Resisting the Spirit Acts 6:7-15, The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. The pivotal figure in this passage is the 1st martyr of the church, namely Stephen who was a deacon. Stephen was one of 7 men chosen from among the Hellenistic or Greek speaking Jews in the early church to supervise the daily distribution of food to those in need. Luke named him first in the list in Acts 6:5 and he rapidly stood out according to Acts 6:8 by the grace and power he demonstrated because he was continually under the influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. He received his power because he was filled with the Spirit. His name in the Greek is stephanos. The early church was predominately Jewish rather than Gentile. There was a great deal of growing pains for the church because many of these Jewish believers had a difficult time making the transition of being under the Mosaic Law to being under grace. Stephen was instrumental in helping to make this transition come about and it cost him his life. His trial before the Council indicates that he knew his Old Testament for he gives a summary history of the Jews nation from Abraham to Christ. He evidently was quite a theologian for he dynamically defended the Christian faith against its enemies. Acts 6:9, But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, {including} both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. The Greek Word in the New Testament for Freedman is Libertinos, Libertines. This Greek word Libertinos is Luke s transliteration of the Latin libertinus, which in turn appears in the old English versions as libertine. The loanword means people who have been manumitted or release from slavery. They were an international group of Jewish followers of the Mosaic Law. We know that they were international because Luke tells us that they came from throughout the various provinces in the Roman Empire. Stephen was witnessing to these Hellenistic or Greek speaking Jews. They are called the Synagogue of of the Freedman. These individuals secretly instigated a persecution against Stephen whom they were not able to refute because of his tremendous wisdom and knowledge of the Scriptures. Acts 6:9 states that they were composed of men from Cyrene, Alexandria in Egypt and Cilicia and Asia. Acts 6:10-11, But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly 1
induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and {against} God. Here we have makings of a conspiracy against Stephen. His ministry was so powerful that his opponents resorted to plotting a conspiracy against him and eventually violence. Acts 6:12, And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. The Council refers to the Sanhedrin. Stephen s principle antagonists were the same individuals who condemned our Lord to the Cross, namely the Jewish Sanhedrin. They were the leaders of the Jewish nation. Jewish tradition states that they existed continually since the council of 70 elders in the time of Moses (Nm. 11:16). The Sanhedrin consisted of 70 members and the high priest as president. Only the high priest could preside over the Sanhedrin. Next in rank to the high priest were the chief priests, whose presence and power in the Sanhedrin were due to their office in the temple. They were uniformly members of the Sadduccean aristocracy. which solidified them into a powerful party. Next came the elders, who were the lay members or who didn t hold a high office In the Sanhedrin. They came from the most influential families in Jerusalem. These individuals were mainly Sadducees who didn t believe in a literal resurrection like the Pharisees. The powers of the Sanhedrin were not limited merely to religious affairs while the Romans controlled civil matters in Jerusalem. On the contrary, the Romans allowed the Jewish Sanhedrin the same large control of internal affairs that they granted other subject peoples. As a result the Sanhedrin exercised jurisdiction over all matters on which smaller Jewish courts could not reach a decision except those matters that the Roman governor directly controlled. The court not only administered civil matters according to Jewish law but also dealt with criminal justice, keeping its own police force and making arrests. All Jews everywhere fell under the Sanhedrin s authority. In this passage in Acts, Stephen is put on trial before this court. Acts 6:13-14, They put forward false witnesses who said, "This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us. Notice that these individuals resort to the same tactics that they used against our Lord throughout His 6 trials before human courts. These strident proponents for keeping the Mosaic Law were breaking the commandment not to bear false witness. Exod 20:16, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. They claimed to be the keepers and protectors of the Law and yet they were the biggest Lawbreakers. 2
The false charges brought up against Stephen are similar to those brought up against the Lord. Matt 26:59-61, Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. They did not find {any} even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, and said, "This man stated, "I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. As in the case of our Lord, the false charges brought up against Stephen were not total fabrications, but rather subtle misrepresentations of what was intended. Acts 6:15, And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel. Luke states that Stephen s face or countenance became like the face of an angel. What does he mean by that? Simply that Stephen was filled with the Spirit. Acts 6:3, 5 state that this characterized Stephen s life. Because he was filled with the Spirit or under the influence and guidance of the Spirit, he possessed courage, confidence and contentment. He possessed courage which is the ability to think and apply doctrine under pressure. Stephen possessed confidence because he knew the Scriptures. He was empowered and was receiving guidance from the Spirit. Stephen had contentment because he was doing the Lord s will. Acts 7:1, The high priest said, "Are these things so? Now, Stephen is about to give a summary history of the Jewish people all the way to the moment that he was speaking before the Council. He doesn t even acknowledge the charges or seek to defend himself, but rather seeks to give a masterful dissertation on the history of Israel. His dissertation before the Sanhedrin indicates he fabulous knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures. Stephen mentions the names of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph and the 12 patriarchs of the Jewish race. He also mentions Moses and birth of Israel as a nation in 1441 B.C. He speaks of David, the greatest king of Israel and Solomon his son the wisest man of the ancient world. Finally, He mentions the One who all these individuals look forward to in faith, namely the Lord Jesus Christ the object of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and Solomon. Now, in Stephen s discourse there are 3 ideas that run like cords through its fabric: There is progress and change in God s program. The blessings of God are not limited to the land of Israel and the temple area. Israel in its past always evidenced a pattern of opposition to God s plans and His men. Those whom Stephen is addressing here are inflexible and religious. In God s workings with the nation of Israel from Abraham, the first Jew to Solomon there was innovation and change. The point is clear: If God changed so many things in Israel s history, who is to say that the Law and the temple area were permanent? Remember what our Lord said to the Samaritan woman at the well concerning the temple and Jerusalem. 3
John 4:21-24, Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. So Stephen tries to communicate the principle in this discourse that God s program changes, there is a progression of revelation to it. It is also important to understand the attitude of the Jews here because before the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the 3 pillars of Jewish society were the following: (1) Land (2) Law (3) Temple. The Jews put undo emphasis upon these 3 things. All 3 were God-given, yet they worshipped these blessings rather than the One who gave them these great blessings. This has application for us here in the United States today. Christians today are constantly tempted to assert that our nation and our great possessions are God-given rather than acknowledge our total and absolute dependence upon God. Under the 2nd point some of the greatest blessings bestowed upon the Jews were apart from the temple and the land. Stephen gives 4 examples: (1) Israel s patriarchs and leaders were all blessed outside the land. (2) Abraham in Mesopotamia. (3) Joseph found favor while in Egypt and Moses while in the desert of Midian. (4) The Law was given outside the land of Israel and the tabernacles were built in the desert. Under the 3rd point, Israel has a history of rebelling against God and His leaders that He has delegated authority to. Abraham went to Haran when he shouldn t have and Joseph was sold by his jealous brothers into slavery. Moses was rejected by the Exodus generation. What is very interesting here and I m sure did not escape Stephen s hostile audience was that both Joseph and Moses were not accepted until their 2nd appearances. The parallel with Christ could not have escaped Stephen s audience. Stephen s speech fulfilled a prophecy that our Lord gave to His disciples which is recorded in Luke 21:10, Then He continued by saying to them, "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name's sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. But you 4
will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put {some} of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives. Stiff-necked is the Greek noun sklerotrachelos. This word only appears here in the NT. In classical Greek and the LXX, the term vividly describes one whose jaws and neck are rigid from angrily resisting argument or counsel. It describes someone who is obstinate. Exod 33:5, For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the sons of Israel, "You are an obstinate people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I shall do with you."' Deut 9:6, Know, then, {it is} not because of your righteousness {that} the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people. The phrase uncircumcised in heart and ears refers to the fact that they were unregenerate or in other words, not born-again and saved. The born again believer is circumcised in Christ, Paul states this to the church at Colossae in: Colossians 2:11, and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. The Jew was driven from the land because of his uncircumcised heart as God declares through Moses in Levitius 26:40-42, If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me-I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies-or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. God is concerned about the condition of your heart. To reject the Spirit s witness concerning Christ upon hearing the Gospel is to have an uncircumcised heart before God. The Greek word for resisting is 2nd person plural present active indicative form of the verb antipipto. It appears only once in the NT, here in Acts 7:51. Antipipto is a compound verb composed of the following: (1) Preposition anti, against, opposite. (2) Verb pipto, to fall. Literally, the word means to fall against, or to fall in a contrary direction. It expresses determined and active resistance to the Holy Spirit s work in common grace. "Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. 5
This statement by Stephen is reminiscent of Lord s condemnation of the Pharisees in Matthew 23:29-38. Matt 23:29-35, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, "If we had been {living} in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in {shedding} the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure {of the guilt} of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall {the guilt of} all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Acts 7:52, you who received the law as ordained by angels, and {yet} did not keep it. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they {began} gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. The reason why the Sanhedrin covered their ears when Stephen said this is because they remembered what the Lord Jesus said to the high priest Caiaphas and before the entire Sanhedrin. Matt 26:62-64, The high priest stood up and said to Him, "Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?" But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, "I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus said to him, "You have said it {yourself;} nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN." This is the first time and the last time they would meet on planet earth. Both are in the presence of the Lord at this time. Stephen was a tremendous witness to Saul in death. It was Stephen who prepared Saul for the appearance of the Lord on that dusty road to Damascus. The Lord never wastes the blood of His saints! They went on stoning Stephen as he called on {the Lord} and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep. Stephen again manifests his Christ-like attitude in death. His words echo that of our Lord s at the Cross of Calvary 2000 years ago. Luke 23:34, But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. 6
Interestingly enough, the leaders of the Jewish nation were resisting the Spirit by putting to death Stephen who was filled with the Spirit. Stephen was witnessing to these unregenerate Jews by means of the power of the Spirit. They rejected the Spirit s ministry in common grace. Also, notice that Stephen wasn t a pastor or evangelist but rather a deacon serving his brethren, laying down his life for them just as our Lord did at the Cross. John 15:13, Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. Stephen was a tremendous witness to Saul in death. It was Stephen who prepared Saul for the appearance of the Lord on that dusty road to Damascus. The Lord never wastes the blood of His saints! For Israel, it meant condemnation. This was their 3rd murder. They permitted John the Baptist to be killed and demanded that Jesus be put to death and now the blood of Stephen was on their heads. The Jews sinned against God the Father who sent John (Mt. 21:33-46). They sinned against the Son of God when they asked Pilate to have Him condemned to the Cross (Mt. 21:33-46). Finally, when they stoned Stephen, Israel sinned against the Holy Spirit who was working in and through Stephen and the apostles (Mt. 10:1-8; Acts 7:51). Judgment finally came to the unregenerate members of the nation of Israel, when Titus and the Roman legions destroyed the city of David in 70 A.D. Those who died without being born-again and saved would never be forgiven the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. The nation s rejection of the Spirit s witness concerning the Person and Work of Christ would never be forgiven at the Great White Throne Judgment. Resisting the Holy Spirit is in effect blaspheming the Holy Spirit. The sin of rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior is the rejection of the Spirit s witness concerning Him. The Jews did not reject Stephen but in reality they had rejected the Spirit s witness and thus would receive their just condemnation at the Great White Throne Judgment. 7