Stephen

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Getting Organized

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Verses 1 thru 7 of Chapter 6 deals with the believers getting organized. This, we believe, was the election of the first Deacons. The church was experiencing "growing pains". The second arrest and subsequent beatings of the Apostles, did not in any way, slow the spread of the Gospel. The more the church was persecuted, the more it grew. How this must have grieved the Jewish leaders. Previously, they were all of one accord, but now, some problems arose. Isaiah saw this danger many years before. He said, "When men begin to multiply, they corrupt themselves." "God has multiplied the nation of Israel, but did not increase their joy."

Here we see what appears to be "partiality" being shown. With the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Jews were scattered through out Asia Minor. Some of these Jews had come back to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. The ones in this account were from Greece and spoke only Greek and had copies of the Scriptures in Greek. While there many had heard the preaching of the Apostles and had accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior and were added to the Church. The native Jews in the Church, spoke a form of Hebrew and read from a Hebrew version of the Scriptures and what further complicated the situation was the dislike that the Jerusalem Jews had for the Greeks. As Matthew Henry put its, "They retained, even after they became Christians, a little bit of the old leaven, not understanding that in Christ, there is neither Greek or Jew."

Now, lets look at the problem. The problem was as Matthew Henry said it was, prejudice. It manifested itself in the distribution of the funds. Isn't it ironical that the first two problems that arose in the new Church had to do with money. The accusation was that the widows of the Greeks were being neglected in the distribution of the funds for their support. It would appear that this distribution was handled by Jerusalem Jews and there are two possible reasons why this was probably so. The first one we have already touched upon, the dislike of the Jerusalem Jews for the Greeks. But lets give the Apostles the benefit of the doubt, and suggest that there might have been another reason why this was done.

These Jerusalem Jews were still governed by the ancient rule of the Hebrews. By Law, a widow was to be maintained by her husbands children. Paul, in writing to Timothy, charged him to stop the people at the church at Ephesus from occupying themselves with endless genealogies for the purpose of seeing who was going to take care of the widows for this Law was applied, in the case where there were no children, to the nieces and nephews, and further down the line, if necessary. So these poor widows, away from the land of their birth and ancestry, were at a disadvantage.

Now what did the Apostles propose to take care of this situation? They called the "Body of the Disciples" together. They were the leaders of the individual groups that met in homes and other buildings in Jerusalem. They laid the problem solely at the feet of these Disciples. The Apostles explained that the job of distributing daily to those in need was more that they could do as they were continually preaching and performing the job to which the Lord had sent them.

Notice how this council of Disciples resolved the problem. Seven men would be chosen to do the job, with the following qualifications. They would be men of good report, fill of the Spirit and full of wisdom. Lets elaborate on those qualifications

First, they must be of good report. That meant that their lives should be free of scandal. The should be men of integrity, attested to by others, not addicted to any vise and virtuous and trustworthy. They also must be men of faith.

Secondly, they must be full of the Spirit, evidenced by the gifts of the Spirit. Able to teach, council and encourage others with honesty and ability.

Thirdly, they must be full of wisdom. Knowledgeable of money matters, judicial in the handling of the money of others and sincere in the tending of these matters.

We are not told how these 7 men were chosen. It appears to have been the job of the group leaders who were called to this council. They probably nominated men from their group that met these qualifications and them the Apostles made the final selection.

Notice who was chosen. From their names, we would suspect that all seven were Greek speaking Jews. This certainly would silence those who believed that the Greeks were being neglected in the dispersion of goods. Notice the seven men:

1. Stephen. A man full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. As we shall see soon, he was also full of courage, for shortly he will be stoned to death.
2. Philip. In the book of Ephesians, Paul tells us that Philip having used the office of Deacon well, which is what these seven men were, he was promoted and ordained an Evangelist.
3. Prochorus. We don't have any information about this man, but we must assume that he had all the qualifications called for.
4. Nicanor. Like Prochorus, nothing is known of this man.
5. Timon. Again, nothing more is known of this man.
6. Parmenas. Nothing more is known of this man.
7. Nicolaus. Many believe that this man was the founder of the Nicolaitans. Nicolaus may have been the "Judas" of the seven for in the Book of Revelation, John was told to write to the church at Ephesus that God had found one good thing there and that was their hatred for the Nacolaitans, which God hated also.

These 7 men were ordained by the laying on of hands by the Apostles, and the nice part about it was that it seemed to please everybody. Wasn't that a miracle also? You might have thought that the Hebrew speaking Jews would have liked to have had a majority of that group of seven, but God in His Grace, appeased the hearts of all concerned and everyone was pleased.

Notice what the results were of this organization. The preaching increased. the Apostles had more time now to tend to the ministry of the gospel. Also the Lord blessed their efforts and many were added to the membership. It would seem also that this concerted effort by the Christian Church rubbed off on the non-christian Jews for it was said that even the Priests became more obedient to their faith. Tradition has it that some of the Priests were converted at no small sacrifice to themselves and their families. It involved giving up all that they possessed. Money, position, worldly security and friends.

Matthew Henry Says that a great crown of Priests were, by the Grace of God, helped over their prejudices and were obedient to the faith. Certainly God's Grace is sufficient for all.

Biographical Sketch

Chapter 6 verse 8 is a biographical sketch of Stephen, one of the Deacons that had just been ordained to administer the charities. This one verse tells us a great deal about him.

It appears that Stephen was diligent and faithful in the discharge of his duties relative to the office to which he had been chosen. He was a good organizer and achieved great acclaim in his work. It also appears that God had gifted him in other ways for Luke says, "he was full of Grace and Power". As a result, he accomplished great wonders and signs among the people. Stephen was not a preacher, but the Holy Spirit had gifted him with the power to perform miracles. Paul wrote about this in 1st. Cor., speaking of the gifts of the Spirit, observed, "To one was given the working of miracles, to another the gift of prophesy and to Stephen, the gift of administration."

A great deal was to be required of Stephen so God richly empowered him with many gifts of Grace. Of whom much is required, much is given.

Stephen's Mistake

Verses 9 and 10 of Chapter 6 explain how Stephen got in trouble. It appears that Stephen made a statement about Moses and the Temple in the presence of some people who questioned him. These people were made up of three groups, the Freeman, the Cyrenians and the Asians.

Those who were called "Freeman" were Greek speaking Jews that belonged to the Synagogue of the Freeman. They were Jews of the "dispersion" which occurred when the Northern Kingdom of Israel was dispersed by the Assyrians about 722 BC. They were sometimes called "Hellenists". They were "zealots" and very strict about their religion because of the difficulty they had in practicing it. They came to Jerusalem at great expense and inconvenience, to worship as their forefathers had. At the dispersion they all became slaves and when Rome defeated the Assyrians, Rome freed them and thus came the name of "Freeman". They were also at times referred to as the Libertines.

The second group were of the Synagogue of the Cyrenians which was in the cities of Cyrene and Alexandria in Africa. The third group were of the Synagogue of Cilicia located in Asia and the city of Cilicia, the main city in Tarsus. It appears that each nation had its own synagogue. These synagogues were the schools to which the Jews sent their children to be educated in Jewish learning and religion. These Jews spoken of here were like Paul, they were highly educated. They "argued" with anything that was contrary to what they believed. Argument or debate was the "tool" of the educated and they sought this debate with Stephen and the Apostles because they considered them to be uneducated. To them this was a mis-match but they mis-calculated for Stephen was a well educated man who had studied under Gamaliel in Jerusalem.

It appears that the Apostles were given a challenge by these Hellenists and Stephen was chosen to represent the Apostles because, as most believe, it was Stephen's nature to argue and this trait were put to the service of the Lord. It was obvious that the cause of Christ was growing by leaps and bounds and was becoming a threat to the Jewish community. The Jews had tried warnings and they did not work. They then tried prison and that didn't work. They tied beatings and that didn't work. Maybe it was time to try a few dirty tricks.

Dirty Tricks

Verses 11 thru 14 of Chapter 6, presents the case against Stephen. The charge was "blasphemy". To prove their case, they got men to say that Stephen, in their presence, had spoken blasphemously against Moses and God. Was there any truth in these charges? No, to the contrary, Stephen and all the Apostles had quoted Scripture and had showed how Christ and His Gospel, had fulfilled and supported the Old Testament.

What was it that they heard that they thought was blasphemy? They heard him say that Jesus had said that He (Jesus) would destroy this place and change the customs of Moses. This surly was blasphemy. Did Jesus really say this? Yes, and the words are recorded for us in Matthew 24:1-2, Jesus left the Temple and was going away, when the Disciples came to him and pointed out to Him the buildings of the Temple. He said to them, "You see all of those buildings, do you not?" "Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon the other, that will not be thrown down." Surly Jesus was prophesying the destruction of the Temple which did occur in 70 AD. But was He also talking about the "customs" of Moses, did he intend that these be destroyed to? Yes, for the two were indelibility intertwined but this destruction would not be of His doing for He had come to heal and fulfill not to destroy.

Matthew Henry says, "When the substance comes, the shadow should be done away with." Christ was the substance, the Law was the shadow.

The Jews could only see that which was done away with, ceremony, the priesthood and the sacrifices, they could not see the fulfillment of scripture in the coming of Christ. It seemed like all of Jerusalem had joined the Apostles and accepted the Gospel, how could they possibly substantiate these charges? Verse 11 says that they, either by power or by money, got men to say false things about Stephen and then go out and stir up the people, the elders and the scribes.

Blasphemy was a serious charge, especially blasphemy against Moses and God. So Stephen was seized and brought before the Council and again the false charges were made. Here, in the Council, the false witnesses were brought in. "This man never ceases to speak against this Holy Space and the Law." Lets look at the reaction of the Council and the appearance of Stephen.

Here we see the truth in God's promise of Grace sufficient for our needs for here we see God's presence with Stephen. Notice who sat on the Council. The Priests, the Elders, the Scribes and the Judges. All of them fixed their eyes upon Stephen. These judges were trained to observe the countenance of a prisoner. It usually indicated their guilt or innocence.

What did they see in the face of Stephen? They saw the face or countenance of an Angel. This could mean one of two things:

1. It may have suggested no more than an extraordinary pleasant and cheerful countenance. One that showed no sign of guilt or fear. He appeared to have been pleased to have the opportunity to testify of the Gospel before this Council. This undisturbed serenity and undaunted courage could have been mistaken for the "face of an Angel".
2. Or, perhaps there was on the face of Stephen a miraculous splendor that was evident on the face of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. or like that of Moses when he came down from Mount Sinai, a glow that always put honor upon the witness and confusion upon the prosecutor.

Whether Stephen was aware of his appearance is not known but certainly all present was aware of it. Yet this Holy appearance would not protect him from what was to follow. Certainly, if Stephen was not aware of his appearance, he was aware of God's presence as courage, wisdom and strength was imparted to him.

In spite of the undisputed appearance of innocence on the face of Stephen, the question was posed by the High Priest. "Is this so?" Are all the charges against you true? This brings us to Stephen's defense.

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