The question is put by the high priest to Stephen on trial before the council and its judges, calling on him to answer whether the charges against him are true. The Stephen so questioned was the foremost of the seven deacons, a Jew by birth of deep piety and broad faith. He spoke the Greek language and knew Greek customs, which gave him opportunity to preach the gospel in the synagogues of the Greek Jews.
He had been very active in the cause of Christ and bold in proclaiming his faith, and learned rabbis and doctors of the law engaged him in public discussion expecting an easy victory. They were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke, so that he ably defended the truths he advocated and utterly defeated his opponents, fulfilling in him the promise of a mouth and wisdom which adversaries cannot gainsay nor resist. Afterward he was seized and brought before the Sanhedrin, whose leaders sought to refute his teaching, with Saul taking a leading role in arguing against him.
His answer recounts Israel's religious history from Abraham through Solomon, showing his knowledge of that history and his learning as a student of the prophecies and of all matters of the law. He explained its spiritual meaning in light of Christ, using key events to defend himself. His words were spoken in the power of the Holy Spirit and directed by the Holy Ghost, and he knew it was his final testimony amid the turmoil and resistance of his hearers.
That defense ends with the countercharge that his hearers are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears and always resist the Holy Spirit as their fathers did. As their fathers persecuted and killed the prophets who foretold the coming of the Just One, so they had now betrayed and murdered Him. The address leads to Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, seeing the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and then being cast out of the city and stoned while praying for Jesus to receive his spirit and not to lay the sin to his murderers' charge.
The question is put by the high priest to Stephen on trial before the council and its judges, calling on him to answer whether the charges against him are true. The Stephen so questioned was the foremost of the seven deacons, a Jew by birth of deep piety and broad faith. He spoke the Greek language and knew Greek customs, which gave him opportunity to preach the gospel in the synagogues of the Greek Jews.
He had been very active in the cause of Christ and bold in proclaiming his faith, and learned rabbis and doctors of the law engaged him in public discussion expecting an easy victory. They were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke, so that he ably defended the truths he advocated and utterly defeated his opponents, fulfilling in him the promise of a mouth and wisdom which adversaries cannot gainsay nor resist. Afterward he was seized and brought before the Sanhedrin, whose leaders sought to refute his teaching, with Saul taking a leading role in arguing against him.
His answer recounts Israel's religious history from Abraham through Solomon, showing his knowledge of that history and his learning as a student of the prophecies and of all matters of the law. He explained its spiritual meaning in light of Christ, using key events to defend himself. His words were spoken in the power of the Holy Spirit and directed by the Holy Ghost, and he knew it was his final testimony amid the turmoil and resistance of his hearers.
That defense ends with the countercharge that his hearers are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears and always resist the Holy Spirit as their fathers did. As their fathers persecuted and killed the prophets who foretold the coming of the Just One, so they had now betrayed and murdered Him. The address leads to Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, seeing the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and then being cast out of the city and stoned while praying for Jesus to receive his spirit and not to lay the sin to his murderers' charge.