Introductory remarks:
"The business of caring for the community threatens to take the apostles from their real work, so they choose seven to help them. They give them power and many new followers are added even among the priests. Stephen is one of the seven and he works miracles that get him noticed by those of a synagogue. They get false witnesses to testify against him" (Brenda's Survey of Acts). This chapter may be outlined as follows: the appointment of the seven vv 1-7; the arrest of Stephen vv. 8-15.
The Appointment of the Seven
Verse 1, "And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministrations."
LGT "But in those days, the disciples multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because in the daily ministration their widows were overlooked."
After the freedom enjoyed by the intercession of Gamaliel among the Sanhedrim, there was an amazing increase among the disciples, that is, the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. There arose grumbling among them, that is, among the Hellenists and the Hebrew Christians. "These Grecian Jews or Hellenists are members of the church in Jerusalem who are Jews from outside of Palestine like Barnabas from Cyprus. These Hellenists had points of contact with the Gentile world without having gone over to the habits of the Gentiles, the Jews of the Western Dispersion. They spoke Greek. Against the Hebrews, the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem and Palestine. The Aramean Jews of the Eastern Dispersion are usually classed with the Hebrew (speaking Aramaic) as distinct from the Grecian Jews or Hellenists" (Robertson).
As the church began to grow, so did its problems; the grumbling was that the Grecian Jews were annoyed because they felt the Hebrew widows were being considered over their widows. This communal living was designed by God to evidently work only for the time being, and that it was designed to spread out among the nations. I make this same observation that I have made several times regarding the "church". The church was not an organization, but individuals make up the "church". Too often we have men with denomination authority speak of the church as if it were corporate and not individual.
McGee makes this note about this division:
"The high plane to which the Spirit had brought the church was interrupted by the intrusion of satanic division and confusion. The sharing of material substance, which first characterized the church, gave way to the selfishness of the old nature. Carnality had come in. The Grecians, who evidently were a minority group, felt neglected and demanded that their widows be given equal consideration with the Hebrews. This communal form of living wasn't working as well as they would have liked. This was brought to the attention of the apostles."
Verse 2, "Then the twelve called the multitude of disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables."
LGT "And the twelve, having called to [them] the multitude of disciples, said, It is not fitting [for] us, leaving the Word of God, to be serving tables."
The Twelve Apostles did the distribution at the first; but as the church grew, they had to appoint men to do the distributing for them from the common treasury. The apostles had to be about teaching the Word of God, and they could not spend their time with serving tables for this distribution. The apostles were not saying that the feeding of the poor was an insignificant thing, only that they could not do both, so they appointed certain men to take this burden off their hands.
Verse 3, "Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom ye may appoint over this business."
LGT "But brethren, look out seven men from among yourselves, borne witness to, full of [the] Spirit and wisdom, whom we will appoint over this business."
The seven men that were to be chosen were to be men who they had witnessed to be honest, and full of the Spirit and wisdom. These men needed to have the gifts of the Holy Spirit; these gifts have passed away, along with the apostles, and along with the need for deacons. We do not have everything in common today as they had in the first church; it is the personal privilege of every believer to make sure that the widows and orphans are taken care of. At this very moment one of my plasterers is in the hospital in a comma; he has a wife and four small children, and my superintendent has taken it upon himself to see to it that his family is taken care of; he has come to all of his co-workers for donations, and will continue to do so until he is convinced that they will be able to manage without him. This is exactly what I mean by personal privilege to allow the Lord to work through you.
Verse 4, "But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word."
LGT "But we will steadfastly continue to prayer and the ministry of the Word."
The apostles give the reason that they needed these seven men to take care of the ministry of caring for the personal needs of the individuals in the church, so they could take care of their spiritual needs. This ministry of the Word was not the teaching church doctrine, for that had not been given yet; this ministry was preaching the Good News of Salvation to the world.
Verse 5, "And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch."
LGT "And the saying was pleasing before all the multitude, and they chose Stephan, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch."
Only Stephen and Philip do we have any record in the Scriptures of. Nicolas was a Jew who came to them from Antioch among the Greek world. Where I come from the people did not choose the deacons; this was done by the Pastor, with the consent of his board of yes-men. I remember in one church I attended, of a case of an unbeliever being elected as a deacon. It is all a sham anyway, because the church is not an organization, but it is made up of individual Christians; we are the church, the body and bride of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 6, "Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them."
LGT "Whom they set before the apostles, and having prayed, they laid their hands on them."
The apostles laid their hands on the deacons, identifying with them in their upcoming service. McGee notes on the present laying on of hands: "Now, friends, there is a great deal of hocus-pocus and abracadabra connected with this matter of laying on of hands. A great many people think that some spiritual power is connected to it. They think that putting on the hands communicates something to a person. Frankly, the only thing you can communicate to someone else by the laying on of hands is disease germs. You can pass them on, but you cannot pass on any kind of power."
However, it must be noted here that the apostles did impart special gifts on these particular deacons for their service, but this was all phased out with the completion of the Word of God.
Verse 7, "And the word of God increased: and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith."
LGT "And the Word of God increased, and the number of disciples exceedingly multiplied in Jerusalem, and a great multitude of the priests were obedient to the faith."
Remember, the Gospel was first given to the Jews, and among the Judaisers, many of the priests were obedient to the faith, that is, they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. This has to be the meaning of obedient to the faith, for the Word of God was not complete, and the only message the apostles were preaching was the doctrine of faith alone in Christ alone.
The Arrest of Stephen
Verse 8, "And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people."
LGT "And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people."
Stephen, after receiving the spiritual gifts from the apostles, went out and began working great wonders and signs among the people. Stephen could not keep back telling the people the gospel of Jesus Christ, for he was full of faith and power.
Verse 9, "Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen."
LGT "And arose certain of the ones of the synagogue, the ones called Libertines, and of Cyrenians, and of Alexandria, and the ones from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen."
"In Jerusalem, and probably in other large cities, the several synagogues were arranged according to nationalities, and even crafts. Thus we have in this verse mention of the synagogue of the Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Cilicians, and Asiatics. Libertines is a Latin word (libertini, freedman), and means here Jews or their descendants who had been taken as slaves to Rome, and had there received their liberty; and who, in consequence of the decree of Tiberius, about 19 A.D., expelling them from Rome, had returned in great numbers to Jerusalem. They were likely to be the chief opponents of Stephen, because they supposed that by his preaching, their religion, for which they had suffered at Rome, was endangered in Jerusalem" (Vincent).
These men from the various synagogues began disputing with Stephen over the gospel of Jesus Christ he was preaching; it probably began fairly civil, but escalated as time went on into all out rage over the threat Stephen presented with his preaching, to their religion. Stephen presented Christianity at its birth, and this completely put their religion of works to naught.
Verse 10, "And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake."
LGT "And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by whom he spoke."
These religious zealots were no match for Stephen, who was filled with the Holy Spirit. They kept badgering him, but he would not stop speaking the truth of the gospel.
Calvin comments:
"He (Stephen) answered the disputers now in such sort that he gets the very much the upper hand. He puts not that wisdom and spirit, which he said his adversaries could not get the upper hand, as divers things. Therefore resolve these words thus: they could not resist the wisdom, which the Spirit of God gave him. For Luke meant to express that they fought not on both sides as men; but that the enemies of the gospel were therefore discouraged and overcome, because they did strive against the Spirit of God, which spoke by the mouth of Stephen. And forasmuch as Christ has promised the same Spirit to all His servants, let us only defend the truth faithfully (that is, sow the seed faithfully), and let us crave a mouth and wisdom of Him, and we shall be sufficiently furnished to speak, so that neither wit, neither yet the babbling of our adversaries, shall be able to make us ashamed."
Verse 11, "Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God."
LGT "Then they bribed men, saying, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and the God."
Several things must be noted in this verse: (1) they brought in the false witnesses they had bribed; similar to the false witnesses they brought before our Lord in His illegal trial. (2) They lied that they heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. (3) They put Moses' name before God in these matters of blasphemy, for they did not believe God inspired every thing Moses wrote. Anything Stephen might have said regarding the New Covenant of Grace was construed as teaching that Moses' Law was of non-effect. Stephen was preaching faith alone in Christ alone.
Verse 12, "And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,"
LGT "And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and coming upon [him], they seized him, and brought [him] to the Sanhedrim."
The religious leaders stirred up the people to join them in coming against Stephen, and they seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrim.
Verse 13, "And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:"
LGT "And they set false witnesses, saying, This man does not cease speaking blasphemous words against [this] holy place and the law:"
Stephen never spoke a word against the temple or the Law of Moses; it was the same as they charged Jesus before they crucified Him. Stephen was only preaching Jesus Christ, and Christ crucified, buried, resurrected, and ascended on high; these are all the necessary doctrines for Salvation; the teachings of Paul about Christ being the end of the law to all who believe, does not come until much later.
Verse 14, "For we heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered."
LGT "For we heard him saying, that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us."
Jesus did say that they would destroy this temple, and that He would raise it up again in three days, but of course we know He was speaking about His own body. There is no proof that Stephen ever spoke against the customs of the Jewish worship. As I mentioned in the last verse, the doctrine of wall of partition being leveled between Jew and Greek will not be taught until Paul writes His Epistles. All in all, these false witnesses were just what Luke says they are.
Verse 15, "And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel."
LGT "And looking intently on him, all the ones who sat in the Sanhedrim, saw his face as [the] face of an angel."
Most people who are arraigned before a court turn pale and stammer and stutter; however Luke presents us with a Stephen who is completely at ease and serene before His lord.
This chapter does not end here, but is continued in chapter seven. Remember, the men who translated the New Testament were not inspired of God; the Words are inspired, but the translators are not, neither are the verse and chapter breaks. We will continue with Stephen's trial in 7:1.
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