NT Doctrine — Acts 6:9-15

Once again, I am unable to improve on my previous commentary on this passage.

All of these new elders preached, but unlike the Apostles, they had the natural tendency to preach outside the old Hebrew communities. It’s hard to explain Stephen’s behavior unless we assume he had some rabbinical training. He knew not merely the text of the Old Testament, but also much of the oral historical traditions now missing or buried in Talmudic mythology. Highly educated, yet filled with the Spirit such that he manifested signs and miracles, this man took the message to places the Apostles could not. Preaching was not confined to those called to pastor.

Perhaps Stephen had previously been associated with the Synagogue of the Freedmen. The synagogue name refers to Greek-speaking Jews who had formerly been slaves under Roman law, but somehow won their freedom. It was quite an accomplishment. There may have been hundreds of such little cloistered synagogues in and around Jerusalem, catering to one group or another. This synagogue must have held some claim to fame, with big shots from Alexandria, North Africa, and what we now call Turkey and Northern Syria. It would naturally be a Greek-speaking synagogue, and Stephen was quite comfortable, not only in the language, but the Alexandrian style of rhetoric so popular with such people. It is important here to note that no one seemed to have any particular vision for spreading the gospel outside native Judeans; Stephen simply went to those with whom he had some affinity.

In debating with these Freedmen, Stephen was promoting the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this gospel he would surely have included Jesus’ rejection of the Hellenized Talmud, so near and dear to Alexandrian hearts. Stephen approached them on their own terms, with their own style of reasoning. He showed how Jesus was the central focal point of all ancient prophecies, had fulfilled the Law of Moses, and closed the Temple rituals. There was now no other sacrifice acceptable to God but the blood of His Son for forgiveness of sins. So Stephen was arguing that the Talmud was wrong, the rituals were dead, and Jesus was the rightful King of all Jews worldwide.

We are hardly surprised that those who were not moved by the Spirit to accept this impossible message would be infuriated at this smart-aleck attacking everything they thought made them special in God’s eyes. What far too many wish to underplay here is the hateful racist superiority complex of Jews in that day. They might argue among themselves who was more pure in Jewishness, but nobody would ever surrender an inch to including actual Gentiles in God’s blessings. Jehovah made the world, but He was in their minds God of the Jews only, and everyone else was made by God to serve them. Any Messianic message failing to confirm this prejudice was hateful to them.

So they networked with other significant figures in the city to accuse Stephen before the Sanhedrin. All this sounded to them like blasphemy, and an attack on the Temple itself, “God’s Residence.” Luke calls them false witnesses in the sense that they lied against God and His Word, but the claims were more or less accurate from the slavishly literalist viewpoint of the Pharisees.

What had Jesus actually said? When the Twelve were discussing the Temple facility one day, Jesus said it was just a building, and would one day suffer the fate of all buildings. Moreover, it would be utterly destroyed because His Nation would reject Him. While it may well be in the minds of Jews the Residence of Jehovah, His divine Presence had not been there in centuries. Instead, it was born in the flesh of His Son. So Jesus pointed to His own body and said if anyone tried to tear down this Temple, He would simply bring it back in three days. More, He was going away to make His followers into walking Temples of the Lord, just as He had been. He would reside in their hearts as the Holy Spirit. There was simply no room for such truth in the minds of the Jewish leaders.

So arresting Stephen and hauling him before the assembled court, they saw a man whose face glowed with divine presence. It must surely have made them nervous, for to be in God’s presence always makes us aware of our sin. We can either confess it and be forgiven, or close our hearts and cling to sin as our “holiness.” The tension between the truth and the established order was about to erupt.