Pastor's Sermon Notes: The Trial of Stephen - Stephen on Center Stage (Acts 6:8-15)

The Trial of Stephen

Subtitle:  Stephen on Center Stage

Acts 6:8-15

⁸ And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. ⁹ Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. ¹⁰ And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. ¹¹ Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. ¹² And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, ¹³ And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: ¹⁴ For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. ¹⁵ And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Introduction:

           

Overview/Introduction of Chapter 6:

Patterns:

1.  miracles → witness

2.  preaching to the Jews → Gospel rejected by the Jews → preaching to the Gentiles

3.  Jewish opposition to the Gospel and persecution of the Christians → the spread of the Christians and the Gospel

What takes place in this chapter is going to ratchet up the opposition to the Gospel by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.  Their rejection of the Gospel will soon go beyond arrests and beatings to public murder. 

Significant events - Between the first two “Pentecosts” (Jewish in Acts 2, and Samaritan in Acts 8), and following the birth of the Church in Acts 2

Significant persons - Peter is usually at the forefront in these early chapters of Acts, later Paul’s ministry will be the focus

Geographical movement - still in Jerusalem (Acts 1:8), soon to move to Judea and Samaria prior to the journeys to “the ends of the earth”

Outline:

I.  Stephen the Target (6:8)

II.  Stephen the Unimpeachable (6:9-10)

III.  Stephen the True Witness (6:11-14)

IV.  Stephen the Transfigured (6:15)

I.  Stephen the Target (6:8)

⁸ And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

The focus shifts clearly on the personal level and even though Peter is not “out of the picture”, he is not mentioned at all in chapters 6-7.  Why Stephen becomes a target must be considered on two levels.

1.  The first level is what is explicitly recorded in this verse.

2.  The second is somewhat between the lines here, but includes what was mentioned previously, i.e., the success of the ministry that he and the other members of “The Seven” were charged with.

II.  Stephen the Unimpeachable (6:9-10)

 ⁹ Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. ¹⁰ And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.

 Two connections need to be made here, and perhaps another is in order as well.

1.  Why members of this particular synagogue or these synagogues are explicitly mentioned as engaged in disputing with Stephen is not spelled out here, but may be understandable in the flow of the context.

2.  One geographical area mentioned is of particular interest, i.e., Cilicia, since this is where Paul is from.  Tarsus, his home city is in Cilicia.

3.  Also, perhaps the influx of those from the geographical areas around Jerusalem due to the news spreading concerning the miraculous power of the Apostles may have begun to impact the home areas, friends, families and outlying synagogues related to these disputers.

III.  Stephen the True Witness (6:11-14)

 ¹¹ Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. ¹² And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, ¹³ And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: ¹⁴ For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

Here we have false witnesses against the true witness.  To make matters worse we have false witnesses meaning violators of the ninth commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (Ex. 20:16), who are breaking the Law of Moses in their attempts to indict Stephen for blaspheming the Law of Moses.  Stephen is the true witness of Jesus Christ demonstrating in the Holy Spirit by wonders, miracles and wisdom the truth of the Gospel of the New Covenant.  This juxtaposition of false witnesses against the true witness hearkens back to those who spoke against Christ Himself.  These counterposed elements in this controntation are a dramatic irony in the history of the early Church.  This event is certainly a significant legal factor in this book establishing the legitimacy of Christianity and exposing the hypocrisy of the Jewish leadership.

The two common elements in their charge are the focus for them:

1) “this holy place” (6:13), “the place” (6:14), and,

2) “the law” (6:13), “the customs which Moses delivered us” (6:14).

What must be considered here are the connections to the accusations against Christ and Jewish sensitivity about anything to do with the Law of Moses and the Temple in Jerusalem.  As the disciples themselves indicated in conversation with Christ the Temple was a focal point for Jewish pride, and the Law was the source of their distinctive identity second only to descent from Abraham.

It may be that reports of Stephen’s teachings had been filtering back with misstatements leading to misunderstandings.  However, when face to face with Stephen getting it “right from the horse’s mouth” as it were, they could not deal with what he was confronting them with so they fell back on what may have only begun as a misunderstanding.  What they did understand rightly was bad enough, and would soon be revealed to be true in fact.

IV.  Stephen the Transfigured (6:15)

 ¹⁵ And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Exodus 34 must be considered here especially in relation to the charge of blasphemy against Moses.  To these leaders who knew their Bibles (our Old Testament) well, this must have been startling.

Conclusion:

The stage is now set for the great “sermon”, Stephen’s “defense” in chapter 7 which provokes his murderers to their bloody and illegal deed.

Let it be clearly understood that this world is composed of the children of light and the children of darkeness, the children of God and the children of the devil.  There is no middle ground here. These identities are black and white distinctives between the elect and the reprobate.  Sometimes appearances and impressions place these below the surface and they may not seem as clear as they are in reality.  At other times the graphic nature of the differences comes boiling to the surface as here.  Do not be surprised if you find it so in your own experience!

2 Cor. 6:14-7:1

[Sermon preached 13 OCT 2013 by Pastor John T. “Jack” Jeffery at Wayside Gospel Chapel, Greentown, PA.]

Resources:

G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, eds., Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), pp. 513-606.

Darrell L. Bock, Acts, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, eds. Robert W. Yarbrough and Robert H. Stein (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007)

                                                  

F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1951, 1952).

I. Howard Marshall, Acts: An Introduction And Commentary, Vol. 5 in Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, gen. ed. Leon Morris (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980; 2008 reprint).

David G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles, The Pillar New Testament Commentaries, gen. ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009).

John B. Polhill, Acts, Vol. 26 in The New American Commentary, gen. ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, Publishers, 1992).

Eckhard J. Schnabel, Acts, Vol. 5 in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, gen. ed. Clinton E. Arnold (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012).

William H. Willimon, Acts, in Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, series ed. James Luther Mays, New Testament ed. Paul J. Achtemeier (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010).