Bible Study series: Acts 7:51-53 Stephen is coming on strong. Fearless!
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At the link to the original post, next, I write more commentary and dig a little deeper into the Greek. I also offer a section titled Observations for Discipleship at the end. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided in the commentary section for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Acts 7:51-53
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised of hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, as your ancestors did, so do you also! 52 Which one of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murders you have now become! 53 You who received the law as the decrees of angels, but you have not kept!” (Acts 7:51-53)
Comments:
Stephen, the first Christian martyr, drives home his point with harsh (but true) words.
His point:
The Sanhedrin = the Ancient Israelites
For more about the Sanhedrin, click here.
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
The conviction of God fell on them, particularly when he cried out that he saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Stephen died with dignity and full of the Spirit, as he imitated his Lord in asking for their forgiveness.
51:
The context of these words matters. It is not a good idea to speak like this to your family or a clerk at the local coffee shop or your colleague at your job or a postal worker. Jesus used harsh language (Matt. 23:29-37), but he did so against religious leaders who kept oppressing people with heavy religious burdens, not against ordinary people (Jesus used harsh language). Stephen is now doing the same thing.
“resist”: It can also mean “oppose.” The Spirit can be resisted, which, in my opinion, means the grace and call of God for salvation can also be resisted. People do not stride into God’s kingdom unassisted or without God’s grace and Spirit wooing them, and, yes, God calls and woos everyone who hears the gospel and his Word, but they can certainly resist his call throughout their lives, while others respond. Salvation is God’s initiation and wooing. Resistance to it is man’s free will.
As to the OT background, here is a relevant verse:
10 Yet they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit.
So he turned and became their enemy
and he himself fought against them. (Is. 63:10, NIV).
This one is about Moses:
14 for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you [Moses] disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (Num. 27:14, NIV)
52:
“the coming” It is a Greek noun eleusis (pronounced eh-lew-sis); it is used only three times in the NT and all in Luke Acts: here, Luke 21:7 and 23:42. It was firmly entrenched in the Greek writing of Judaism, as meaning the coming of the Messiah. So the Jews who were about to kill Stephen recognized the term. It convicted them.
In Stephen’s times it was widely believed that prophets were persecuted and died as martyrs. There is plenty of evidence for persecution, notably Jeremiah, but the martyrdoms of prophets, for example, Isaiah, is based more on tradition long afterwards they lived than on contemporary evidence.
“the Righteous One”: the term has a Messianic designation: Acts 3:14; 22:14; 1 John 2:1; Luke 23:47; Matt. 27:19, 24; and in the OT: 2 Sam. 23:3; Is. 32:1; 53:11; Zech. 9:9. In literature outside the Bible it is the same: 1 Enoch 38:2 and 46:3. In Is. 53:11, the servant of the Lord will be the righteous one. All in all, this is high Christology.
Do I Really Know God? He Is Righteous and Just
The Sanhedrin remembered that they are the ones who pushed the Roman authorities to execute Jesus. Those are tough words, just like Peter preached too (Acts 5:30). Boldness from the Spirit.
53:
Now that’s irony. The Sanhedrin honored and treasured the law. They believed that angels delivered it. But they did not keep it.
“angels” see v. 38 for more comments. Many Jews believed that angels superintended the transference of the law to Moses. They were intermediaries.
I like Polhill’s summary here:
Overall one gets the impression that Stephen realized his defense was a lost cause from the start. He would never secure his acquittal without compromising his convictions. He determined to use the situation as one last opportunity to share those convictions, one last chance to appeal to his Jewish contemporaries to abandon their pattern of rejection and accept the Messiah God had sent them. This is why Luke made constant reference to his being filled with the Spirit (cf. Luke 21:12–15). It took courage and inspiration to do what he did. Ultimately his speech was not a defense at all but a witness. (comments on vv. 52-53)
Don’t compromise your convictions just to please the authorities. Hold fast to Jesus, your living conviction.
GrowApp for Acts 7:51-53
1. Stephen knew that he would not be let off with a warning, so he went all in and preached a hard message to these religious leaders. How do you not compromise your convictions when they are severely challenged?
RELATED
The Historical Reliability of the Book of Acts
Book of Acts and Paul’s Epistles: Match Made in Heaven?
SOURCES
For the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 