Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:1-15) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:1-15)

 By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce 

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical Precepts & Gospel music

 

          1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of good. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the Apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and large number of priests became obedient to the faith. 8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen) as it was called)-Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.” 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” 15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. 

 

Verse 1 Grecian Jews… Hebraic Jews. The former were Greek-speaking Jewish Christians and the latter, Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians. Jews who spoke Greek. At the very beginning of the practice of the church life, trouble was caused by language differences; proper care was taken to solve this.

Verse 2 to wait on tables. I.e., tables of food for the widows or of money (as in John 2;15). The Greek word for “wait on” is the one form which we derive “deacon,” but these men were “deacons” only in the sense of being servants. They were not yet deacons in the later sense of officers in the church (1Tim.3:8)

Verse 3 Greek. pleres, an adjective form of pleroo, according to the usage in this book here and in 5;7:55;11:24, and in Luke 4:1. Being full of the Spirit is the condition after one has been filled with the Spirit inwardly and essentially, as mentioned in 13:52. This refers to life, not to work.

Verse 4 to pray is not only to entreat the Lord to do things for His move but also to cause our spirit to be exercised and strengthened. Hence, prayer should precede the ministry of the word, just as the apostles practiced. Without such prayer the ministry of the word will not be enlivened and empowered.

Verse 5 All seven had Greek not Jewish, names; two, Stephen and Philip, quickly achieved prominence for their vigorous evangelism.

Verse 6 laid their hands on them. The laying on of hands was a formal sign of appointment to this service. The rite indicates a link or association between the parties involved. Sometimes it was related to healing (Mark 5:23) or to the impartation of the Spirit (Acts 8:17; 9:17; 19:6) or, as here, was a sign of ordination for special service (13:3;1Tim.4:14). Since they were chosen to serve tables, they can be considered deacons, like those whom Paul and his co-workers appointed later in the church (Rom.16:1; Phil1:1; 1 Tim.3:8).

Verse 7 grew refers to growth in life, indicating that the word of God is a matter of life that grows as a seed sown into man’s heart (Mark4:14) The objective faith, referring to what the believers believe in concerning Christ. The entire revelation of the New Testament concerning the person of Christ and His redemptive work is the faith of God’s New Testament economy (Rom.16:26)

Verse 9 Freemen. These were Jewish freedmen, or descendants of freedmen, from the various places mentioned in the verse. Those who were liberated from their status as slaves. They had their own synagogue in Jerusalem.  Synagogue indicating that in Jerusalem there were a number of synagogues composed of the returned Jews according to the respective languages they had acquired in their dispersion. 

Verse 14 This indicates that words must have been circulating among the believers concerning the destruction of the temple, as prophesied by the Lord in Matt.23:37-39 and 24:2 and concerning the termination of the dispensation of law, as spoken by the Lord  in Matt.11:13. The opposing Jews twisted the believers’ words, just as in Matt.27:40, when they crucified the Lord, they twisted the word that the Lord spoke in John 2:19. Undoubtedly, the Jews’ opposition was instigated by Satan to frustrate God’s New Testament economy. But the ground used by Stand for his instigation was the change of dispensation, which contradicted the Judaic tradition. God’s New Testament economy is to have a new dispensation absolutely separated from Judaism. This offended the Jews by touching the traditions they had inherited for generations, and it stirred up their opposition, which began with the Lord’s ministry in the Gospels and grew fiercer at the time of the apostles’ ministry in this book, during which the Lord’s New Testament move was passing through a transitional period. According to Luke’s narration in Acts. The church among the Jews, including the early apostles, did not pass through this transition successfully, because of the remaining influence of their Judaic background and the entangling opposition from their Jewish kinsmen. This problem returned to trouble them again and again in this book (11:1-3; 15:1-5; 21:18-26). Even the apostle Paul was in danger of being brought back to the Judaic practices in his last visit to Jerusalem (21:20-26).

Verse 15 face signifying a heavenly appearance. Stephen was a man on earth, but he bore a heavenly appearance while being persecuted.

 

Bibliography,

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV). Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.