Stephen, the First Martyr

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2016 · 1 May 2016

Do you remember that Acts 6 opened with a problem in the early church? A problem because some of the Hellenistic widows who had come to faith in Jesus Christ and were now a part of the church but were from Greek countries rather than the land of Israel - were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. In order to make sure their needs were met, they selected seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom to put in charge of this task.

The first man in the list and the only one about whom it says anything is a man named Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. He becomes the main character through the rest of Acts 6 and 7. Stephen was a Greek-speaking believer in Jesus Christ who had belonged to a Jewish synagogue in a foreign land. He along with all the rest were chosen to care for the widows who spoke Greek.

Verse 8-11, “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

Verse 12-15, “And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council.” 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”

Stephen was an amazing man. He was not a deacon, but he was in charge of serving tables. He was not an apostle, but he did signs and wonders. The miraculous power granted to the apostles was extended to him and also to another leader by the name of Philip. He was not a prophet, but he was a great preacher. He is a very unique man. He stands between the apostles and the structure of the early church.

One whom everybody deemed to be a servant, and yet a miracle worker and a preacher and the first Christian martyr. This is a man who is great by every divine measure. He is a transitional person between Peter and Paul, like a bridge. He is chosen by Peter and the apostles and he was martyred at the hands of Paul. He didn’t minister to the Israeli Jews or to the foreign gentiles, but he ministered to the foreign Jews. And it was because of his martyrdom and the persecution that the believers scattered.

And that was the purpose of God in his martyrdom because Jesus had said in Acts 1:8, “And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” What was going to send them into Judea? What was going to send them into Samaria? What was going to send them into the world? Not a missionary mission, but persecution, martyrdom and the threat of death.

And that is what happened to Stephen in Acts 7:54-58, “Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.”

It is the death of Stephen that becomes the catalyst to fulfill the promise of Jesus in Acts 1:8 before His ascension. He takes the first step beyond the Jews in the direction of the Gentiles. The mantle of Stephen falls on Saul, one of Stephen’s most bitter enemies at that time. Stephen was essential to God’s plan for world evangelization. It was his martyrdom that launched the church into the world.

What we know about him is all in this text of Scripture. We know what was important in his life and that is this amazing courage. Because of that courage, he put himself in a position to lose his life, but that was God’s plan. He is the first Christian martyr, but the possibility of imprisonment and even the threats of death had no effect on him because he was totally committed to being faithful.

We just studied that the church was purified by the Lord Himself. God killed a couple who lied to the Holy Spirit that sent fear through the church. The price of belonging was high. Only the ones who wanted their sin dealt with and who wanted to walk in righteousness participated. They got organized and brought together these godly men mentioned in Acts 6: 5, to provide ministry for them.

Stephanos means “victor’s crown” and he actually won that name in his martyrdom. So the choosing of Stephen establishes at the beginning his uniqueness and his greatness. Out of all the thousands of men, he is the first one in the list of seven. Specifically it says about him in verse 5, “He is a man full of faith,” his life is dominated by faith. If he is full of faith, what did he believe?

Listen to Acts 7: 2-3, “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.” He is quoting Genesis 12: 4-5, “Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.”

Again, he’s quoting Genesis 12 and 13. The first thing we know is that he believed the Old Testament. He believed also that God determined and ruled history. History was all a revelation of God’s character, God’s purpose and God’s plan. He believed in the God revealed in the Old Testament, and he unfolds that all the way through his sermon.

In Acts 7:52, “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered.” He believed Jesus was the Messiah. And he believed that His death was the pivotal point in which history turned. He also believed that Jesus was risen. Verse 55, “he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”

He believed in the Holy Spirit. In verse 51 he says, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit.” He was full of faith, and he believed in all these great spiritual realities that he delineates in this great sermon. He believed so strongly in the Lord Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, that he was willing to be stoned to death.

This is a man, back in Acts 6:3, who is also full of wisdom. In fact, his wisdom is so profound, it is so beyond argument that when he speaks, his enemies cannot withstand what he says. And in anger they kill him because they can’t answer his arguments. Furthermore, in Acts 6: 8 it says, he is full of grace. It’s not talking about the grace that he received, it’s the grace that he gave.

How do we know that? Look at Acts 7:59-60, “While they are stoning him, he is falling on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” What kind of tenderheartedness is this? No anger, no vengeance and no violence. This kind of grace comes out of full faith and is a product of the Holy Spirit.

Then it tells us in Acts 6:8 that Stephen was full of power. This is the result of being full of the Holy Spirit such that he is given the same powers as the apostles. He is performing great wonders and signs and miracles among the people. That happened to validate him as one who speaks for God. This happened before there was a New Testament. A speaker for God had miraculous power.

Let’s look now at his courage. This man, full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, full of wisdom, full of power and full of grace met the hostile world head on. He preached Jesus as Messiah to the Hellenistic Jews. Verse 9, “Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.”

This is his mission field. The apostles evangelized the Jerusalem Jews. Paul later will go to the Gentiles. But Stephen is there to evangelize the Jews in gentile lands. He starts in Jerusalem where synagogues for these communities of Grecian Jews who had resettled in the land of Israel. These synagogues functioned in the language of the country of the people who made them. Because he is one of those Greek Jews named in verse 5.

So he goes to the synagogue where he can reach his people. During apostolic times, even Jewish communities from outside Jerusalem managed to establish their own synagogues where foreign Jews could meet. Historians tell us that there were nearly 500 synagogues in Jerusalem. Many of these synagogues in Jerusalem at that time were for those foreign Jews who needed to interact with their own people.

Now, the synagogue of the Freedman, what was that? Pompeii, the Roman general, had carried off large numbers of Jews as prisoners to Rome. He had hauled those Jews away in 63 B.C. and sold them as slaves. Most of them eventually found their freedom, and they came back to their land. So the synagogue of the Freedmen basically was developed by freed Roman slaves who had returned to their own city to worship.

There also was mentioned Cyrenians, people from a city in the Libyan area. They had a large Jewish colony there. They also participated in a synagogue in Jerusalem. Then Alexandrians, from the capital of Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great. A huge Jewish community was there and a library of many Jewish scholars. Cilicia is also mentioned, a large Jewish settlement known in Asia Minor near Syria.

Then there were also some from Asia, the western part of Asia Minor. The main city was Ephesus. So you have five groups. Maybe there were three synagogues mixed and they all spoke some Greek well enough to interact. We don’t know, but to them Stephen went. And what did he do? He rose up and spoke up. He was not invited for a weekend conference.

He spoke with them and they argued back. Verse 10, “But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.” It probably was a debate between the old covenant and the new covenant. Or a debate over the identity of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. Or a debate about salvation by grace, and Stephen won the debate because the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Verse 11, “Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” Stephen was arguing against the misinterpretation of the Law of Moses. He was also arguing for the deity of Christ. By dismissing the saving power of the Law of Moses, he was seen as blaspheming Moses. By identifying Jesus as God, he was blaspheming God in their minds.

To these Jews, these words were blasphemy against Moses, and blasphemy against God by saying Jesus is equal to God. Verse 12, “And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council.” These agitated Hellenistic Jews spread that news that Stephen was a blasphemer. To the point where they came up to Stephen and dragged him away, and brought him before the Sanhedrin.

This is where the false witnesses show up. Verse 13, “and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law.” Well, that tells us something about this debate. Certainly, he was telling them the true purpose of the law, to define sin, not provide salvation. Verse 14, “for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

So Stephen preached on the old covenant that only mirrors God’s nature and does not save, and the entrance of the new covenant with Jesus as Lord and Savior, who is the Messiah. But this is great boldness and Stephen knows what they have done to the Lord. He also knows that they have already imprisoned and beaten the apostles. He knows that it is the Jews who will perpetrate these persecutions. But his courage is undiminished.

Acts 6:15, “And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” All members of the Sanhedrin are accusing him of blasphemy. But he looked like he has transcended above all of it. All of his power in the Holy Spirit and all of his faith came out on his face. Only once in the history has God ever put His glory on the face of a man. That’s in Exodus 33 on the face of Moses. He was reflecting the glory of God.

And at the end of his life, Stephen saw the glory of God in Acts 7:55-56, “He saw the heavens open. He saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” God is still looking for men and women like this who can serve Him full of faith, grace and wisdom and full of the Holy Spirit who have courage with no limit. Let us pray.