Acts: Stephen Arrested

Acts 6:8-15 New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

¹¹ Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”

¹² So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. ¹³ They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. ¹⁴ For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵ All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Stephen was a Jew who spoke Greek. He was one of the 7 helpers. His job was to give food to the poor believers. God was showing his truth and power by means of Stephen. God can use us in any way that he wants. He can use us even when we are doing a practical job, like Stephen.

The ‘Freedmen’ were slaves once. But their masters had freed them. The ‘Freedmen’ included also Jews whose ancestors had been slaves. We think that the ‘Freedmen’ were foreign Jews that had come to Jerusalem. The ‘Freedmen’ did not like what Stephen was saying. But they could not defeat him in an argument. This was because his message came from the Holy Spirit. Jesus had promised that he would give words and wisdom to his disciples. He had promised that their enemies would not win arguments against them (Luke 21:15).

Stephen’s enemies could not defeat him with their own arguments. So, they paid some men to lie. These men said that Stephen was speaking against God and Moses.

Some men said that Stephen had insulted the Temple and the Law. This would make the Jews that lived in Jerusalem especially angry. The Temple was the center of their worship. Many Jews had jobs that depended on the Temple. It was important for businesses in Jerusalem. The Jews believed that they should obey the Law andthat this was the way to please God.

Jesus’ enemies also paid men to tell lies about him. These men lied about him in front of the Sanhedrin. However, the lies that they told were not completely false. They took something that Jesus had said. But they changed it slightly. This is what Stephen’s enemies did. Jesus had said that men would knock the Temple down (Mark 13:2). But then the Jews wanted proof that Jesus had authority from God. Jesus told them to ‘destroy this temple’ (John 2:19). He promised to build it up again in three days. Jesus was talking about his body. His body was like a temple. That was because Jesus lived to please God the Father. Perhaps Stephen had repeated Jesus’ words. People had built the Jewish Temple with their hands. But now Jesus had come, and he was greater than the Temple. So, ‘something greater than the Temple’ had come (Matthew 12:6). Stephen knew what Jesus had really meant. Jesus has replaced the Temple. He has completed the Law. He is the only way to God. People may worship God in a particular way. But the particular way in itself cannot bring them close to him. They cannot please God if they just follow rules. They must believe in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they must trust in him. That is the only way to God. If we obey Jesus, we are obeying God.

Stephen’s face shone like an angel’s face when he stood in front of the Sanhedrin. Moses’ face also shone when he brought the Law down from the mountain (Exodus 34:29). Both Stephen’s and Moses’ face shone. This showed that God approved of them. Luke makes it clear that Stephen had God’s blessing. Stephen had grace and power (verse 8). He had special wisdom (verse 10). And his face shone like an angel’s face (verse 15).