The Early Church · c. AD 31–34
Chapter 5
Stephen
All who sat in the council, fastening their eyes on him, saw his face like it was the face of an angel.
For parents
This chapter ends with Stephen being thrown out of the city and stoned to death while he prays for the people who are killing him (Acts 7:54–60). It is told plainly and softly, with no detail of his wounds. In his speech Stephen also recalls a king forcing Israel to abandon their babies so that they would not live (7:19), and Moses killing an Egyptian (7:24–28).
In those days, more and more people were becoming . The were also of descent, but they spoke Greek and lived by Greek ways. Their widows, the women whose husbands had died, were being passed over when help was handed out each day, so the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews.
The twelve called the whole crowd of disciples together. “It isn’t right for us to set aside the word of God to serve at tables,” they said.
“So, brothers and sisters, look among yourselves for seven men. They should be men people speak well of, full of the and of wisdom. We will put them in charge of this work. But we will keep on faithfully in prayer and in serving the word.”
These words pleased the whole crowd. They chose , a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. They also chose , Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a from .
They had these men stand before the . When they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
The word of God kept spreading, and the number of the disciples in grew very large. A great many were obedient to the faith.
Stephen, full of faith and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.
But some people stood up to argue with Stephen. They were from the called “the ,” and from the , the , and the people of and . They couldn’t hold their own against the wisdom and the Spirit he spoke with.
Then they secretly got men to say, “We have heard him speak words against and God.”
They stirred up the people, the , and the . Then they came at Stephen, seized him, and brought him before the .
They brought in false witnesses, who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. We have heard him say that this of will destroy this place and will change the customs Moses passed down to us.”
Everyone who sat in the council kept their eyes on him, and they saw his face: it was like the face of an .
The asked, “Are these things so?”
Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of appeared to our father when he was in , before he lived in . He said to him, ‘Leave your land, go away from your relatives, and come into a land that I will show you.’
“Then Abraham came out of the land of the and lived in Haran. From there, after his father’s death, God moved him into this land where you are living now. God gave him no land of his own there, not even a spot big enough to set his foot on. But he promised to give it to Abraham to own, and to his after him, at a time when Abraham still had no child.
“God said that Abraham’s offspring would live as foreigners in another people’s land, and they would be made slaves and mistreated for four hundred years. ‘I will judge the nation they will be slaves to,’ God said, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’
“God gave Abraham the of . So Abraham became the father of , and he circumcised him when he was eight days old. Isaac became the father of , and Jacob became the father of the twelve .
“The patriarchs were jealous of , and they sold him into . God was with him. God rescued him from all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom before , king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and over all his household.
“Then a famine came over all the land of Egypt and . There was great hardship, and our ancestors found no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our ancestors on their first trip.
“The second time, Joseph’s brothers learned who he was, and Pharaoh found out about Joseph’s family. Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and for all his relatives, seventy-five people.
“Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died there, and so did our ancestors. They were brought back to and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of of Shechem.
“But as the time came near for the promise God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, until another king came to power, one who didn’t know Joseph. He took advantage of our people and mistreated our ancestors. He forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t live.
“At that time Moses was born. He was very beautiful in God’s sight. He was looked after in his father’s house for three months. When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him in and raised him as her own son. Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and in what he did.
“When he was forty years old, he made up his mind to visit his brothers, the Israelites. He saw that one of them was being wronged, and he defended him. He took revenge for the man who was being mistreated: he struck the Egyptian dead. He thought his own people understood that God was rescuing them through him, but they didn’t understand.
“The next day he came across them while they were fighting, and he urged them to make peace again. ‘Sirs, you are brothers,’ he said. ‘Why do you wrong one another?’ But the man who had wronged his neighbor pushed him away. ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?’ he said. ‘Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
“When Moses heard this, he fled. He made his home as a foreigner in , where he became the father of two sons.
“When forty years had passed, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount , in a flame of fire in a bush. Moses saw it and was amazed. As he came closer to look, the voice of the Lord came to him.
“‘I am the God of your ancestors,’ the voice said, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and didn’t dare to look.
“The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because the place where you stand is holy ground. I have surely seen the suffering of my people in Egypt, and I have heard them groaning. I have come down to rescue them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’
“This is the Moses they rejected. They had said, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ But God sent him to be both a ruler and a rescuer, with help from the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
“This man led them out, working wonders and signs in Egypt, in the , and in the wilderness for forty years. This is that Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a for you from among your brothers, one like me.’
“This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai. He was there with our ancestors too, and he received living words to give to us. Our ancestors would not obey him. They pushed him away, and they turned back in their hearts to Egypt.
“They said to , ‘Make us gods to go ahead of us. As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ In those days they made a calf. They brought a sacrifice to the , and they rejoiced in the things their own hands had made.
“But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you offer me slain animals and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? You carried the tent of , the star of your god , the figures you made to worship. So I will carry you away beyond .’
“In the wilderness our ancestors had the of the . The one who spoke to Moses had commanded him to make it by the pattern he had seen, and it was made just that way.
“Our ancestors received it in their turn. They brought it in with when they took over the land of the nations that God drove out ahead of them, down to the days of . God was pleased with David, and David asked to find a home for the God of Jacob. But built him a house.
“However, the doesn’t live in temples made with hands. As the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord. ‘Or what place could I rest in? Didn’t my hand make all these things?’
“You stubborn people! You are , and you always resist the Holy Spirit. You do just as your ancestors did. Which of the prophets didn’t your ancestors persecute? They killed those who told ahead of time that the Righteous One would come. You have now become the ones who betrayed him and murdered him. You received the law, put in place by angels, and you didn’t keep it!”
When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they ground their teeth at him.
But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked steadily up into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus, who was standing at God’s right hand.
Stephen said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the standing at the right hand of God!”
But they cried out loudly and covered their ears, and then they all rushed at him together. They threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their cloaks at the feet of a young man named .
They stoned Stephen as he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
He went down on his knees and called out in a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep in death.