Now, I’ve been going through these first chapters of Acts slowly to give a somewhat detailed account of what has been happening. The church in Jerusalem is growing rapidly, signs and wonders are abundant and the region around Jerusalem is excited about what God is doing there; and as the church grows, so too, the opposition of the religious establishment grows as well. The last lesson ended with Acts 5:24. Following along in chapter 5, the apostles are arrested for the third time; they give their defense (“We ought to obey God, rather than men.”); this angers the Jews, who want to kill them; then Gamaliel reminds them of the history of rebellion in Israel and the fact that they just might be fighting against God this time.
I know this situation is serious and I’m not trying to make light of it. But I’ve always found verse 40 humorous. The Jews agreed with Gamaliel, decided not to kill the apostles, but gave them a good beating before they warned them not to preach or teach in that name again and then let them go. And, in spite of the beating, the apostles rejoiced in the experience (verse 41), then went right back to what they were doing – preaching and teaching Jesus Christ (verse 42).
This brings us to chapter 6 and the first signs of trouble in the church. Verse 1 tells us the Greek-speaking disciples were complaining that the Hebrews were neglecting their widows in the daily distribution of food. Evidently there was some possible discrimination or preferential treatment involved here. The Hebrews were in charge of the distribution and the Greeks thought they were being mistreated. This was probably a volunteer duty and may well have had some problems with greed, inefficiency, or even prejudice.
Verse 3 says, “Choose from among yourselves seven men with honest reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, so we can assign them this duty.” This suggests these men were chosen from both factions, so there could be confidence in the fairness of the distribution. Then the apostles affirmed their commitment to the preaching and teaching of the word (verse 4), and the seven men were selected and approved (verses 5-6).
At this point let me say that what the church was doing (having all things in common, selling their possessions, lands and houses) was never going to work for any extended period. The larger it grew, the more difficult it was going to be to avoid strife and have enough resources to continue. Eventually those needing support would far outnumber those who could supply what would be needed. In other words, the bigger the group, the sooner they would run out of money. From a practical standpoint, this is socialism – something that is never taught in scripture, has never benefitted those who tried it and the only ones who ever prosper from it are the ones in charge. So, why, you might ask, was this done? If the apostles were so in tuned to the Holy Spirit, why did the Spirit not warn them of the dangers of such a practice?
The answer is found in Acts 8 and we’ll get to that shortly (in the next lesson). But first we have to look at Acts 6:7 “So God’s message kept spreading and the number of disciples kept growing in Jerusalem; and even a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” This is noteworthy, as it shows how powerful this movement had become. Even the priests, those who had been so bitterly opposed to Christ, were coming to Him.
Acts 6:8 introduces us to Stephen, one of the seven men chosen by the assembly in verse 5, a man described as “full of grace and power, who did many wonders and signs among the people”. There are two things that stand out in this account concerning Stephen: the first is that it shows us the apostles were not the only ones in the church that had the ability to work miracles during this time; the other is that we are introduced to Saul, who later becomes Paul – a key figure in the New Testament and the one given revelation essential to our understanding of important doctrinal issues.
The account of Stephen’s persecution, trial, defense and death runs from Acts 6:8 to 8:2. He was opposed by a group of Jews (some were Libertines, probably freed slaves who came to Jerusalem after being expelled from Rome by Tiberius around 20 AD, others were either Jews or proselytes from North Africa and Asia) who could not defend their religion against Stephen’s wisdom and truth (verses 9-10). So they bribed men to accuse him of blasphemy and stirred up a mob to seize him and take him before the council, where they could accuse him and see him judged for his crime (verses 11-14).
Then we see verse 15 and marvel at the hardheartedness and ignorance of the religious leaders. “Then all who sat in the council gazed intently at Stephen, because his face looked like the face of an angel.” Now, what does the face of an angel look like? Since it’s not specifically described, let’s examine this. If you look at the many appearances of angels in scripture (there are about 100), the one thing you notice is that they are recognized as angels.
I have to go back to the last lesson and, “I am Gabriel, I stand in the very presence of God”. Could it be that they have a radiance, a brilliance that represents the glory of the God they serve and the sign of His authority in whatever they say or do? It’s more than interesting that Stephen’s face looked like the face of an angel. Here, he’s accused of speaking against Moses (verse 11) and against the customs given to Israel by Moses (verse 14), yet his face was radiant just like Moses’ face after he had been in the presence of God (Exodus 34:29-35). God made His approval of Stephen and his message clear; but the council couldn’t see it.
Stephen is accused of blasphemy because he said: Christ is greater than Moses (verses 11, 14); Christ is greater than the temple or the law (verses 11, 14); Christ will destroy the temple (verse 14); and Christ will abolish the law and make a new covenant (verse 14).