Bible Commentaries

Are these things so? (ε ταυτα ουτως εχε). On this use of ε in a direct question see on Acts 1:6. Literally "Do these things hold thus?" A formal question by the high priest like our "Do you plead guilty, or not guilty?" (Furneaux). The abrupt question of the high priest would serve to break the evident spell of the angelic look on Stephen's face. Two charges had been made against Stephen (1) speaking against the holy temple, (2) changing the customs which Moses had delivered. Stephen could not give a yes or no answer to these two charges. There was an element of truth in each of them and a large amount of error all mixed together. So he undertakes to explain his real position by the historical method, that is to say, by a rapid survey of God's dealing with the people of Israel and the Gentiles. It is the same method adopted by Paul in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:16) after he had become the successor of Stephen in his interpretation of the universal mission of Christianity. If one is disposed to say that Luke made up this speech to suit Stephen's predicament, he has to explain how the style is less Lukan than the narrative portions of Acts with knowledge of Jewish traditions that a Greek would not be likely to know. Precisely how Luke obtained the data for the speech we do not know, but Saul heard it and Philip, one of the seven, almost certainly. Both could have given Luke help about it. It is even possible that some one took notes of this important address. We are to remember also that the speech was interrupted at the end and may not include all that Stephen meant to say. But enough is given to give us a good idea of how Stephen met the first charge "by showing that the worship of God is not confined to Jerusalem or the Jewish temple" (Page). Then he answers the second charge by proving that God had many dealings with their fathers before Moses came and that Moses foretold the coming of the Messiah who is now known to be Jesus. It is at this point (verse Acts 7:51) that Stephen becomes passionate and so powerful that the wolves in the Sanhedrin lose all self-control. It is a great and masterful exposition of the worldwide mission of the gospel of Christ in full harmony with the Great Commission of Christ. The apostles had been so busy answering the Sadducees concerning the Resurrection of Christ and maintaining their freedom to teach and preach that they had not pushed the world-wide propaganda of the gospel as Jesus had commanded after they had received the Promise of the Father. But Stephen had proclaimed the same message of Christ and was now facing the same fate. Peter's mind had been enlightened by the Holy Spirit so that he could rightly interpret Joel and David in the light of Pentecost. "So Stephen read the history of the Old Testament with new eyes in the light of the life and death of Jesus" (Furneaux).

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Brethren and fathers (ανδρες αδελφο κα πατερες). The spectators (brethren) and members of the Sanhedrin (fathers) as Paul in Acts 22:1. Hearken (ακουσατε). First aorist (ingressive) active imperative, Give me your attention now. The God of glory (Hο θεος της δοξης). The God characterized by glory (genitive case, genus or kind) as seen in the Shekinah, the visible radiance of God. Jesus is also called "the Glory"=the Shekinah in James 2:1. Cf. Exodus 25:22; Exodus 40:34; Leviticus 9:6; Hebrews 9:5. By these words Stephen refutes the charge of blasphemy against God in Acts 6:11. Appeared (ωφθη). First aorist passive indicative of οραω. See on Luke 23:43. Before there was temple or tabernacle and away over in Mesopotamia (Ur of the Chaldees, Genesis 11:31), even before (πριν η with the infinitive) he dwelt in Haran (Χαρραν, or Carrae not far from Edessa, where Crassus met death after his defeat by the Parthians B.C. 53).

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Which I shall shew thee (ην αν σο δειξω). Indefinite relative clause with αν and the aorist active subjunctive (same form in first person singular as the future active indicative). Abraham followed on as God led him.

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When his father was dead (μετα το αποθανειν αυτον). Μετα with the accusative of the articular infinitive and the accusative of general reference (αυτον), regular Greek idiom. In Genesis 11:32 it is stated that Terah died at Haran at the age of 205. There are various explanations of the discrepancy, but no one that seems certain. It is possible (Hackett, Felten) that Abraham is mentioned first in Genesis 11:26 because he became the most prominent and was really younger than Haran his brother who died before the first migration who was really sixty years older than Abraham. According to this view Terah was 130 years old at the birth of Abraham, leaving Abraham 75 at the death of Terah (205). Wherein ye now dwell (εις ην υμεις νυν κατοικειτε). Note εις in the sense of εν as often. Note also emphatic use of υμεις (ye) and now (νυν).

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Not so much as to set his foot on (ουδε βημα ποδος). From Deuteronomy 2:5. Old word from βαινω, to go, to step. "Stepping of a foot," only instance of this original meaning in the N.T. From this it comes to mean a platform reached by steps, official seat of a judge (Matthew 27:19). The field purchased by Abraham (Genesis 23:9-17) was not a gift from God. Promised (επηγγειλατο). First aorist middle indicative of επαγγελλω, common verb. See Genesis 12:7; Genesis 17:8; Genesis 48:4 for this promise. So God appeared again to Abraham in a strange land. In possession (εις κατασχεσιν). Late word, in LXX, and in N.T. only here and verse Acts 7:45. From κατεχω, to hold back, then to hold fast (or down), to possess. It was fulfilled in the descendants of Abraham. When as yet he had no child (ουκ οντος αυτω τεκνου). Genitive absolute with negative ουκ rather than μη to emphasize actual absence of a child. He had only the promise of God about the land and the child.

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On this wise (ουτως). A free quotation from Genesis 15:13. Should sojourn (εστα παροικον). Shall be a sojourner, Παροικος (παρα, beside, οικος, home), one dwelling near one's home, but not of it, so a stranger, foreigner, old word, often in LXX, temporary residence without full rights of citizenship (Acts 7:29; Acts 13:17), and descriptive of Christians (Ephesians 2:19; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 Peter 2:11). In a strange land (εν γη αλλοτρια). In a land not one's own, that belongs to another, alien as in Matthew 17:25, which see. Four hundred years (ετη τετρακοσια). Accusative of duration of time. As in Genesis 15:13, but a round number as in Exodus 12:40 the time is 430 years. But in Galatians 3:17 Paul, following the LXX in Exodus 12:40, takes the 430 years to cover the period in Canaan and the stay in Egypt, cutting the sojourn in Egypt to about half. Josephus gives it both ways. Hackett suggests two solutions, one that there were two ways of reckoning the period among the Jews with no way of settling it, the other that by the 430 years in Egypt the writers meant to include Canaan also as merely the preliminary to the period in Egypt.

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Will I judge (κρινω εγω). Future (accent on ω) active indicative of κρινω and εγω (I) expressed is emphatic. In this place (εν τω τοπω τουτω). Quoted from Exodus 3:12 and referring to Sinai or Horeb, but Stephen applies it to the Promised Land.

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The covenant of circumcision (διαθηκην περιτομης). A covenant marked by (genitive) circumcision (no article) of which circumcision is the sign (Romans 4:11) as set forth in Genesis 17:9-14. In the ancient Greek διαθηκη was usually will (Latin, testamentum) and συνθηκη was used for covenant (συν, together, rather than δια, between). But the LXX and the N.T. use διαθηκη for covenant (will in Hebrews 9:15) as Lightfoot on Galatians 3:16 says: "The LXX translation and New Testament writers probably preferred διαθηκη as better expressing the free grace of God than συνθηκη." And so (κα ουτως). After the covenant was made and as a sign and seal of it.

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