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What Was Stephen Expecting?
Stephen ramps his speech up for a good ending. How does he end his long speech about Jesus and the Old Testament? Like this:
"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
Note that you don't see "And many were added to their number that day" after Stephen finishes his speech. This is not a speech like Peter's - the purpose is clearly different, but what IS Stephen's purpose? What response is he looking for?
I don't think Stephen was looking for hordes of converts here, but was looking simply to tell the truth, even when it is hard. He was willing to pay the price to tell the truth about God's plan and about the hard hearts of his audience. For doing so, Stephen became the first Christian martyr.
"Stephen’s final words of accusation (7:51–53) may make us wonder what has happened to his angelic face. After all, when we think of an angel, we think of a sweet, gentle person who has no place for wrath and judgment. This idea, however, does not come from Scripture, for some of the angels in the Bible are agents of judgment. Stephen is like Christ here. Though Jesus radiated the love of God as no one did, he also expressed God’s wrath against hypocrisy and sham, especially in his denunciation of the Pharisees (Matt. 23:13–23).
The ministry of Stephen helped blaze new trails for the gospel, which has earned him the title “radical.” He opened the door theologically for the world mission of the church. We do not know whether he himself realized this, but he freed Christianity from the temple and therefore from Judaism. A short time later the church concluded that one does not have to be Jewish first in order to be Christian. Though Stephen ended his life an apparent failure, though he did not live to see the fruit of his theologizing, God revealed later that his ministry had borne great fruit. The trail he blazed was later followed by Paul—the one who approved of his death (8:1) and kept the clothes of those who stoned him (7:58), but who later became the apostle to the Gentiles." [1] (emphasis mine)
I don't want the takeaway here to be "Be a jerk for Jesus!" There is nothing wrong with being gentle and respectful, and in fact we are told to do so in 1 Peter 3:15. This should be our normal way of operating. However, sometimes are are called to tell hard truths. Sometimes telling those hard truths have severe consequences for us. In Stephen's case it certainly did. Be gentle, but don't be afraid - we have God's power with us and our true life is with Him, and no one can take that.
What Was Stephen Expecting?
Stephen ramps his speech up for a good ending. How does he end his long speech about Jesus and the Old Testament? Like this:
"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
Note that you don't see "And many were added to their number that day" after Stephen finishes his speech. This is not a speech like Peter's - the purpose is clearly different, but what IS Stephen's purpose? What response is he looking for?
I don't think Stephen was looking for hordes of converts here, but was looking simply to tell the truth, even when it is hard. He was willing to pay the price to tell the truth about God's plan and about the hard hearts of his audience. For doing so, Stephen became the first Christian martyr.
"Stephen’s final words of accusation (7:51–53) may make us wonder what has happened to his angelic face. After all, when we think of an angel, we think of a sweet, gentle person who has no place for wrath and judgment. This idea, however, does not come from Scripture, for some of the angels in the Bible are agents of judgment. Stephen is like Christ here. Though Jesus radiated the love of God as no one did, he also expressed God’s wrath against hypocrisy and sham, especially in his denunciation of the Pharisees (Matt. 23:13–23).
The ministry of Stephen helped blaze new trails for the gospel, which has earned him the title “radical.” He opened the door theologically for the world mission of the church. We do not know whether he himself realized this, but he freed Christianity from the temple and therefore from Judaism. A short time later the church concluded that one does not have to be Jewish first in order to be Christian. Though Stephen ended his life an apparent failure, though he did not live to see the fruit of his theologizing, God revealed later that his ministry had borne great fruit. The trail he blazed was later followed by Paul—the one who approved of his death (8:1) and kept the clothes of those who stoned him (7:58), but who later became the apostle to the Gentiles." [1] (emphasis mine)
I don't want the takeaway here to be "Be a jerk for Jesus!" There is nothing wrong with being gentle and respectful, and in fact we are told to do so in 1 Peter 3:15. This should be our normal way of operating. However, sometimes are are called to tell hard truths. Sometimes telling those hard truths have severe consequences for us. In Stephen's case it certainly did. Be gentle, but don't be afraid - we have God's power with us and our true life is with Him, and no one can take that.
[1] Ajith Fernando, Acts, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 247-48.
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