Yesterday Luke introduced us to a man named Stephen by saying he was "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit". Today we find Stephen persecuted for his faith.
"Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people." (Acts 6:8) We find that Stephen too, along with the apostles, is able to do wonders and signs through the power of the Holy Spirit.
"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---who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke." (Acts 6:9) Bible scholar Adam Clarke observes, "The persons mentioned here were foreign Jews, who appear to have had a synagogue peculiar to themselves at Jerusalem, in which they were accustomed to worship when they came to the public festivals...It is supposed, also, that these synagogues had theological, if not philosophical, schools attached to them; and that it was the disciples or scholars of these schools who came forward to dispute with Stephen, and were enraged because they were confounded." Just as the enemies of Jesus frequently tried to test His knowledge of the Scriptures, we find these foreign Jews doing the same to Stephen.
Who are these Freedmen? Their name comes from the Latin libertini which was a term used by the Romans for freed slaves, or the descendants of freed slaves, to differentiate between this social class and the social class of those who had never been slaves. Most reputable scholars agree that these men are either Hellenized Jews (the meaning of which we discussed yesterday) or foreign converts to Judaism. It is likely they all speak Greek as their only language and this explains why they worship at their own synagogue at Jerusalem rather than at the temple where Aramaic is spoken. This also explains why they choose to argue with Stephen, who almost certainly is a Hellenized Jew himself since he was chosen to help oversee the distribution of goods to the Hellenized Jewish widows. The apostles and Hebraic Jews who are preaching the gospel can't converse with the Freedmen in Greek, but Stephen can.
The mention of men from the province of Cilicia is very important and we don't want to miss the fact that Tarsus, the hometown Saul who will later become the Apostle Paul, was located in Cilicia. Some commentators believe Saul is in the crowd that verbally attacks Stephen. I find it doubtful that Saul attended this synagogue in place of attending services at the temple, but this doesn't mean he couldn't have attended services at the synagogue in addition to worshiping at the temple. He may also have joined classes at the synagogue's school. We know Paul himself was never a slave but it's possible he had an ancestor who was, giving him the right to attend the Synagogue of the Freedmen. He states in Acts 22:28 that he was born free. In Philippians 3:5 he says he has spent his whole life among the Jews at Jerusalem, so if there was ever any slavery in his family it was from a prior generation than his. He may well have known men from Cilicia who visited this synagogue, and he may have socialized with them and attended debates or studies at this synagogue, but in order to move up through the ranks of the Pharisees as quickly as he did, he must also have maintained a regular presence at the temple. Paul wrote and spoke fluent Greek and was at least somewhat Hellenized, as many in Jerusalem were, but in his religious life there is no doubt he strictly observed all the Jewish laws and customs. He could not have been so influenced by the Greek culture that his fellow Pharisees would have considered him worldly and irreverent. Was he in the crowd that argued with Stephen? Possibly so. He always enjoyed a lively debate and he may have gone with some of the men from Cilicia to question Stephen. We don't know, but one thing we do know is that in Chapter 7 he approves when the Sanhedrin declares Stephen guilty of blasphemy. We know he witnesses the death of Stephen and guards the coats of those who stone him.
The men who hotly debate with Stephen are unable to prevail against him so they suborn false testimony. "Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, 'We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.' So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, 'This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.'" (Acts 6:11-14) These are the same type of charges that were brought against Jesus at His trial before the Sanhedrin. These are all bald-faced lies. Jesus Christ never spoke against the law or the prophets but instead He was the fulfillment of everything God ever said through the law and the prophets. Jesus Christ upheld the word of God, and He held it to a far higher standard than any of the Pharisees. Stephen too is upholding the word of God, the very word which foretold the Messiah, the very prophecies which clearly point to Jesus of Nazareth as the only man who could possibly be the Messiah.
"All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel." (Acts 6:15) They see something different about Stephen, just as they saw something different about the apostles when they "took note that these men had been with Jesus". (Acts 4:13) Whether Stephen ever knew Jesus in the flesh or not we don't know. But Stephen accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and he has the same Holy Spirit as the apostles---the same Holy Spirit you and I have. There is a glow to Stephen's face. He knows what he believes and he knows it's the truth. The power of the Holy Spirit upon him ought to have caused his enemies to stop and consider whether he might be telling the truth, but instead they will reject his testimony just as they rejected the testimony of Jesus.
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