Book of Acts – Bible Study Notes Pastor Steve Bolewine
Acts Ch.7 Stephens Defense
What we are going to talk about
Last week we were introduced to Stephen, one of the six men chosen by the people of the young church and confirmed by the apostles to help with the care of the widows.
In chapter 6:8 we read that Stephen was full of grace and power and was preforming great wonders and signs among the people. That he was able to speak about the truths of scripture with so much authority and conviction that he drew the attention of the religious leaders who began to see him as a threat to their position.
And being unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke, we were told in verse 11 that they brought false witnesses against him and sought to convict him of blasphemy so that they could kill him.
Tonight’s study in chapter 7 is going to look at Stephen’s defense as he stands before the Sanhedrin to give an account for his words and actions. I find it very interesting that Stephen does not spend any time trying to vindicate himself; but instead uses this opportunity to try and reach into the hardened hearts of his accusers in hopes that they will be convicted of their own personal sin and seek to repent and come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
How it applies to me / Why is it important?
I think the importance of a study like this is that it reminds me that I need to take advantage of every opportunity to share the truth about God and His word.
We have no idea of the impact truth can have on the life of an individual; our words may in fact be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back;” in terms of the weightiness of the truth coming to rest on an individual.
Jesus said:
John Ch.8:32 (New Living Translation)
32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
We saw last week that while this trail was going on that there was someone in the background listening to the words of Stephen, someone who was in hearty approval of Stephen’s conviction and subsequent death.
Saul of Tarsus who would later become Paul the Apostle was in the crowd that day, and I am convinced that the words he heard Stephen speak he never forgot. Saul was the kind of guy who was very confirmed in his way of thinking, and he believed that Judaism was the truth and he was not going to allow some new teaching to come along and undermine what he believed.
And yet I believe the words that Stephen spoke that day troubled Saul because Stephen spoke the truth, and though Saul rejected Stephen’s defense that day, he could not dismiss the words he heard because they rang true.
I think Jesus alluded to this struggle when He met Saul on the road to Damascus and knocks him off of his high horse, He says to Saul, “Saul it’s hard for you to kick against the goads”
The goad is a traditional farming implement, used to spur or guide livestock, usually oxen, which are pulling a plough or a cart.
And what Jesus was saying to Saul was; “You know I am trying to lead you where you don’t want to go. And it’s hard to kick against the sharp stick of truth.
Again, last week in Ch.6:10 we read that these men were unable cope with the wisdom and Spirit with which Stephen spoke, and that they were reduced to making up lies and bringing forth false witnesses in order to stop him.
And their charges were that Stephen spoke against the holy temple and against the Law of God.
And fixing their gaze upon him, the Sanhedrin court was convened, and the opportunity was given to Stephen to defend himself; and like Peter, Stephen is going to use this opportunity not to defend himself but rather to speak truth into the lives of these people in hopes that they will be convicted in their hearts and repent, and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Acts Ch.7:1-8
1Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” 2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.
I find it interesting that Stephen’s defense starts with a reminder to the Jewish leadership that God had called Abraham out of Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran.
This is an important fact because it helps to lay the groundwork for Stephens’s defense.
The things that he is being accused of: of blasphemy, of speaking against the holy place and against the law of God;these are the things that the Jews looked to as their lifeline to God.
That it was in the keeping of the Law, of meeting God in the holy temple that kept them in a right relationship. In other words it was a relationship based on works.
What Stephen is saying right up front is that our relationship with God, our right standing with God has nothing to do with works, it is a relationship based on what He has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ, not what we have done to deserve anything.
And Stephen reminds these Jewish leaders that it was while Abraham was still in a foreign country, still serving false gods and worshipping idols, that God came to him and called him out of that life; is was not when Abraham was looking for God.
3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’
Come out of, come away from, and go to. Stephen is reminding these guys that as it has been from the beginning, when God first called Abraham out of the land of the Chaldean’s, so it is today. God is calling man out of the bondage of sin and death and into the newness of life through a personal relationship with his Son.
4 “So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran; After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.”8 Then He gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
Stephen is laying a foundation of being saved by grace, and he does so starting with the father of the faithful; Abraham. This history lesson is starting with a reminder to the Jewish leadership that God first approached Abraham not when Abraham was seeking God, but when Abraham was in a foreign land worshipping idols.
And the point Stephen underscores here is that Abraham was not justified by works but by faith in the promises of God.
Verse 8 says “then” God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, after he had received and believed on the promises of God.
This is a huge point, one Paul will thoroughly discuss in Romans Ch.4. Circumcision; although it was a sign of the everlasting covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants back in Genesis Ch.17, what the Jew had forgot was that the righteousness that was credited to Abraham happened back in Genesis Ch.15 when we are told that Abraham believed the promise of God.
The Jewish people with their traditions had turned Judaism into something it was never meant to be. The story of Abraham shows us that a saving faith was based on believing in the promises of God, and that the works that were done; were done not in order to be saved, but they were done because of the salvation one already possessed by faith.
Stephen is going to also remind these guys that the nation of Israel has a long history of not recognizing the deliverers that God sent to them until they came the second time.
And he is going to speak to this truth from both Moses and Joseph, but there is no better place to start with a history for the Jew than from their father Abraham, and so that is what he is doing here.
Stephen’s desire is that these guys would come to an understanding of the truth about faith and relationship with God from God’s perspective, not what they have made it to be. The Jewish people had become convinced that because they were the descendants of Abraham they were in right standing with God.
They believed that it was the lineage that made them special;Jesus addressed the same misconception in John Ch.8 when He told the Jews who were boasting in their relationship to Abraham, that if they were indeed the children of Abraham in the spiritual sense that they too would do the deeds of Abraham.
Paul brings even more clarity to this in Romans ch.9
Romans 9:6-8 (New American Standard Bible)
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
Today we see this same misconception here in the United States where many people believe they are Christians simply because they were born here. In just a little over two hundred years we have gone from a country that was founded on Judeo-Christian principles to a nation that rejects the God of the bible, He has been kicked out of our schools, has been told He has no place in our government and the truth of His word has been compromised for the sake of unity.
Much like the Jewish leadership Stephen is standing before here in Acts. Ch.7 many if not most in positions of leadership in this country hold to a form of godliness although they have denied its power.
Acts Ch.7:9-16 The witness of Joseph
9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt.
But God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
The patriarchs were the twelve sons of sons of Jacob; eventually they along with the two sons of Joseph would become the 12 tribes of Israel. Stephen is making the point that Joseph was rejected by his brothers because of envy;in Matthew Ch.27:18 we are told this was the same reason the Jewish leadership had rejected Jesus.
11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh.
Stephen is using the Jews own history to remind them that they have a pattern of rejecting God’s deliverer the first time. When they came to Egypt for food because of the severe famine they did not recognize Joseph, but the second time they came before him he revealed himself to them.
Today by and large the nation of Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah at His first coming, but when they go through the hard times of the seventieth week of Daniel as described in the book of Revelation, they will cry out for Him and will recognize Him in his second coming.
14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. 16 And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
As a side note this was the only piece of land within the Promised Land that Abraham owned. He bought it for 400 pieces of silver for the purpose of having a place where he could bury his wife Sarah. Abraham would be buried here about 40 years later. This would also become the place where Isaac and Jacob and their wives were buried.
Today this cave is concealed by the mosque of Hebron and is regarded as a holy place by the Muslims. They like the Christians and Jews hold Abraham in honor and call him the “Friend of God.
Next Stephen is going to point to the example of Moses
Acts Ch.7:17-35 The witness of Moses
17 “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt 18 till another king arose who did not know Joseph.
I find it very interesting to be able to look back and see the hand of God at work in so many areas and to see His plan come to fruition.Because of the severe famine the Children of Israel went down to the land of Egypt for food.
Because Joseph’s brothers had mistreated and sold their brother into slavery, through a course of events and the providential hand of God on his life Joseph ends up as the number two guy in Egypt and he is able to spare his family.
Because of the religious culture of the Egyptians the Israelites we allowed to live in a secluded portion of Egypt where they grew in number from 75 to in excess of 3 million in just over 400 years. The family had become a nation large enough to be able to go into the Promised Land and take possession of it.
Because of the persecution of the Pharaoh who rose up in Egypt and began to persecute to the Jews, they began to cry out to God for deliverance, something that I don’t believe they would have done without the persecution. They had become very comfortable living in Egypt and had no desire to leave.
But God is sovereign and His plans will not be frustrated by man.He said in Isaiah Ch. 46:11 “Truly I have spoken, truly I will bring it to pass, I have planned it, and surely I will do it.”
God had promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the Promised Land. And He has allowed this pharaoh to rise up in Egypt in order that his ill-treatment of the children of Israel would cause them to once again turn their attention toward God in order that he may deliver them out of their bondage.
19 This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. 20 At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months. 21 But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
I think these are a couple of interesting points Stephen makes; that Moses was learned in all of the wisdom of the Egyptians and that he was mighty in words and deeds.
First of all, I see this as a testimony of the fact that the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write the Torah. As learned in “all the wisdom of the Egyptians” as Moses was, I find it very interesting that we don’t find any of this “worldly wisdom” in the bible.
God not only promises that His word is eternal and will not pass away, The Holy Spirit also protects the content of scripture by not allowing the wisdom of man to adulterate it.
Peter tells us in his epistle in 1st Peter 2:2: that as Christians, we are to be like a newborn baby and long for or crave the “pure milk” of the word of God, that we may grow in respect to our salvation. The Holy Spirit has made sure that the word of God, although written through the agency of man, is in fact the unadulterated, untainted, unpolluted word of God.
2nd Timothy 3:16 (New Living Translation)
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.