Acts 036 – Stephen’s Arrest

Acts 036

Stephen’s Arrest

Acts 6:8-15

January 24, 2024

Dr. Andy Woods

Acts 6:8. We’re continuing our verse-by-verse study through the book of Acts. And we’ve completed Acts 6:1-7 where the first deacons were selected. And now the story moves on to the very first deacon mentioned in the list. His name was Stephen. And he’s going to become a big deal in the rest of this chapter, and then into chapter 7. He plays a role in the persecution, the third persecution that’s going to break out against the church in chapter 8.

You know, a lot of people call the book of Acts “The Acts of the Apostles.” And that’s not a very good title because it’s not really the Acts of the apostles, it’s the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles. And beyond that, the book really isn’t about all the apostles. The focus is on two apostles, Peter in the first half of the book, and Paul in the second half of the book. So that’s why a lot of the things Paul does in the second half of the book mirror what Peter did in the first part of the book, because Luke is basically trying to show that Paul is just as legitimate as Peter. And this would become important for Theophilus, who is the receiver of the book, to understand, because most likely the gospel got to Theophilus through Paul. So, if Theophilus is sort of second guessing whether Christianity is for him, you know, he would really need a good historical analysis or blueprint of why Paul is just as legitimate as Peter. So, the things Peter does in the first half of the book are repeated by Paul. The bridge in between Peter and Paul is a man named Stephen. If you don’t know what happens to Stephen, you don’t have this bridge between these two apostles that the book is about. So that’s kind of where Stephen fits into the big picture. Stephen enters the picture because he’s one of the deacons selected. In fact, he’s the first deacon mentioned. And then what follows? Verses 8 through 15, which we’re going to try to cover tonight, is the arrest of Stephen. So here’s an outline of the rest of chapter 6.

1. Appointment of the Frist Deacons (6:1-7)
2. Stephen’s Arrest (6:8-15)
3. Description of Stephen (8)
4. Grace (8a)
5. Power (8b)
6. Miracles (8c)
7. Disputations against Stephen (9-10)
8. Conspiracy Against Stephen (11)
9. Arrest of Stephen (12)
10. Charges against Stephen (13-14)
11. Face of Stephen (15)
12. Opportunity of Stephen (7:1)

And it begins with a description of Stephen. You see that in Acts 6:8. It says And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. So, Stephen is performing not just signs and wonders, but he’s performing great signs and wonders as a deacon. And so, there’s three descriptors here of Stephen. First of all, he’s a man of grace– first part of verse eight. He’s not just a gracious person, but he’s full of– pléroó— full of grace. The Greek word for grace is charis, means undeserved favor. It’s kind of interesting that when you discover who you are in Christ as a person of undeserved favor, we tend to be gracious towards other people. And if a Christian is not gracious towards other people, then there’s a whole parable about that in Matthew 18, right? About a guy that was forgiven a huge sum of money. And he found a guy that owed him just a couple of bucks, so to speak, and he demanded that every penny be paid. And he demanded that the guy be thrown into debtor’s prison. And once you’re in debtor’s prison, you can’t repay your debt, right? You’re in there for life. So, he sentenced a guy to life sentence, even though he had been forgiven so much by somebody else. And so that’s how inconsistent we are, you know, when we don’t treat other people with grace. We forget that we’ve been treated with grace.

So, Stephen is a man full of grace. And one of the reasons he was a man full of grace is– look at the second part of verse 13. He was accused of setting aside the law. And with the accusation there was some truth to it, because Stephen most likely was teaching that the age of the law is past. And we’re in the church age now where God is governing us through a new set of principles not related to the Mosaic law. So, these are some reasons why Stephen is a man of grace. He’s also a man of power. The Greek word for power there is dunamis, where we get the word dynamite or dynamic. And Stephen was also a man of miracles. He was actually performing miracles. He was performing signs and wonders. And you see that in verse 8. He was performing not just signs and wonders, but great signs and wonders. The word for wonders is teras. The word for signs is sémeion. And we’ve already seen that he’s a man of power. The word for power is dunamis. And what you’ll discover is those are the same three types of descriptors used to describe Christ’s ministry in the Gospels. So essentially what’s happening is, Jesus, at the right hand of the Father, is largely replicating His ministry through the apostles and the deacons. And you see it on display here with this man Stephen.

Arnold Fruchtenbaum writes this:
“Verse 12 provides evidence of apostolic authority. The account of the second persecution of the church begins by describing the apostolic signs (v. 12a). Again it is important to note that in the book of Acts, only the apostles and the apostolic [de]legates, who were appointed by the apostles by the laying on of hands, were able to perform miracles, signs, and wonders (e.g. Acts 6:8).[113] This fact has come out four times before (Acts 2:43; 3:6-7; 4:22, 33), and now it is repeated once again in this verse.”

So, the miracle workers are the apostles. They’re the ones with the ability to perform signs and wonders. They’re the ones that could lay hands on people and they would automatically be healed. And the only people in the book of Acts that are able to do that, in terms of having a direct apostolic gift to do it, are the apostles or those functioning under the authority of the apostles. So, we don’t really believe that that kind of gift is present today; where I could just go over to, you know, Methodist Hospital and just empty out the hospital, you know, because I have an apostolic gift of healing. I mean, I wish I did have that. What we believe is when God does heal today– and we believe He can and does– He does it according to His will, and He does it directly, rather than indirectly through someone having an apostolic gift of healing. So, the age of the apostles is over.

And there’s been a little shift there in the outworking of God’s plan. The kinds of things that you see in the book of Acts you don’t see it today on the same scale because the apostles are all dead. I mean, those were basically gifts. Paul calls them signs of an apostle, second Corinthians 12:12, to authenticate a new dispensation. You know, the beginning of the church age. So, the viewpoint that we have here at Sugar Land Bible Church is basically called Cessationism. I think the expression selective cessationism is a little bit better. Some of those things have passed. But if you look at our position statements, we’re not arguing that God can’t heal today. When he chooses to, He does it more sparingly and He does it directly, rather than indirectly through an apostle. So that’s a viewpoint called selective cessationism. Very different than continuationism, which is the belief in charismatic Pentecostal churches that everything you see in the book of Acts should be replicated today exactly the same.

(Acts 6:9-10) Disputations Against Stephen

1. Sources of the attack (9)
2. Failure of the attack (10)

So that’s Stephen and as typically happens when God is using someone, there’s immediate resistance. And you see that resistance developing there in verses 9 and 10, where there are some disputations against Stephen. People start to challenge him. And when you look at verse 9, you’ll see a record of the sources of the disputers. Where did these disputers come from? Well, all the disputers, as you’ll see, are the Diaspora Jews. These are the Jews that had come to Jerusalem. They were not native Hebrews. And they came to participate on the day of Pentecost. Just as the Holy Spirit had a surprise for them. Peter preached the gospel, 3000 salvations roughly, and they wanted to sort of stick around in Jerusalem, you know, to learn this new apostolic truth. And they can’t just go home and read their New Testament because there is no New Testament yet. So that’s a group that came into the land of Israel called the Diaspora Jews. And for whatever reason, these are the ones that disputed Stephen. It says in verse 9: But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. So, who are these people? You’ve got libertines, freed slaves, probably coming from Rome. You have a group of people called Cyrene’s. These are Jews that came from North Africa. You might remember Matthew 27:32, concerning the exhausted Jesus as he was trying to carry His cross and He was becoming too weak. It says in Matthew 27:32, As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross. So, they inscripted this guy Simon, coming from Cyrene, North Africa, to help carry the cross of Christ.

1. Sources of the Attack (Acts 6:9)

1. Libertine (9a)
2. Cyrene (9b)
3. Alexandria (9c)
4. Cilicia (9d)
5. Asia (9e)
6. Failure of the Attack (6:10)

So, there were Jews that were in town from Cyrene, basically North Africa. There were also some Jews in town from Alexandria, which would be in Egypt. There’s where Alexandria is [see slide 23]. And there were some Jews in town from Cilicia

. Cilicia is located near Tarsus. Who came from Tarsus? Saul. It could very well be that that group came from the very synagogue that Paul himself worshiped in prior to his conversion in Acts chapter 9. And then there were some Jews that were in town from Asia. And there’s where Asia is. Here’s another map of where Asia is

. And it’s kind of interesting how accurate the Bible is geographically. For whatever reason, the Holy Spirit wants us to know where all these Diaspora Jews came from.

But anyway, for whatever reason, they rose up against Stephen and they started to dispute with him. It says there in verse 9 that they were arguing with him. And that just goes to show that whenever God starts to use somebody, don’t be shocked if you get resistance, because Satan isn’t going to like it if you’re being used by God. A lot of times you get opposed by people. Sometimes it’s people within your own church, sadly. You know, sometimes it’s people at your workplace, sometimes it’s people you know in your own family. Sometimes it’s your own parents, sometimes it’s your own children. You know, grandchildren can rise up against you. But their attacks against Stephen were not effective. They didn’t bear any fruit. Because it says in verse 10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. The Greek word for wisdom there is sophia. And he was taking God’s word and applying it, defending Christianity. And the Spirit was guiding him. And you’re going to see that on display in Acts 7, because there you’re going to get an amazing sermon with no notes or PowerPoint or preparation. A sermon given under pressure. And the sermon that he gives is on the spot, not to a friendly audience, but to a hostile audience that does this sweeping job covering the history of Israel. And by the time he gets to the end of the sermon, the Jewish leadership is so happy with it they want him killed. In fact, as he’s giving the sermon, they’re grinding their teeth.

So, Stephen is speaking here with tremendous wisdom, and that is the calling of a deacon. We kind of have taken the office of deacon and lowered it. You know, we say things like, ‘yeah, you’re in charge of the plant.’ Making it sound like a deacon is a maintenance position. And there’s some truth to that. There’s a lot of kinds of hands-on work, like the deacons here are taking care of the food distribution as we have studied. But there’s a lot more to it than just being a maintenance guy. A deacon has to be able to speak with wisdom, the wisdom of God. First Timothy 3:9 says concerning a deacon, he must hold to the “mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.” So, when people can’t get to the pastor to get their questions answered, they’ll typically go to the deacon. So, a deacon has to be part of the Bible study, aware of theology, aware of doctrine, and available to answer questions of people. And Stephen was so good at this that his sermon in Acts 7 is going to bring that out. It’s also the same with an elder. Titus 1:9 says of an elder: holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. An elder is not just somebody who can present doctrine in a positive sense, but an elder is someone who is able to refute false doctrine when false doctrine comes across the path of that elder. I bring this up because this is one of the things I try to bring up in our elder meetings when we’re interviewing potential elders and deacons. Because I want to take the bar and raise it, and I want people to understand what a holy and high calling it is, to have that kind of an office for a term in a church. You know, the way we used to do it is, ‘Oh, okay, you’re in charge of the plant. Oh, okay, you want to be an elder? You know, it looks like you’ve been successful in the business world– You qualify.’

So, what we’ve done in a lot of our Bible churches is we’ve taken God’s requirements, and we’ve sort of minimized them, marginalized them. But what you’ll see in the Bible is there’s a much higher threshold. And Stephen, the very first deacon mentioned, really makes us aware of that. Stephen is speaking and he is able, by the Holy Spirit, to refute the disputations that are coming against him by the unbelieving diaspora Jews. And that might be an outworking of Mark 13:11. Jesus predicted this would happen. Speaking to the apostles. He says, “When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.” And you’ll notice here that Stephen is speaking with wisdom that the Spirit of God was giving him, there in verse 10, But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. Now a lot of people abuse this and they say, ‘Well, you know, if I’m a pastor, I don’t have to prepare for a sermon because the Lord is just going to give me what I need to say.’ Well, that’s an abuse of the passage because this is talking about being arrested. This is talking about being put under duress that you didn’t bring on yourself. This is talking about being persecuted. This is talking about when you have no time to prepare. The Lord will give you what you’re supposed to say. It’s not talking about ordinary life where a pastor does have time to prepare. That’s why Second Timothy 2:15 says, study and show yourself approved as a workman that need not be ashamed. Walter Martin used to say, as a workman that need not blush with embarrassment, but rather handles accurately the Word of God. But Stephen, with no time to prepare, is being put under pressure, and the words are just coming to him, you know, spontaneously, as the Holy Spirit is giving him the words to the point where these unbelieving Diaspora Jews couldn’t really argue with what he was saying.

So, what do they do when you can’t refute someone? You lie about them– right? Or you try to get them pushed off the scene by getting them arrested. So that’s what they do here with Stephen. Now there’s a conspiracy against Stephen. And you see that there in verse 11. It says, Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” Now the first part of that is they “secretly induced men to say–“ in other words, they went around and they tried to bribe people to lie about Stephen. This is what we would call a conspiracy. Conspiracy is just two people agreeing to commit some kind of wrong, and they take a step towards committing that wrong. And so that’s what’s happening to Stephen. Jeremiah 11:9 says, Then Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”

1. Stephens Arrest (Acts 6:8-15)
2. Description of Stephen (8)
3. Disputations against Stephen (9-10)
4. Conspiracy against Stephen (11)
5. Bribery (11a)
6. Charges (11b-c)
7. Speaking against Moses (11b)
8. Speaking against God (11c)

The Bible is filled with conspiracies. I mean, we’re studying one on Sunday morning where there’s a conspiracy amongst Joseph’s brothers to kill him. They throw him in a pit. Leave him for dead. There’s a conspiracy by Herod and Pilate to kill Jesus. Herod from Israel, Pilate from Rome. And it says in Luke 23:12, Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other. So, the only thing Herod and Pilate hated more than each other was Jesus. And when it came time to liquidate Jesus, they developed a conspiracy. And from that point on, they were best buddies. So, a conspiracy here is being developed against Stephen. It talks about: induced men to say– “suborn” is a proper word to describe that. “Bribery” is another word to describe it. We can’t stop this guy. We can’t refute him. We can’t dispute him, so we got to lie about him so he can get arrested. So, what lies did they circulate? They circulated that he was speaking against Moses and that he was speaking against God. Verse 11 says: Then they secretly induce men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and blasphemous words against God.” They accused him of speaking against the Law of Moses.

When the nation of Israel came out of Egypt, God took them to Mount Sinai and He gave them the Mosaic law. And they were under that law for 1500 years. But now the age of law is over. The age of Israel is over for a season because we’re in a new dispensation. We’re in the church age where the church is governed by a law. But it’s not the Mosaic law, it’s the law of Christ, Galatians 6:2. Sometimes called the law of the Spirit, Romans 8:2. And so it’s a different system entirely, although it looks at points, similar to the Law of Moses. It’s not the same system. And so, the more Stephen was talking about this, the more they accused him of speaking against the law of Moses. And as a Jew that’s been under that system for 1500 years, you don’t do that. That’s blasphemous. So, they took Stephen’s statements and made it sound like he was actually attacking the Mosaic law– which he wasn’t. He was simply saying, we’re no longer under today the Mosaic law. And then they accused him, verse 11, of speaking against God. “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”  Leviticus 24:16 says, Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregations will certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death. And they were trying to say that’s what Stephen was doing.

The problem is: to blaspheme God’s name, you had to pronounce it. And Stephen never did that. So, these are basically accusations that are inflated. They’re not accurate when you look at the whole picture. But this is what they did to Stephen because they couldn’t refute his wisdom through which he spoke. So, the lies lead to his arrest. Now they think they have grounds to arrest him. And that’s described in verse 12. It says: And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. “Stirred up” there is a translation of a Greek word that is used only here in the Book of Acts, only in this verse. That’s what you call a hapax legomenon. Hapax means “once.” Legomenon means “word.” When someone says hapax legemenon, it’s a word that’s used only one time in the Greek New Testament. And that’s the word translated “stirred up.” So, these liars (that’s the only way I can describe them) stirred up the elders and the scribes. Now the scribes are connected to the Pharisees. So now they’ve got the Pharisees involved against the church. The church is going to move now into its third persecution, Acts chapter 8. And this time the Pharisees are going to be involved with the Sadducees.

1. Stephen’s Arrest (Acts 6:8-15)
2. Description of Stephen (8)
3. Disputations of Stephen (9-10)
4. Conspiracy against Stephen (11)
5. Arrest of Stephen (12)

In the first two persecutions, the Pharisees weren’t involved. It was just the Sadducees. The Sadducees, as we like to say, were always sad-you-see because they didn’t believe in anything other than the first five books of Moses. They didn’t believe in angels. They didn’t believe in resurrection. They’re basically liberals. This is the best way I can describe them. And the Pharisees were legalists. They were people that added to what God said. So, the Sadducees were on the left and the Pharisees are on the right would be one way of looking at it. The left being very liberal, denying things. And then you have on the right, hyper legalists. And the persecution that’s come against the church so far has been from the Sadducees. But now, by telling all these lies and telling them to the scribes, they’re trying to recruit the Pharisees into this persecution. Look at the bottom of verse 12: and they brought Stephen now before the Council. What’s the Council? The Council is the Sanhedrin. That’s the ruling body within the city of Jerusalem, the nation of Israel. And as they bring him before the Council, they repeat the charges against him, verses 13 and 14. Charge number one is kind of a repeat of what we’ve already seen: you were speaking against the temple. Verse 13, They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law.” Now when they say he speaks against the Holy Place, what they’re saying is he’s speaking against the temple. And that’s designed to get the Sadducees upset. Because their domain was around the temple area. And then what it says is, he’s also speaking against the law of Moses– that’s designed to get the Pharisees upset, because the Pharisees were experts in the Law of Moses. And they were the ones that added things to the Law of Moses.

II. Stephen’s Arrest (Acts 6:8-15)

1. Description of Stephen (8)
2. Disputations of Stephen (9-10)
3. Conspiracy against Stephen (11)
4. Arrest of Stephen (12)
5. Charges Against Stephen (13-14)
6. Charges (13)
7. Speaking against the temple (13a)
8. Speaking against the Law (13b)

So, this is just a bunch of liars trying to upset the religious groups in Israel, whereby, Stephen will be taken off the scene– executed, because they can’t refute what the man is saying. Now when they say: hey, this guy was speaking against the temple, the truth of the matter is, he was never really speaking against the temple. What he was doing is he was repeating what Jesus said about the temple. And I’ll show you in just a minute that Jesus made some predictions about the temple, about its destruction. Because the disciples were always calling everyone’s attention to the temple, including Jesus. And Jesus says, well, the whole thing about 40 years from now, AD 70 is going to be taken apart stone by stone by stone. So, Stephen was probably repeating what Jesus said. But he wasn’t going around deliberately, you know, making statements against the temple. In fact, this idea of speaking against the temple; this is exactly what they accused Jesus of doing– right? Matthew 26:60-61. Of Jesus, it says: They (the religious leaders) did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward– boy, this sounds familiar. But later on two came forward, and said, “This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.’”

Well, the problem is, Jesus never said I’m going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days because he was speaking of His body. But they needed something to usher Him off to execution. So, they just made it sound like He had said, I’m going to destroy the temple. And what’s happening here in the life of Stephen is Christ’s ministry is being replicated through Stephen. It’s just Jesus is now performing this ministry, not on earth, He’s performing it from the right hand of the Father through the apostles and those functioning under the delegated authority of the apostles. In fact, when Stephen dies in the end of Acts 7, he is basically going to say exactly what Jesus said when He died: forgive them, Father, they don’t even know what they’re doing. So that’s what’s happening in the early church. It’s just Jesus is performing His ministry through the church from the right hand of the Father. And that’s what Jesus wants to do in your life. He wants to work through you as His instrument and perform His ministry through you. That’s a different way of looking at our function here on the earth, allowing the Lord to use us as, as He would.

So, they said he’s speaking against the temple– which he really wasn’t. And then they said, he’s speaking against the law, end of verse 13, “and the Law.” But the truth of the matter– and that’s why Stephen was a man of grace– he was trying to explain to people that we’re in a new age now, where the law of Moses is set aside. So, saying “the law has been set aside”, and “we’re under a new law today” is not the same thing as verbally attacking the law. But they just took whatever he said, and they twisted it so they could bring a false accusation against him. And then you go down to verse 14 and you have the substantiation of the charges. As Stephen now is being tried before the Sanhedrin. And here’s how they substantiate the charges. “for we heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.”

1. Stephen’s Arrest (Acts 6:8-15)
2. Description of Stephen (8)
3. Disputations of Stephen (9-10)
4. Conspiracy against Stephen (11)
5. Arrest of Stephen (12)
6. Charges Against Stephen (13-14)
7. Charges (13)
8. Substantiation of charges (14)
9. Against the Temple (14a)
10. Against the Law (14b)

So, the only thing Stephen really was doing was probably reiterating what Jesus had said concerning the destruction of the temple. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24:1-2? It says, Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. See that the Jews were very proud of the temple. And He (that’s Jesus) said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” And that’s a prophecy that was fulfilled accurately forty years later. When the Romans invaded the nation of Israel. In AD 70, and during that time period the temple caught on fire. The gold within the temple melted and it kind of oozed down and dried between the bricks. And the Roman soldiers, in order to get their hands on the gold, took the temple apart brick by brick, exactly like Jesus indicated would happen. Jesus made a similar prediction on Palm Sunday. It says in Luke 19:41-44, When he approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it– Why is He weeping? Because He knows what’s going to happen to the temple and the city in AD 70, because of the nation’s decision to reject Him as their king. ...saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side–“ now, when you study Josephus, that’s exactly what the Romans did to the Jews in AD 70. They built an embankment around them where they couldn’t get out. And the prophecy continues “…they will level you to the ground and your children within you–“ Josephus talks about how the Romans actually tore open the wombs of pregnant Jewish mothers to strangle to death the child inside of them in their attempt to blot out Israel from under heaven.

And by the way, there’s that’s a good pro-life verse, isn’t it? Your children within you. Because we’re living in this culture where the child in the womb of the mother is just kind of a non-human. But the Bible indicates that the child is within them, is a human being. And then it says, “they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” The temple is going to be caught on fire. The gold is going to melt. It’s going to ooze down between the bricks, and it’s going to dry there. And the Roman soldiers, to get their hands on the gold, are going to take the temple apart, brick by brick. And so, when you go to Israel, you can see the remains of the temple structure that Jesus was talking about. And those are actually pictures of us there a few years ago

. And sure enough, the rocks are still there. You know, they’re torn apart stone by stone. Exactly like Jesus said.

So, Stephen, I mean, what is he doing? He’s just kind of repeating what Jesus said would happen to the temple. And they said, well, you’re speaking against the temple. No, I’m not speaking against the temple. I’m just repeating what my Lord and Savior and my master, Jesus of Nazareth told me was going to happen to the temple. But they twisted that, and they made it sound like he was, you know, giving verbal attacks, you know, slander against the temple. And then they also accused Stephen there before the Sanhedrin of speaking against the Law, speaking against Moses. I don’t think Stephen was speaking against the Law. He was just saying the Law is temporarily set aside in this age. And he was probably repeating what Jesus himself said in the sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill].” So that was interpreted as: well, you’re attacking the law. And every time you repeat Christ’s prediction about the temple being destroyed, you’re speaking against the temple. So, when they accused him of speaking against the Law, that was designed to inflame the Pharisees. When they accused him of speaking against the temple, that was designed to inflame the Sadducees. And they’re bribing people to go around saying this stuff to get Stephen off the stage. And this is how Stephen is going to become the first martyr of the church age.

1. Description of Stephen (8)
2. Disputations against Stephen (9-10)
3. Conspiracy against Stephen (11)
4. Arrest of Stephen (12)
5. Charges against Stephen (13-14)
6. Face of Stephen (15)

And then as you look at verse 15, you see the face of Stephen. It says, And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel. So, they’re all looking at him. I mean, they’re bringing all these false accusations against him. The Sanhedrin is looking at him to see what kind of reaction he’s going to have. Is he going to be angry? Is he going to be uneasy? Is he going to be nervous? The leadership is all staring at him and the only thing they can see is his face like that of an angel. It’s here that there’s a simile; equating two things with the linking word “like” or “as.” It’s not saying Stephen is an angel, but he sure looked like an angel when all these false accusations came against him. And the only thing they could see is this calm person under the Spirit’s guidance. And his face looked like an angel. Charles Ryrie says:

Literal interpretation “…might also be called plain interpretation, so that no one receives the mistaken notion that the literal principle rules out figures of speech.”

This is a figure of speech here. And I bring this up because a lot of people will say, Stephen became an angel or something like that. That’s not what it says. His face was like an angel. The Bible is meant to be interpreted literally or figuratively. And usually, the context will help you with that. Here’s Bollinger’s book. You can see when Bollinger lived. (1837-1913) It’s about a thousand-page book. It’s called Figures of Speech Used in the Bible. And you know you’re doing pretty good if you wrote a book a hundred years ago or more and it’s still the standard. If you can get your hands on this book, I highly recommend it. He’ll tell you every figure of speech you’ve ever thought of. And then more similes and metaphors and hyperbole. Those are just a few of the surface ones. He goes into all kinds of figures of speech and shows you in the Bible where each figure of speech is being used. This is just a simple figure of speech called a simile; equating two things with the word “like” or “as.” It’s like when my wife says, “How did you sleep last night?” And I said, “Great. I slept until 8 AM, and I slept like a log.” When I say “8 AM” she doesn’t say, “Well, is that a code of some kind?” No, I’m using plain literal language there. When I switch things around and I say, “I slept like a log,” she doesn’t say, “Did you turn into a piece of wood last night?” Our last name is Woods, after all. No, the word “like” shows you that I’m using a simile. I’ve used this analogy before. Sometimes you can confuse the two. Like one time I left my coffee in the microwave and forgot it was in there, and I didn’t have it set where it was supposed to turn off automatically. So, my cup was running over. And Anne yells at me in the other room and she says, “Uh, Andy, honey, your cup is running over.” And I said, “You know, my cup IS running over. I’m really blessed in life.” But she meant it to be, you know, literally and I interpreted it figuratively. So that’s the mistake you can run into. But generally, it’s not that hard to figure out when the Bible is speaking literally. You just take it at face value when it uses a figure of speech. You know, that’s what it’s doing. That’s how all language functions.

So, they’re looking at Stephen and his face was like that of an angel– that’s the ability of the Holy Spirit to give you calmness in the midst of fire. They’re expecting him to freak out because he’s being falsely accused, and they’re looking for a reaction. And all he looks like is angelic. Arnold Fruchtenbaum says they could have seen here on Stephen the Shekinah glory of God. And then this whole unit ends with now the opportunity for Stephen. And you see that in chapter 7:1, which really, in my opinion, should go with the prior chapter.

It says, The high priest (the leader of the Sanhedrin) said, “Are these things so?” In other words, how do you plead? Guilty or innocent? And that question now gives Stephen a chance to talk. And boy, does he talk. He starts talking in verse 2 of chapter 7. And he doesn’t stop talking until verse 53. And the only reason he’s got to stop talking at that point is they execute him. They stone him to death. But in between those verses, verse 2 and verse 53 is– other than the sermon on the Mount, it may be the greatest sermon in the whole Bible. It’s certainly the longest sermon in the book of Acts that I know of. And there’s no notes, there’s no help, there’s no PowerPoint, there’s no sermon outline. It’s just him weaving together Israel’s history, showing that the nation of Israel has a habit of getting things wrong. And he goes through all this history. It’s a summation. And he gets to the end of the sermon, and he says: You’re doing the same thing right now. You’re getting it wrong right now through your rejection of the Messiah. And they’re not going to like it. And they kill him. And there’s a young man presiding over the execution named Saul of Tarsus, who’s watching this. Who’s watching this guy with the face like an angel under fire, under the Spirit’s guidance, under pressure seemingly off the top of his head, weaving together a literary masterpiece. And I think at that point the Holy Spirit planted a seed in the heart of Saul.

And that seed is later going to be watered and it’s going to lead to the conversion of Saul, where he becomes Paul in Acts 9. So that’s how Stephen is this bridge between Peter and Paul. I guess God can get to anybody any way but I think, had Saul not seen this, a major seed wouldn’t have been planted that the Holy Spirit would water, thereby leading to his conversion. So, when you share the gospel with people and they just grind their teeth and are just mad at you, you have to understand that the reason they’re upset is the Holy Spirit is working on him. I mean, if they get upset at you, that’s a good thing. Because what’s happening is they’re taking truth and they’re holding it down and suppressing it. And they’re getting angry. And when they get angry at you, don’t say, boy, I wish I had done it differently or. You know, I guess I failed this time around. I don’t see a conversion. All I’m doing is getting everybody upset. Well, you have to look at it as, what you just did is planted a seed in their heart through God’s power that the Lord will take later on– like he did with Saul– and water it and bring it to fruition. We’re not called to be successful. We’re called to be faithful. And all the farmer does is he gets out there and he plants a seed. And he’s faithful in that, and there are forces outside of his control that come into play later that bring those seeds into trees and plants and that kind of thing. And I think that’s what’s happening in this man Stephens life.

So, we have the appointment of the first deacons, and we have Stephen’s arrest. The Stephen story has four parts to it. His arrest, which we covered tonight. His defense, verse 2 through verse 53, which we’re going to just start next week. Then his stoning, his execution, verses 54 through 60. And once Saul (pre-conversion) hears this speech about how Israel has always gotten it wrong the first time around, and they’re getting it wrong now, he gets so angry that he launches a horrific wave of persecution against the church. And that pushes the church outside of Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria. That should ring a bell, because Jesus said, you’ll be my witnesses– where? In Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the remote parts of the earth. And I doubt the church would have ever left Jerusalem had that persecution not happened. I mean, they were pretty cozy in Jerusalem. Why leave? And God never said: “Oh, by the way, I’m going to get you out of Jerusalem, into Judea and Samaria through persecution.”

So, when you get persecuted and you have to move, or you have to change your jobs or you get transferred or something like that, don’t think that, you know, I must be out of God’s will. Sometimes He’s got to push us outside of our comfort zones to get us doing what we’re supposed to be doing. And this is how the master’s plan of evangelism unfolded. He just never told him in Acts 1:8, Hey by the way, I’m going to have to literally kick you guys out of Jerusalem. That was kind of a surprise later. But it’s Stephen’s speech that caused this anger in Saul which led to this persecution. And also planted a seed in the heart of Saul, who became Paul. You know the guy that wrote two-thirds of our New Testament letters? And it’s all the work of this faithful deacon named Stephen. Here’s an overview real fast. I won’t go into depth here of Stephen’s speech that we’re going to start studying next time. All history, all off the top of his head, seemingly. And it’s got about six parts. Verses 2 through 5 is: Abraham’s partial obedience. Abraham was obedient to God. Sort of. Most of the time. But it wasn’t complete obedience. Part two, verses 6 through 38: the Jews get it right the second time. They never get it right the first time. They rejected Joseph, they threw him in a pit, but later the brothers submitted to his authority when he was thirty years old.

Same with Moses. They said to Moses, are you going to kill us like you killed the Egyptian yesterday? And Moses has to go out to Midian for forty years. And then when he comes back, then the nation submits to him. So you get it right the second time. You never get it right the first time. This is a Jew telling fellow Jews this. Part three: You all are rebellious. Because Moses was on Mount Sinai for forty days. And you guys, you didn’t just rebel, you, like, ultimately rebelled. You created a golden calf. Now if you create a golden calf, you’re only violating the first two commandments, right? No gods before me, no graven images. And by the way, who led the charge with the golden calf? Aaron, the high priest. How’s that for a guy fulfilling his job description? Moses is gone for forty days? Let’s build this golden calf and violate the first two commandments of God. And by the way, Aaron never takes responsibility for the golden calf. When he’s confronted, he says, “Oh, well, we just took our metal and stuff and threw it in this fire and out came this calf.” And that’s part three of the speech. Part four of the speech is: you guys were supposed to be monotheistic. And in the time of the prophets, you started to worship multiple gods– polytheistic.

And then he says, part five: this temple that you’re so proud of– that was never intended to be a permanent habitation of God. God never said, I’m going to dwell in this temple forever. So, when God now starts a new work through the church and he starts to indwell the Christian instead of a physical temple, that shouldn’t bother you. And so, he gets through all this stuff and he’s quoting all these Old Testament references to make all these points. And then he gets to the last part of the speech, and he says, you guys are just as bad as every generation that came before you. That’s how it concludes. And that’s why they’re grinding their teeth as he’s talking. And they’re starting to shut their ears because they don’t want to hear it. And that’s what leads to his execution. So have fun with Acts 7 this week. As you study it, I would encourage you to read through it in preparation for next time. And we’ll pick it up with Acts 7:2 next time.