel of his grace. At first he despised both the message and the messenger. But he never forgot it! In God’s time it had a profound efficacy upon his heart. From Stephen’s lips Saul heard a faithful declaration of the gospel of God’s grace and glory in Christ. He saw in Stephen a believer who was thoroughly committed to Christ. He saw a believer die in faith. In God’s time all these things had their impact upon him.

2. GOD WILL ALWAYS PRESERVE A WITNESS FOR HIMSELF. We are always reluctant to lose any from the ranks of God’s church, especially one of great service and usefulness. We appear to be fearful that the church simply cannot continue to function without certain men. But it is not so. God has always preserved sufficient witnesses for himself and always will until Christ comes. God’s cause is safe in God’s hands! The church lost Stephen, a man of great usefulness. But God had his eye on Saul, a man he would make even more useful. The Lord always has a successor for any man he is pleased to use. When Elijah was taken up to heaven, Elisha was waiting to carry his mantle. God is never in short supply of men to work in his vineyard.

3. IT IS GOOD FOR BELIEVERS TO REMEMBER WHERE THEY WERE WHEN GOD SAVED THEM AND WHAT THEY ARE BY NATURE. The Holy Spirit put these words in the Book of Inspiration as a fact to be remembered – “The witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.” They are words which were meant to keep Paul humble; and they always did. He never forgot what happened at Jerusalem that day (Act 22:19-20; 1Ti 1:12-17).

We must never forget where we were when grace found us (Isa 51:1). We must never forget what we were and are by nature. We must never forget what God has saved us from (Eph 2:1-4), and what he has done for us in Christ (1Co 6:9-11; 1Jn 3:1-3). Such a memory will make us grateful. He loves much who is forgiven much (Luk 7:36-50). Such grateful remembrance will make the gospel of God’s distinguishing grace precious. All who have been saved acknowledge,”By the grace of God I am what I am” (1Co 15:10). Thank God for electing love, redeeming blood, regenerating grace, and preserving power! Grace alone makes us to differ from those who are damned (1Co 4:7; Rom 9:16). This gives us hope for others too. He who saved Saul of Tarsus can save me. He who saved me can save you. He who saved us can save anyone. His blood is sufficient! His grace is sufficient! His power is sufficient! Jesus Christ is an able Savior (Heb 7:25).

4. OUR GREAT GOD GRACIOUSLY OVERRULES ALL THINGS FOR THE GOOD OF HIS ELECT AND THE GLORY OF HIS NAME. As we saw in the previous lesson, the stoning of Stephen, though it was a terrible act of barbaric cruelty and sin, was best, the very best thing that could have happened on that day. God was in total control of the situation. “If Saul had not been there, Stephen would not have prayed for him” (Spurgeon). “If Stephen had not prayed, Saul would have never preached” (Augustine). Even the evil performed by men and devils is good for God’s elect and shall bring praise to his name (Psa 76:10; Pro 12:21; Pro 16:7; Rom 8:28; 1Pe 3:12-13).

5. WHEN THE TIME COMES, GOD GIVES HIS BELIEVING PEOPLE GRACE TO DIE WELL. Those who die in the arms of Christ, who die in faith, die well. What God did for Stephen, he will do essentially for all who trust Christ. Stephen died, being full of the Holy Spirit, with his heart fixed on Christ, looking up steadfastly into heaven. He died without a care in the world, trusting his sovereign Substitute, calling on the name of God. He saw heaven opened! He saw the glory of God! He saw the Lord Jesus standing in the place of power to receive him! He died without any malice in his heart! He did not really die at all (Joh 11:25-26). He simply dropped the body of death. He fell asleep in the arms of Christ and woke up in glory, in life!

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

When they heard

They had brought false witnesses against Stephen; he bears true witness against them, quoting the testimony of writers they owned to be inspired. He speaks of the persistent rejection of God and His servants by the nation til at last it is brought home to themselves, and arouses the maddened enmity of their hearts. It was the final trial of the nation.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

they were: Act 5:33, Act 22:22, Act 22:23

they gnashed: Job 16:9, Psa 35:16, Psa 112:10, Lam 2:16, Mat 8:12, Mat 13:42, Mat 13:50, Mat 22:13, Mat 24:51, Mat 25:30, Luk 13:28

Reciprocal: Est 5:9 – he was full Psa 45:5 – sharp Psa 102:8 – mad Ecc 10:13 – beginning Jer 20:10 – we shall Dan 3:19 – was Nebuchadnezzar Amo 7:10 – not Mic 3:8 – I am Mar 9:18 – gnasheth Mar 13:9 – take Mar 15:14 – And Luk 4:28 – were Luk 6:11 – they Luk 23:5 – they Act 2:37 – they Act 7:27 – he that Act 7:57 – they cried Act 8:1 – there Act 19:28 – they Act 21:36 – General 1Co 1:27 – General Rev 11:10 – these

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

4

Act 7:54. To be cut to the heart means to be rent asunder in mind, and caused to gnash or grind their teeth in an insane fit of anger.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Act 7:54. And they gnashed on him with their teeth. Bitterly as the Sanhedrim felt the sting of Stephens reproachful words, as yet they had not proceeded to open violence; this was not used until the open adoration of the Crucified, occasioned by the vision of glory (related in Act 7:55-56), moved them to an irrepressible fury, and charging him now with public blasphemy they hurried him to execution. The expression to gnash with the teeth is frequently used in the Old Testament to signify furious rage; see Job 16:9; Psa 35:16; Psa 37:12.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. The Jews’ angry and unreasonable resentment of the foregoing representation; though it was exact truth and matter of fact, yet were they cut to the heart; that is, they were angry even unto madness. Here was a most proper corrosive, and applied by a skillful hand, but they would not let it stick, nor endure a cure; such is the enmity of wicked hearts, that when the ministers of God reprove sin sharply, instead of receiving the message, they rage at the messenger: When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart.

Observe, 2. How they discover their rage against the holy man two ways: by their gestures, and by their actions;

Their gestures made a full discovery of their enraged minds.

1. They gnashed upon him with their teeth; the action of damned fiends.

2. They made a great outery with an unanimous and tumultuous rage; They cried out with a loud voice.

3. They stopped their ears, resolved to hear no more either of his counsels or complaints.

4. They ran upon him with one accord, like persons combined and united together in malice and madness.

5. They cast him out of the city, not out of the synagogue only, but out of the city also. They look upon this good man, of whom the world was not worthy, as a person not fit for human society.

“Lord! why should any of thy present ministers and ambassadors wonder at, or be discouraged by the ill treatment which an unkind world now gives them, when thy blessed aposltes, full of the Holy Ghost, and endowed with power to work miracles, were cast out before us, as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things!”

But this was not all; not only by their gestures, but by their actions did they discover the utmost effects of their rage and malice against this holy and innocent person: for they put him to death; yea, stoned him to death: shooting a whole volley of cruelty at his naked breast; a shower of stones came down upon him, from those hands which ought to have cast the first stone at themselves; but all this did but join him the closer to Christ, the chief Corner-stone; Et per tot lapides petra conjungitur uni.

Learn hence, That it is not in the power of piety and religion to exempt and secure the most holy and religious person either from the attempts of popular fury, or from the stroke of a violent and bloody death; They cast him out of the city, and stoned him.

Observe, 3. What a blessed sight St. Stephen had of heaven, and of Jesus in heaven, to prepare and fit him for his sufferings, and to support and uphold him under them, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God Act 7:56.

Blessed Jesus: what encouragement it is to us suffering for thee on earth, to look up stedfastly by faith unto thee in heavnen, who art continually standing there to behold and observe, to strengthen and support, to receive and reward thy suffering servants; to count every stone cast at them, and to revenge all the injuries and wrongs done unto them!

Observe lastly, How these bloody persecutors manage their cruelties under a form of law, that they may appear the more specious. By the law of God, stoning was the punishment due to blapheming; and they that witnessed against the blasphemer were, by the law of God, to cast the first stone at him, Deu 17:7.

Accordingly the witnesses here put off their upper garments, to fit themselves for their bloody work; and a young man called Saul, undertook to look to them, kept their garments for them, and consequently consented unto his death, and had a hand in stoning of him: The witnesses laid down their garments at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. By consenting to the sins of other men, we certainly become partakers of other mens’ sins.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Act 7:54-56. When they heard these things These plain, and undeniable, and alarming truths; they were cut to the heart Or sawn asunder, the original word being the same that is used chap. Act 5:33. And not permitting him to proceed any further, in a transport of rage, they gnashed on him with their teeth As if they would have devoured him alive. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost And therefore no way terrified with the foresight of the evil which appeared to be determined against him; looked up steadfastly into heaven From whence alone he could expect help or mercy; and saw the glory of God Prepared for him; and Jesus standing on the right hand of God Risen up from the throne of his glory, (for he is generally represented as sitting,) to afford help to his distressed servant, and ready to receive him. Doubtless many other martyrs, as Mr. Addison has observed, when called to suffer the last extremities, had extraordinary assistances of a similar kind; otherwise frail mortality could not have endured the torments under which they rejoiced, and sometimes preached Christ, to the conversion of spectators, and, in some instances, of their guards and tormentors.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

54-60. The exasperation of the Sanhedrim was the more intense, from the fact that the denunciation hurled upon them was not a sudden burst of passion, but the deliberate and sustained announcement of a just judgment. They had not been able to resist, in debate, the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke, and now their efforts to convict him of crime had recoiled terribly upon their own heads. They had no course now left them, but the usual resort of unprincipled partisans when totally discomfited, and to this they rushed with fearful rapidity. (54) “When they heard these things, they were exasperated, and gnashed their teeth upon him. (55) But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, (56) and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. (57) Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord, (58) and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses laid off their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul. (59) And they stoned Stephen, calling on the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. (60) And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting to his death.”

This was a strange way for a court to break up; the whole body of seventy grave rabbis, whose official duty it was to watch for the faithful and regular proceedings of law, leaving their seats, and rushing with the wild mob, amid hideous outcries and tumultuous rage, to the sudden execution of a prisoner absolutely untried and uncondemned. But the maddest pranks ever played upon this mad earth are witnessed when wicked men set themselves in uncompromising opposition to God and his holy truth. So uniformly has this been true in history, that, at the present day, when such opposition is to be sustained, whether on great or insignificant occasion, no well-informed man expects aught else than disregard of all the rules of justice and propriety. If the infuriated scenes which have been enacted under such circumstances, in the history of Christianity, could be dramatically represented, the performance might be appropriately styled, The Madman’s Drama.

The vision witnessed by Stephen, while the Jews were gnashing their teeth upon him, need not be understood as the real opening of the heavens, so that the things within them could be seen by the human eye, but only a representation to his eyes, such as those granted to John in the isle of Patmos. It was vouchsafed both for his own encouragement in the hour of death, and that the remembrance of the words in which he described it, and the hue of countenance with which he gazed upon it, might remain indelibly impressed upon the minds of those who were present. There was at least one in the audience upon whom, we have reason to believe, this impression was deep and lasting. The young man Saul never forgot it; but, long afterward, when bending under the weight of many years, he makes sad mention of the part he took in these dreadful proceedings.

The death of Stephen was an event of most thrilling interest to the young Church, and well deserves the large space allotted to it by the historian. The disciples had embarked, with all their interests, both temporal and eternal, in the cause of one, who, though he proved himself mighty to deliver, while present with them, had now gone away beyond the reach of vision, and no longer held personal converse with them. They had struggled on faithfully thus far, and, amid many tears, some stripes, and much affliction, they had still found a deep satisfaction of soul in his service. It was demonstrated that their faith could sustain them in life, even amid very bitter trials; but it was not yet known how it would sustain them in the hour of death. No one of their number had yet tried the dread reality, and no man can now tell how much their spirits may have wavered in the prospect, and inclined backward toward the faith of their fathers, distrustful of the new arm of salvation. How great the strength, therefore, and how sweet the consolation imparted to every heart, when the first who died was so triumphant in the pangs of death! After witnessing the scene, they could go onward in their tear-dimmed course of suffering, without one fear or care for that within the grace, or beyond it. At the late day in which we live, which has been preceded by the happy death of millions of Christians, and which is often yet made deeply glad by their triumphs in the trying hour, we are not able to appreciate the eagerness with which the first disciples drank in the consolations of this glorious death. It was a fortuitous and most fitting preparation for the fiery ordeal through which the Church were immediately afterward called to pass.

We omit any notice of the part taken by Saul in this shocking tragedy till we come to comment on the ninth chapter, where his career becomes the leading theme of the historian. [87]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

STEPHENS MARTYRDOM

54. The officers of the Sanhedrin, clerical and laymen, are torn all to pieces by the straight, awful truth enunciated by Stephen. They get so mad that they grit their teeth. I witness to you that I have seen the same under similar circumstances, i. e., leading preachers so mad at the holiness people that they turned pale and gritted their teeth, only lacking the cooperation of the civil arm to do unto the Lords faithful witnesses just what these preachers and church officers did to Stephen.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Act 7:54 to Act 8:1 a. Death of Stephen.The speech of Stephen cuts the hearers to the quick. It is not said that they interrupted him; the speech is complete, but their apparent and vehement anger showed him that the last had come; they were no longer masters of themselves. We have no longer a judicial investigation before us but a tumultuous attack. Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, sees a vision (Act 7:55), as is recorded of many martyrs. He sees the glory of God (cf. Act 7:2) and Jesus standing (? to receive His servant; generally sitting, Mar 14:62, Mat 26:64, Luk 22:69, Mar 16:19). At this their anger broke out, and they are hurried into a violent and illegal action. The punishment inflicted is that for blasphemy; in decreeing it they forget all forms of law, but in the execution of it they observe the precept of Lev 24:14, and hurry the condemned person outside the town. Saul is introduced (Act 7:58) as sharing the responsibility of the act. In Act 7:59-60, the story is narrated over again for the sake of the words of the martyr (cf. Luk 23:34; Luk 23:46), and another account of his death is given, ending with the statement of Sauls complicity.

Act 7:54. gnashed: Psa 35:16; Psa 112:10.

Act 7:56. Son of man: i.e. Jesus as judge (Mar 14:62).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

7:54 {8} When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with [their] teeth.

(8) The more Satan is pressed, the more he breaks out into an open rage.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

"Cut to the quick" is a figure of speech that describes being painfully wounded. Stephen’s charge of always resisting God’s Spirit convicted and offended the members of the Sanhedrin. They retaliated fiercely. Gnashing (grinding) the teeth pictures brutal antagonism.

"The possibilities are that what took place was a spontaneous act of mob violence or that Stephen was legally executed by the Sanhedrin, either because there was some kind of special permission from the Romans or because there was no Roman governor at the time and advantage was taken of the interregnum. The first of these possibilities is the more likely." [Note: Marshall, The Acts . . ., p. 148.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

3. Stephen’s death 7:54-8:1a

Stephen’s speech caused a revolution in the Jews’ attitude toward the disciples of Jesus, and his martyrdom began the first persecution of the Christians.

Luke recorded the Sanhedrin’s response to Stephen’s message to document Jesus’ continued rejection by Israel’s leaders. He did so to explain why the gospel spread as it did and why the Jews responded to it as they did following this event.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)