The Book of Acts, Part I May 6 Stephen s Speech before the Sanhedrin
Characteristics of the Speech First, the speech is not really a defense. Stephen does not deal point by point with the accusations that the Greek Jews and witnesses had brought against him. Stephen answers the charges indirectly as he goes along. Second, this speech is not like Peter s sermon at Pentecost. When Peter spoke, he quoted a verse of scripture, explained what it meant and how it had been fulfilled, then quoted another verse of scripture and explained what that meant, and so on. Stephen is different. Although he refers to events in the Bible, only at the end does he actually quote it (3 verses from Amos and 2 verses from Isaiah).
Characteristics of the Speech Third, Stephen does not mention what the disciples mentioned at their two trials before the council: Jesus. In Stephen s speech, Jesus is never referred to; only at the very end does Stephen make a reference to Jesus, and then He is called the righteous one (7:52). Also, the resurrection of Jesus, which was the main sore point for the council and the high priests, is never mentioned. The reason for these omissions is that Stephen doesn t want to evangelize, but to attack the whole theology of the Jews as it was then practiced and to show that this theology has and must be replaced.
Four Themes of the Speech Disobedience of the Jewish people. In the days of Moses, they rebelled against Moses in Egypt and then in the desert built the golden calf. In the time of Amos, they worshipped Moloch and the stars. Since their occupation of Canaan, they worshipped the Canaanite god of fertility, Baal, and the fertility priestess Asherah, and other deities. The Jews had shown a history of continuous disobedience. The Jews had the most amazing privileges. They had Abraham and the patriarchs; they had Moses; they had the law; they had a special covenant with God; they were chosen to be the path for blessing all the people of the world. But they disobeyed at every turn.
Four Themes of the Speech The Jews had limited God: they had confined him to a single part of the world, to Palestine; furthermore, they had confined Him to a man-made building in a single city with a single people. The Jews limited God to Jerusalem and claimed that He belonged only to them; for them, God was not a God of all people. This was a truth that at this time escaped the disciples. Stephen saw a Christianity in which God is not tied to any one people or to any one nation. Christianity needed to move beyond the Jews. The apostles will later see the truth of Stephen s words and will move away from the temple and Jerusalem and to other peoples and other nations.
Four Themes of the Speech The Jews consistently persecuted the men and women that God had raised up to be their deliverers. The great men patriarchs like Joseph and Moses were mistreated, as were the greatest of the prophets. Even now, they have murdered the Messiah. Peter had said the same thing in his speech before the Sanhedrin, but he excused Jesus death on the basis that the Jewish leaders had acted in ignorance of who Jesus was. But Stephen says that the Jews had murdered Jesus because of rebellion, pride, and sin.
Stephen on the Offensive Stephen is very aggressive in his speech. I think he knew his case was hopeless; he could see that the council was going to find him guilty no matter what he said, and that there was no way out for him. This why Stephen proceeds to attack the council with a ferocious speech about how the old order of things is passing away and how the old system of the temple and the Law of Moses have now become irrelevant; further, that the Jews will have no place in this new order unless they abandon the law and temple.
The Calling of Abraham (7:1 8) Stephen begins his story of Israel s history with Abraham. In these eight verses, Stephen makes three points. God appeared to Abraham when he was in a foreign land, back in Mesopotamia, before he arrived in Canaan and far from the land that the Jews considered sacred ground. This is the first of many comments by Stephen that God is not limited to a geographical place like Israel, but is God of the whole world.
The Calling of Abraham (7:1 8) God Himself appeared to Abraham. Note where this happened: God appeared in a pagan land, and among a people, not one of whom believed or even knew Him. Abraham remained a nomad even in the Promised Land. Even though Canaan was the land that God gave Abraham and his descendants, Abraham was always a nomad: he did not own a foot of land. This is a rebuke to the Jews. They considered the land and the things in it (like the temple) to be their permanent possessions. But, as Stephen says, the land, and the temple and the City of David in it, are only temporary; Abraham never even owned the land himself.
The Story of Joseph (7:9 22) Stephen now argues that the story of Joseph s mistreatment shows that the Jews, symbolized by Joseph s brothers, had a long history of attacking and killing God s holy men. Stephen points out that Jacob and Joseph were buried in Shechem. Why? To continue the theme that God is not tied to a particular land (Israel). Shechem was located in the land of the hated Samaritans, and here is where two of the three of the greatest patriarchs are buried! The Sanhedrin must have cringed when they heard this. For Stephen, there is nothing sacred about being in Judea or the land in general.
The Story of Moses (7:23 43) Stephen discusses Moses far more than the other patriarchs. He divides Moses s life into three equal parts of 40 years each. Moses was the one person that all members of the Sanhedrin would be concerned with. Everyone in the Sanhedrin must have sat up with anticipation as to what Stephen had to say about their beloved Moses: The Sadducees: How does this pertain to the temple, around which we have built our entire lives? The scribes: How does this pertain to the Mishnah, around which we have built our entire lives? The elders: How does this pertain to our possession of the land, on which our lives depend?
Moses: The First 40 Years (7:20 29) In this section, Stephen mentions how the Israelites rejected Moses s help and denied his leadership from day 1. Moses killed an Egyptian and put his own life into danger by standing up for justice by fighting injustice. He knew that the time had come for the people s freedom. Moses thought that the people would look to him as the person to deliver them. But the people did not follow him; rather, they rejected him. And when word gets around about what he had done, he has to run away for the next 40 years.
Moses: The Second 40 Years (7:30 34) God appears to Moses when he is in the pagan land of Midian.
Moses: The Second 40 Years (7:30 34) This is the same point that Stephen had made earlier with Abraham. God appeared to the two greatest men in Jewish history when they were in the land of the gentiles and pagans. Here, in the flames of a burning bush, God said to Moses: Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground. This holy ground was not Jerusalem; it was not Judea. It was a mountain in pagan territory. And yet God was here; and because God was there, the ground was holy. Wherever God is, is holiness.
Moses: The Second 40 Years (7:30 34) Stephen is saying to the Jewish leaders that your piece of the world this temple mount and the City of David is not the only holy place there is. God is everywhere and God is with everyone who loves Him and whom God in turn loves. The next step in this thinking (and Stephen goes there soon) is that the temple is not even important to God; that God is not even in that building; and that the Jewish leaders are worshiping the temple, not God. In his discussion of Jewish history, Stephen is arguing that God belongs to the world and that He seeks every one of every nation.
Moses: The Third 40 Years (7:35 43) Moses is rejected again, even after the momentous events of the Exodus, by the Jews. While Moses was on the mountain receiving God s law the very law that Stephen is accused of breaking the people were down in the valley breaking God s law and turning from God. God had proclaimed himself to be the one and only true God, and yet here were His people making idols. The people were rejecting God and God s messenger, Moses. And yet Stephen is being accused of blaspheming God and Moses! Who is really the guilty party?
Moses: The Third 40 Years (7:35 43) At this point, Stephen quotes the Bible for the first time: Amos 5:25 27 (which talks of impending disaster because of the worship of pagan gods by the covenant people). Stephen reminds the court that idolatry, the breaking of the law, and the rejection of God s commands have all been part of the Jews history. These things happened in the days of Joseph, during the exodus, and later in the time of Amos in the 8 th century (and of course until 586 B.C. The point of Stephen s words is this: The council had told him that he has been blaspheming against the Law of Moses. But Stephen brilliantly answers that the Jewish people s history is one of refusing to obey and follow God.
Where is God s House? (7:44 50) The speech now takes a dramatic turn. Up to now, Stephen had been talking about individuals (Abraham, Joseph, Moses). Now he turns to the tabernacle of the Testimony. The tabernacle was the portable worship center that the Jews carried with them during their desert wanderings. The rituals in the Pentateuch were meant for the tabernacle, not the temple. The tabernacle came with the Israelites into the Promised Land and was the focus of worship, through the kingship of David.
Where is God s House? (7:44 50) It was only during Solomon s kingship that a permanent temple was built. The temple was the glory of Jerusalem at this time; much of it was covered with gold, thanks to Herod s reconstruction of the Second Temple (built after the exile in Babylon). When a person came close to the city, he saw the temple shining with gold against the sky. The priests loved the temple; they earned their living from it, and for them it was their possession. For Jews in general, it was the source of their pride.
Where is God s House? (7:44 50) But Stephen attacks this temple. His phrase, house built by man, implies that the temple was a human building and was meant for people than for God. The tabernacle was the form of worship that God had told the Jews to use; it was the means to worship Him in the Pentateuch. But the Jews had forsaken it for the sake of building a glorious and permanent building. Stephen now quotes Isaiah 66:1 2, where Isaiah says that no place on heaven or earth can contain God. The God of the universe cannot be restricted to any one particular place. Temple-worship, however, limits God nature to one place.
Where is God s House? (7:44 50) How does all of this fit in with the charges against Stephen? Stephen is saying that the charge against him of wanting to destroy the temple is ridiculous when one factors in this fact: the temple has no basis for its existence in the Law of Moses. The tabernacle was intended by Moses. (And remember that the Sadducees believed only in the Law of Moses.) Stephen s brilliant argument: How can you charge me with seeking the destruction of a building which is not even mentioned in the Law and which leads all of you away from God and into idolatry? A master stroke of rhetoric.
Stephen s Conclusion (7:51 53) Stephen concludes his speech by making three charges against all those who had brought charges against him: They were resisting the Holy Spirit, as the Jews had always done. They were persecuting and killing the prophets, as the Jews had always done. They were breaking the Law of Moses, as the Jews had always done. But the current Jewish leaders had one-upped their ancestors in one way: the Jews of old had killed the prophets, but these people had murdered the Messiah! Now that the Messiah had finally come, the Jews have killed him in an act of murder.
The Stoning of Stephen 54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he fell asleep.
The Death of Stephen (7:54 8:3) Stephen s speech naturally aroused hostile passions and hatred among the members of the Sanhedrin. Gnashing one s teeth was a sign of rage as both the Old and New Testaments tell us. Stephen at that moment experiences a special vision of heaven; it is a vision that I think the Holy Spirit gives to him in the final moments of his life. Stephen gazes upwards into the sky and sees the Glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Stephen cries out that he can see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing there.
The Death of Stephen (7:54 8:3) Now, a burning question is, Why is Jesus now standing? In Hebrews 10:12, we are told: When [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. This was in contrast with the temple priests, who never sat in the temple since their work could never be finished: people keep sinning and a sacrifice cannot make a person truly justified with God. But when Jesus died, He finished the job; His sacrifice was complete and final. Thus, He could sit down next to His Father.
The Death of Stephen (7:54 8:3) But why is Jesus now standing? I like to think of two reasons. Jesus has risen up to receive Stephen and welcome him into His presence. Many stories exist of people who when they are on their deathbed, lift their arms up and say I see Jesus. Maybe Jesus is standing to reach out for Stephen. Jesus is standing up to plead Stephen s case. Jesus promised His followers that if they confessed Him before people, He would confess him before God His father. Jesus, in other words, has stood up to plead Stephen s case as His lawyer.
The Death of Stephen (7:54 8:3) For Stephen to speak like this was blasphemy and it causes the Sanhedrin to go crazy with rage: the man whom they had crucified as a heretic and blasphemer is now being described as standing next to Yahweh with full access to Yahweh, and exalted like God. The members of the court shout as loud as they can, in order to drown out the words of blasphemy. Any sense of judicial order breaks down. We hear nothing whatever of a formal vote, judgment, and sentence. Stephen is suddenly seized, dragged outside of the city walls, and stoned to death. (Saul s role here will be discussed later.)
The Death of Stephen (7:54 8:3) There are many similarities between Stephen s death and Jesus s death. Both were accused of speaking against the temple. Both talked of the Son of Man as being at the right hand of God. Both ask that their spirits be received (Jesus: by His Father; Stephen: by Jesus). Both prayed for their executioners. Both asked God not to hold this sin against them.
The Death of Stephen (7:54 8:3) After Stephen s prayer of asking for forgiveness for his killers, he falls asleep. (The English word cemetery comes from the Christian Greek word for a place of sleeping. ) The phrase falling asleep describes what happens to Christians when they die. Death is not final, because Jesus will return and our bodies will be resurrected. Our death is as if we have fallen asleep and then wake up to see, and to receive, our Lord.