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February 18, 2026 |
| What Was Stephen's Point? | ||
Stephen is a character in the New Testament whom we barely get to know before he is murdered. The thing we remember most about him is his trial, but that confuses us. He is charged with some dubious crimes, then, for his defense, he goes into a large history of the Israelites and Jews, which makes the leaders of the court so angry that they take him out and stone him.
What was wrong with the history that he told them that made them so angry? Why is this story even in the Bible?
When they are stoning him, there is a Pharisee there who is guarding the clothing they need to remove before they can stone Stephen. That Pharisee is called Saul, who we will later know better as Paul the apostle. Is he the reason this story is in the Bible?
In the following verses, we are introduced to Stephen.
Search therefore, my brothers, and choose seven men among you upon whom is the testimony and who are full of the Spirit of the Lord Yahweh and wisdom, and we shall appoint them over this matter. 5 And this statement was pleasing before all the people, and they chose EStephenos, a man who was full of faith and of the Spirit of Holiness, and [others] (Acts 6:3,5)
Three verses later, we see Stephen successfully debating the religious elite.
But EStephenos was full of grace and power and was doing signs and wonders among the people. 9 And there arose men from the synagogue which was called the Libertine, and Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and from Qiliqia and from Asia, disputing with EStephenos. 10 And they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit (Rukhah) who was speaking in him. (Acts 6:8-10)
Being unsuccessful in their debates with him, they were angry and determined to get him anyway they could.
They […] stood around him and they seized and brought him to the center of the council. 13 And they appointed false witnesses who said, "This man does not cease speaking words against the Law and against this holy place. 14 We have heard him say that Yeshua the Nazarene will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to you." 15 And all of them who were sitting in the assembly stared at him, and they saw his face as the face of an Angel. (Acts 6:12-15)
They select people who will lie about what Stephen has said, and they tell their distorted version of the New Covenant.
As the people wait for Stephen to respond to these charges, they notice something about his face that they associate with an angel. The Bible doesn't say what they saw. We would expect him to have a glowing face, but they would have associated that with the face of Moses, which glowed after he came down from the mountain. For them, an angel would look powerful, purposeful, and determined.
The three key pieces we need to remember from the verses we've seen so far are the name "Yeshua the Nazarene" and the charges, "He speaks against this holy place" and "Yeshua the Nazarene will destroy this place." This place, where the council is meeting, is in the temple, so they are speaking about the temple. It has become an idol to them.
And the High Priest asked him, "Are these things so?" (Acts 7:1)
Stephen is now asked to respond to the charges. Beginning at verse 7:2 and continuing through 7:53, from Abraham through to Solomon, Stephen relates a selective history of Israel. We pick it up at verse 46
He who found affection before him who is God, and he requested to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built a house for him. (Acts 7:46-47)
Stephen finishes with David, who wanted to build a house for God, but was not allowed to, and Solomon built it instead.
Since the closing of the history review should summarize the point of the history review, we see that the point is that God never had a place built by men from the time of Abraham through to Solomon. It wasn't until Moses that God instructed that a tabernacle be built, but God did not live there. Along with his retelling of the history, Stephen makes some points.
Now Stephen makes his final point.
And the exalted one does not dwell in the product of hands as the Prophet says: 49 "Heaven is my throne and the Earth is the stool which is under my feet. Where is the house that you will build for me?, says the Lord Yahweh, or where is the place of my rest? 50 Behold, has not my hand made all these things?" (Acts 7:48-50)
Stephen's last point is that God does not dwell in places made by man, and he quotes Exodus 32:1 to support that. This responds to their accusations that their precious temple was threatened. The temple is nothing to God. The temple didn't exist until Solomon, and didn't last long after that.
Now Stephen says something that changes everything he has said. His words were not a defense; they were an accusation.
Oh, stiff necks, who are uncircumcised in their hearts and in their hearing, you always are opposing the Spirit of Holiness, as your fathers did, so do you! 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted and murdered, who before had searched out concerning the coming of the righteous one, him whom you have betrayed and killed? 53 You have received the Law by the visitation of Angels and have not kept it." (Acts 7:51-53)
With the words "stiff necks" and "uncircumcised," he takes the religious elite back to Moses’ time, when God frequently accused the Israelites of being stiff-necked and uncircumcised. He says that they have always been doing the same thing that they are doing now, opposing the Holy Spirit.
Then he pins the blame on them for the murder of the prophets. Jesus did the same thing. They had created monuments to those prophets, probably to make themselves feel good about what had been done to them. But they didn't realize that they were approving the murders of those prophets. They should have been condemning the people who killed the prophets.
Then he pins the murder of the Messiah on them. He doesn't name Jesus, but Jesus' name had already come up, and everyone in the court knew why Stephen was there.
The religious elite do not take this accusation well.
And when they heard these things, they were filled with rage in their souls and they were gnashing on him with their teeth. (Acts 7:54)
We don't express seething anger in that way. They would clench their teeth, grind them together, and groan or growl.
Stephen begins to see something and to describe what he sees. That doesn't help the situation.
And he, being filled with faith and the Spirit of Holiness, gazed into Heaven and he saw the glory of God, and Yeshua as he stood at the right side of God. 56 And he said, "Behold, I see the Heavens opening and the son of man standing at the right hand of God." 57 And they yelled with a loud voice and stopped up their ears, and they all rushed upon him. 58 And they seized and brought him outside the city, and they were stoning him, and those who testified against him placed their robes at the feet of a young man, one who is called Shaul. (Acts 7:55-58)
The religious elite fulfill Stephen's statement about them killing the prophets just as their fathers had done.
Here's where Saul, who becomes Paul, is first mentioned in the New Testament.
Our question was what Stephen's point was in his defense. We've seen that it comes as an accusation against his accusers, "From the beginning, you have always fought against the Holy Spirit." This drives them wild with anger. Stephen pushes them over the edge by relating that he sees God with Jesus by his side.
Although it introduces Paul to us, Stephen's story stands on its own. As Acts is the story of the spread of the gospel message and of those who opposed it, this story makes a fine start.
It's sad to us that a man so filled with the Holy Spirit would be known to us for only 70 verses. He might have accomplished much.