12/02/08

The Acts of the Apostles-Week 12

Chapter 7

Verses 1-53

Stephen’s Speech

1.     verse 1…a continuation from Chapter 6:15…”are the charges true?” These are the charges of the Freedmen and those that they had paid, (bribed, threatened?) others to speak against Stephen. 

2.   verses 2-47…Stephen’s reply to the charges are not so much of a defense seeking absolution but more of setting a table of what Judaism is fundamentally all about. The Land (Israel, Promised Land), the Law (The Torah, the 632+ various statues/laws for everyday life), and the Temple (the center of worship, the location of the Holy of Holies, God’s earthly residence). FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Do we, in the current church fall victim to the same set of values? We see our church structures as “holy ground” that are to be protected, given special zoning consideration etc, special tax consideration and so on. We see our church doctrines (laws) as being, in many cases, absolute within a particular denomination and all others wrong. We focus so much on our “Cathedrals of Worship” that we seem to forget that the real and true “land” of the church is our heart. The law is that which is written on our heart by the Holy Spirit and the true temple is our own bodies.

·        Stephen then calls upon scripture to vilify all that he is saying concerning “the land, the law, and the temple”. He brings to mind Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the Patriarchs. Stephen brings to mind all of these and then shows how the land was not won and kept, the law is unmanageable, and the temple is but a building. This truly fires the anger of his listeners.  

3.   verses 51-53…Stephen admonition to his listeners.

·        v 51…”you stiff necked people”…here he is saying much of what Peter said when he spoke to the council. Stephen is more direct and not worried as to how it is phrased. Is this possible due to his lack of being born a Jew?

·        v 51…uncircumcised heart and ears…here Stephen is using the image of a Jewish tradition of the covenant with God to tell his listeners that they may bear the mark of physical circumcision but they act no better than the pagan/heathens.

·        v 51…”you always resist the Holy Spirit”  NOTE: Here we can see that little has changed in 2000 years since Stephen spoke to the Council. In many of our churches the will of the leaders/denomination often will supersede the will of the Holy Spirit. And the churches wonder in amazement as to why they are declining.

·        v 52…”was there ever a prophet that your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those that predicted the coming of the Righteous One (Jesus). And now you (a direct accusation) have betrayed and murdered him. NOTE: As with Peter, we see the blame for the death of Jesus laid upon the Jewish leaders but can you “hear and feel” the difference in the tone and the words from Peter and the ones from Stephen. Also, Stephen is not Jewish and in not a witness to the resurrected Jesus as were Peter and the others. Stephen is speaking, more or less, on his own.

·        v 53…”law…put into effect through angels…” This is not Jesus but the Law of Moses that was, by tradition, given to him from angelic meditation. Today we would say the same thing in reference to the writers of the New Testament but would use the phrase…”as inspired by the Holy Spirit”.