Slices
Bible passage
44 ‘Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favour and asked that he might provide a dwelling-place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
48 ‘However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
49 ‘“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?”
51 ‘You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: you always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him – 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.’
The stoning of Stephen
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he fell asleep.
8 And Saul approved of their killing him.
The church persecuted and scattered
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Explore
The climax of Stephen’s speech seals his fate. He questions the Sanhedrin’s understanding of the Temple and directly accuses them of resisting the Holy Spirit and failing to obey the law. He demonstrates that ‘the relationship between God and his people predated the temple, the law and even the land of Israel’.* God appeared to people and was present with them, spoke and made promises to them, both within and outside the Promised Land – all before there was a moveable Temple/tabernacle, far less the edifice in Jerusalem (vs 2–43). He even implies surprise that David, ‘who enjoyed God’s favour’ (v 46), wasn’t allowed to build the Temple: Solomon got the job. Then verses 49 and 50 clinch it – God can’t be confined to any physical spot.
Stephen’s conclusion? ‘You are part of a long line of those who have missed the point and worst of all you’ve blanked Jesus.’ This is a crunch point, a parting of ways between those who see Jesus as the fulfilment of Israel’s history and those who see a blasphemer whose faction must be violently counteracted. Stephen’s death echoes his Lord’s, with Saul an approving bystander, and a pogrom against Jewish believers in Jesus ensues (8:1–3).
*Conrad Gempf, ‘Acts of the Apostles’, in The New Bible Commentary, 21st Century Edition, IVP, 1994
Respond
Compare Stephen and members of the Sanhedrin. Who has most to teach us? Make a list of lessons we can learn from both and give thanks for all we have gained by Stephen’s courageous stand.
Deeper Bible study
Lord, help us to hear the crucial question this text asks of us and our faith.
The story of Stephen – church administrator become dynamic preacher – moves to its tragic climax. His indictment of his accusers appears to suggest that the reign of Solomon, often presented as the pinnacle of Israel’s history, was a turning point which resulted in the collapse of the nation and ended in the destruction of both city and Temple. The criticism of the Temple is taken to a new level. It provokes the crowd to furious outrage, precisely because Stephen’s message implied that the tragic history of biblical Israel was repeating itself and the rejection of God’s servant – the ‘Righteous One’ (v 52) – would have the same terrible consequences for his own generation. The audience is transformed into a frenzied mob and we have the extraordinary picture of the crowd, covering their ears and screaming their demand for blood. In the midst of this frenzy and in contrast with it, we see Stephen’s calm vision of the exalted Son of Man, vindicated at the right hand of God.
For at least the next 300 years, scenes like this one would be repeated on many occasions. Hundreds of men and women faced the decision between life and death as the Christian movement expanded across the Roman Empire. The story of the church and its martyrs reminds us that ‘there were Christians who quite joyfully parted with possessions, family, friends, even life itself in order to remain faithful.’1 This may seem very remote from our lives, but perhaps above all else the story of Stephen compels us to ask: what is really worth living for and dying for today?
As you reflect on that question, consider the advice of Hebrews 12:1–3.
1 William Willimon, Acts: INTERPRETATION: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, John Knox Press, 1988, p66–67
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Chronicles 28,29; Psalms 70,71
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