Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
Israel received God's law through the ministry and agency of angels yet failed to keep and obey it. This is the abrupt close of the rebuke spoken through Stephen to the Jewish council, his final testimony ending his defense. Their disobedience showed them stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, always resisting the Holy Ghost as their fathers had done. Stephen joined that failure to their fathers' persecuting and slaying the prophets who foretold the coming of the Just One and to their own betraying and murdering the Just One himself, a greater sin committed though they kept outward ordinances with corrupt hearts. The angel whose voice they failed to heed was Christ himself, so in rejecting the law they were rejecting Him.
Stephen's Final Testimony
This is the close of the rebuke spoken through Stephen to the Jewish council, the abrupt closing of his defense before them and his last testimony. It breaks away from the chain of history he had been tracing and turns directly upon his infuriated judges. It was spoken at the dictation of the Holy Ghost amid growing resistance, after the priest rent his robe at his connecting of Jesus Christ with the prophecies and his teaching about the temple, so its full significance depends on the occasion, time, and place of the address.
It was spoken by a man full of faith and power who bore a triumphant testimony to win souls to Christ. His shining face like the face of an angel was evidence from God, but they despised it. Their refusal to heed and repent, and their rage against the bold testimony, exposed the spirit of bitter opposition to the Redeemer still working in the children of disobedience and the hatred of the enemies of truth for His followers.
It closes his vindication of Jesus in the synagogue, in which he presented the evidences from prophecy that the crucified Jesus is the Son of God. Paul, who had earnestly disputed with Stephen in that same synagogue, afterward took up the same cause there. He related his own wonderful experience and fearlessly proclaimed, with yearning for his brethren and former associates, that Jesus is the Son of God.
It belongs to the witness that ended with Stephen being stoned to death. Saul stood by consenting to that death and acted a part in the stoning before persecuting the disciples. He did so as a rabbi, statesman, and member of the Sanhedrin who was very zealous for the suppression of Christianity.
Law Received Yet Disobeyed
Israel and its leaders and people received God's law by the disposition of angels, through their ministry and agency and service in the dispensation of angels. The law was thus given through angels to Israel as a sacred trust mediated from heaven. The angel whose voice Israel failed to heed was Christ himself, so that Israel's sin in not keeping the law was rejecting His voice.
Stephen charges his hearers and judges that though they thus received the law, they did not keep or obey it. Their disobedience means they were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, always resisting the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit and God as their fathers did. Stephen applies this charge directly to his judges, linking their failure with their fathers' resistance to the Holy Spirit.
Stephen joins this failure to their fathers' persecuting and slaying the prophets who foretold the coming of the Just One and to their own betraying and murdering the Just One Himself. That Just One is the crucified and risen Saviour they hated, whose coming the prophets had announced. Though they observed outward religious ordinances their hearts were corrupt, so that by betraying and crucifying Christ they committed a greater sin than their fathers' persecution of the prophets. Their refusal to heed and repent reveals the spirit of bitter opposition to the Redeemer still working in the children of disobedience and the hatred of the enemies of truth for His followers.
Israel received God's law through the ministry and agency of angels yet failed to keep and obey it. This is the abrupt close of the rebuke spoken through Stephen to the Jewish council, his final testimony ending his defense. Their disobedience showed them stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, always resisting the Holy Ghost as their fathers had done. Stephen joined that failure to their fathers' persecuting and slaying the prophets who foretold the coming of the Just One and to their own betraying and murdering the Just One himself, a greater sin committed though they kept outward ordinances with corrupt hearts. The angel whose voice they failed to heed was Christ himself, so in rejecting the law they were rejecting Him.
Stephen's Final Testimony
This is the close of the rebuke spoken through Stephen to the Jewish council, the abrupt closing of his defense before them and his last testimony. It breaks away from the chain of history he had been tracing and turns directly upon his infuriated judges. It was spoken at the dictation of the Holy Ghost amid growing resistance, after the priest rent his robe at his connecting of Jesus Christ with the prophecies and his teaching about the temple, so its full significance depends on the occasion, time, and place of the address.
It was spoken by a man full of faith and power who bore a triumphant testimony to win souls to Christ. His shining face like the face of an angel was evidence from God, but they despised it. Their refusal to heed and repent, and their rage against the bold testimony, exposed the spirit of bitter opposition to the Redeemer still working in the children of disobedience and the hatred of the enemies of truth for His followers.
It closes his vindication of Jesus in the synagogue, in which he presented the evidences from prophecy that the crucified Jesus is the Son of God. Paul, who had earnestly disputed with Stephen in that same synagogue, afterward took up the same cause there. He related his own wonderful experience and fearlessly proclaimed, with yearning for his brethren and former associates, that Jesus is the Son of God.
It belongs to the witness that ended with Stephen being stoned to death. Saul stood by consenting to that death and acted a part in the stoning before persecuting the disciples. He did so as a rabbi, statesman, and member of the Sanhedrin who was very zealous for the suppression of Christianity.
Law Received Yet Disobeyed
Israel and its leaders and people received God's law by the disposition of angels, through their ministry and agency and service in the dispensation of angels. The law was thus given through angels to Israel as a sacred trust mediated from heaven. The angel whose voice Israel failed to heed was Christ himself, so that Israel's sin in not keeping the law was rejecting His voice.
Stephen charges his hearers and judges that though they thus received the law, they did not keep or obey it. Their disobedience means they were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, always resisting the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit and God as their fathers did. Stephen applies this charge directly to his judges, linking their failure with their fathers' resistance to the Holy Spirit.
Stephen joins this failure to their fathers' persecuting and slaying the prophets who foretold the coming of the Just One and to their own betraying and murdering the Just One Himself. That Just One is the crucified and risen Saviour they hated, whose coming the prophets had announced. Though they observed outward religious ordinances their hearts were corrupt, so that by betraying and crucifying Christ they committed a greater sin than their fathers' persecution of the prophets. Their refusal to heed and repent reveals the spirit of bitter opposition to the Redeemer still working in the children of disobedience and the hatred of the enemies of truth for His followers.