Acts 8:1, commentary and pictures

After Stephen's death a great and severe persecution arose against the church at Jerusalem and scattered all the believers except the apostles throughout Judea and Samaria. Saul consented to and approved Stephen's death, stood by and took charge of the clothes of those who stoned him, and then hunted Christians in their houses to deliver them for imprisonment and death. The Lord permitted this persecution to scatter His representatives abroad where they could proclaim the gospel with power as Christ had commanded, and it did not silence their testimony but carried it farther. This was needed because after Pentecost the disciples remained in Jerusalem to shield the members and failed to educate new converts to become workers, so when they inclined to colonize in one place persecution scattered them. God desires His people dispersed and not colonized in one place, so Christian work is not to be confined to a few localities but to spread to many places, and believers should go willingly to share truth rather than wait to be driven by persecution.

Persecution and Scattering Described

After Stephen's death a great and severe persecution arose against the church at Jerusalem and scattered all the believers except the apostles throughout Judea and Samaria. Saul supported the killing of believers and took an active part in the persecution, and Stephen and several others died for their faith in this assault on the church. The scattering drove all the members except the apostles abroad, fulfilling the command to carry the gospel to Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth.

The persecution included hunting Christians down, seizing them in their houses, and handing them over to priests, rulers and councils for imprisonment and death. Men and women alike were seized and committed to prison, and many faithful and worthy believers were killed. Stephen was not the only one killed, for Saul's later statement that he voted for believers to be put to death shows others besides Stephen were put to death, and among the messengers who died were Stephen and James.

No legal sentence had been passed upon Stephen, and the Roman authorities had been bribed with large sums of money to make no investigation of the case. They made no special effort to stay the cruel work of imprisonment and death, but secretly aided the Jews in order to conciliate them and to secure their favor.

Many of those scattered had been living temporarily in Jerusalem and returned to their distant homes when violent persecution broke out, while others were driven to different places including Macedonia and Cyprus. They had to flee their homes and were brought into great trial of affliction and deep poverty. Those who left Jerusalem preached Christ in nearby cities, at first among Hebrew- and Greek-speaking Jews, and the Lord blessed the preaching so that many believed and turned to the Lord.

Saul's Consent and Violence

Saul consented to Stephen's death and approved of the killing, standing by while he was stoned and taking charge of the garments of those who stoned him, with the witnesses who accused Stephen laying their clothes at his feet before casting the first stones. He guarded the clothes of the killers as they did the deed.

He had taken an active part in the dispute and trial against Stephen, standing as a leading opponent present at the trial and actively working against the teaching of Christ. He argued against Stephen and tried to convince the people that his teaching was dangerous and blasphemous, accepting the religious leaders' judgment that Stephen was a blasphemer and Jesus an impostor. He acted with frenzied zeal at the trial and death.

Afterward Saul hunted Christians down, seized them in their houses, and handed them over to the priests and rulers and brought them before councils for imprisonment and death. He caused believers, both men and women, to be imprisoned, scourged, put in stocks, and killed, without evidence of wrongdoing beyond their faith in Jesus. His zeal in carrying forward this persecution made him a terror to the Christians at Jerusalem, and he pursued them even beyond Jerusalem.

His zeal in the persecution brought him esteem among the Jews and helped lead to his election to the Sanhedrin. His later statement that he voted for believers to be put to death shows that Stephen was not the only believer killed, but that many faithful people were killed through his opposition.

He did all this without the Spirit of God, moved by a religious zeal that was not from heaven and was not true religion, yet as sincere as a man could be in false religious ideas. His conscientiousness was erroneous and placed him on Satan's side instead of the Lord's side, and in harming saints who believed in Jesus he was persecuting Jesus Himself.

At the same time he was shaken by Stephen's courageous death, his faith and constancy, and the glory upon his face, and the memory of it remained to convict him. He was angered by his own secret conviction that Stephen was honored by God at the very time he was dishonored by men.

He later felt deep responsibility, guilt, sorrow, and stain for consenting to Stephen's death and for killing many faithful people. He recalled his consent when explaining his past to Jesus, and the memory of the part he had played came vividly to him when he himself was stoned at Lystra. He sought to vindicate the truth for which Stephen had died by preaching that Jesus is the Son of God, and by preaching boldly to his Jewish brethren the truth for which Stephen had died.

He hoped that boldly witnessing to the Jews in Jerusalem even at the cost of his own life might make amends for his fearful account against himself. His later danger in Jerusalem echoed the violence he had once supported, for his Jewish opponents planned to kill him while he wanted to keep preaching to them. But Christ told him to leave because they would not accept his testimony and sent him to the Gentiles. He was chosen to take Stephen's place in labor and suffering for Christ.

Apostles Remaining in Jerusalem

When the great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem after Stephen's death, the believers were scattered abroad through Judea and Samaria, but the apostles remained in Jerusalem for a time. Many who left had been living there only temporarily and now returned to their distant homes. The apostles stayed because Christ had directed them to work in Jerusalem first, and they waited for the Spirit to show them when it was their duty to leave.

For a time the priests and rulers did not dare to arrest the apostles. Their restraint came because Stephen's dying testimony had injured their standing with the people, making them afraid to move openly against the apostles. Meanwhile Saul's violent persecution helped scatter the church from Jerusalem and disrupted the work of its seven deacons, so that Philip changed where and how he labored.

Providence in Forced Dispersion

The Lord permitted the great persecution against the church at Jerusalem to scatter His representatives abroad, driving all the members except the apostles throughout Judea and Samaria and onward to the uttermost part of the earth, where they could work for others and where the gospel was then proclaimed with power as Christ had commanded. Their scattering carried out Jesus' command to spread the gospel throughout the world, and persecution was permitted when they remained together in Jerusalem.

This was needed because after Pentecost, when thousands were converted in one day, the disciples remained in Jerusalem thinking their work was to shield the church members from the snares of the enemy. They were in danger of being satisfied with what had been accomplished and failed to educate the new converts to become workers together with God in carrying the gospel to those who had not heard it. Remaining together left them in danger of missing that strength to resist temptation is best gained by active service, so the martyrdom of Stephen and other Christians and the driving out of the members forced God's representatives abroad where they could work for others.

When the disciples followed their inclination to remain in large numbers in Jerusalem instead of going into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature, persecution was permitted to come upon them so that they were scattered to all parts of the inhabited world. God desires His people to be dispersed throughout the earth and not to colonize in one place, and their dispersion carried them into wider fields of gospel work. Under God's providence this scattering became a means of spreading the believers beyond their home city and home region into other regions, other parts of the world, beyond their own country and nearby cities, and along major travel routes. There they sought the lost to bring them to God and sought people who could be brought into Christ's fold, carrying the gospel beyond Jerusalem and beyond the Jews to the wider world.

God's permitting of conditions that drive His people out of Jerusalem and scatter them through Judea and Samaria so that the light might shine in new places happened in Old Testament times as well as New Testament times. That persecution did not silence their testimony, but helped carry it farther and furthered the gospel, as in apostolic times. Killing Stephen was terrible evil done against Christ in the person of His saint, yet even those who did it could still repent and be forgiven.

Prophecy and Doctrinal Lessons

The great persecution against the church at Jerusalem arose after Christ's crucifixion, following the Jewish nation's rejection of the gospel. That rejection was sealed at the end of the seventy weeks in A.D. 34, when Stephen's martyrdom drove the disciples from Jerusalem and their scattering carried the gospel beyond the Jews to the wider world. The persecution included the imprisonment of many believers and the deaths of messengers such as Stephen and James, and it preceded the judgment of Jerusalem's destruction and the scattering of the Jewish nation.

The verse reveals two armies in conflict, the army of heaven and the army of false religious zealots. The same two parties still exist today under two distinct generals who were once united in the same work in the heavenly courts. The originator of sin is now the leader of the great apostasy and will continue to work in the children of disobedience until he and all who have united with him are destroyed. Saul acted without the Spirit of God, moved by a religious zeal not from heaven and not true religion, yet as sincere as a man could be in false religious ideas, and his erroneous conscientiousness placed him on Satan's side instead of the Lord's side. In harming saints who believed in Jesus he was persecuting Jesus Himself, and the same false religious zeal and spirit still animates many religionists today to bring distress upon God's sons and daughters and to persecute Christ in the person of His saints.

Those scattered from Jerusalem abroad through Judea and Samaria and other places were not ministers and were not ordained, yet wherever they went they preached the gospel. God does not rest His work on a few ministers, so men who fear God can do as much and as well as ministers. After Stephen's death persecution drove the Christians from Jerusalem and scattered them to different places, some going to Macedonia, forcing them to flee their homes into great trial of affliction and deep poverty. Though themselves exiled and poor, these scattered believers later gave out of their poverty beyond their power to help feed the suffering believers in Jerusalem when famine came.

Missionary Application Today

The scattering after Stephen's death shows that persecution at Jerusalem became under God's providence a means of spreading believers beyond their home city into other regions and along major travel routes to seek the lost and bring them to God. It therefore illustrates that Christian labor is not to be confined to one locality or to nearby cities, but is to go beyond one's own country into many places where people can be brought into Christ's fold. Believers are not to stay centered together in companies in a few places while cities lie unworked, but there must be much spreading about through division and subdivision of experienced workers. Physicians, men and women, are to share in this scattered work, going into unworked cities to begin missionary work in several places, uniting efforts in one city and then dividing to enter the next. Only small, unpretentious buildings are to be put up, with small schools for training workers on the field, and the Holy Spirit will cooperate with truly converted workers to make the truth a power to convert thousands.

God desires His workers today to be in many places meeting the people where they are, going into the work with the ability God has given them and seeking counsel of Him. The work of the canvasser is to be united with that of the missionary evangelist, rather than occupying too much time in fitting men up to do missionary work, so that workers will learn practical lessons in the field. Men who fear God can do as much and as well as ministers, for God does not rest His work on a few ministers. Such men are to be taken to go and take hold of the work in unworked fields and countries without waiting to be ordained, while more experienced laborers work the large cities. When persecution becomes severe in one place workers are to flee to another place and then to another, God leading them and making them a blessing in many places and opening places where there is religious freedom. This going from city to city to labor and find hearts to receive the message causes the truth to be proclaimed far more widely and continues as long as probation continues until the Son of man comes.

The same scattering will happen again when persecution scatters God's people in many countries, and this scattering serves the dissemination of truth so that no soul is left in darkness where enlightenment is possible. Divine wisdom is revealed in leading His people beforehand to train all their faculties and capabilities, so that those who have received an all-round education will have great advantage wherever they are scattered. This scattering is urgent because the work is fast closing up, wickedness is increasing on every side, and there is only a short time left to work. God scatters into new places those to whom He has committed great light, and many will have to move out whether they wish to or not. God can use dispersion to carry the truth into new places, so His people should go willingly to share it rather than wait to be driven by persecution.