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Category: Acts for a 21st c. Church

Acts of the Apostles + a History of Christ’s Church

Acts of the Apostles 1-28

Acts of the Apostles:
+ The first century Church SHARED Christ while suffering severe persecution.
+ Luke records a historic account of the Church which gives 21c Christians a context to SHARE the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

Read more about the Early Church & add your COMMENT on Scripture.

ACT now.

+ SHARE the Gospel history witnessed in the CURRENT chronological SERIES from ACTS of the APOSTLES.

Stephen: Brothers, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
Simon Peter had already preached in the Temple what Stephen would say once again about Moses.

“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers also did…
“Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR COUNTRYMEN; TO HIM YOU SHALL LISTEN regarding everything He says to you.
ACTS of the Apostles 3:17,22 NASB20 – The Apostle Simon Peter, addressing the Jews in the Temple.

Stephen’s defense so far:

Stephen also addressed his accusers respectfully as ‘brothers and fathers.’ (For these are rulers and judges of Jewish Law to the extent Roman rulers and governors will allow.)

“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham,” Stephen had begun.

“And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.
ACTS 7:8

He then pointed to Israel’s founding fathers as poor judges of God’s will when it came to their own brother Joseph.

“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him,
ACTS 7:9

Stephen then chronicles the years when the Lord used Joseph in Egypt, with his brothers bringing Jacob to Egypt during a time of famine. So through Joseph, Israel (Jacob) and his other sons shared in the blessings enjoyed by Joseph, who had become a ruler and leader of the land for Pharaoh.

Then Steven reminds us that their fathers were enslaved in Egypt after Joseph was forgotten.

It had been about four hundred years, not unlike the previous four centuries Before Christ, when the word of God had not been heard in Israel until John the Baptist.

Israel is enslaved in Egypt; Judah is captive in their own promised land by Rome.

At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight.
Acts of the Apostles 7:20 CSB – from Stephen’s defense before the High Priest

ACTS of Stephen continued

Moses, Ruler of God’s Law

22 So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.

“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his relatives, the Israelites.

And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended and took vengeance for the oppressed man by fatally striking the Egyptian.

Stephen then presents the rulers of Jerusalem with the same dilemma as Moses faced:

You MUST choose sides.
- Where will the LORD lead you, as His ruler of a land which is not under God our Father?
- God leads Moses away from his ‘chosen’ people for a time.
Did YOU force the LORD’S Anointed One to flee from YOU?
- Do YOU obey the LORD and will you faithfully remember your covenant of circumcision of promised redemption?
A Ruler must also choose

25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.

Of course, the Apostles had already taught that Jerusalem’s leaders had not recognized that Jesus had come to redeem Israel from their sins, not to become their ruler and King who could expel Rome from its gates.

Stephen continues from Scripture they all knew well:

.. he tried to reconcile them to peace, by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you injuring each other?’

27 But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying,

Who made you a ruler and judge over us?
ACTS 7:27B – Stephen quoting Exodus 2 account of Moses fleeing Egypt

Shmot (Exodus) 2

2:13 וַיֵּצֵא בַּיּוֹם הַשֵּׁנִי וְהִנֵּה שְׁנֵֽי־אֲנָשִׁים עִבְרִים נִצִּים וַיֹּאמֶר לָֽרָשָׁע לָמָּה תַכֶּה רֵעֶֽךָ׃

2:14 וַיֹּאמֶר מִי שָֽׂמְךָ לְאִישׁ שַׂר וְשֹׁפֵט עָלֵינוּ הַלְהָרְגֵנִי אַתָּה אֹמֵר כַּאֲשֶׁר הָרַגְתָּ אֶת־הַמִּצְרִי וַיִּירָא מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמַר אָכֵן נוֹדַע הַדָּבָֽר׃

2:15 וַיִּשְׁמַע פַּרְעֹה אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה וַיְבַקֵּשׁ לַהֲרֹג אֶת־מֹשֶׁה וַיִּבְרַח מֹשֶׁה מִפְּנֵי פַרְעֹה וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּאֶֽרֶץ־מִדְיָן וַיֵּשֶׁב עַֽל־הַבְּאֵֽר׃

But he said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known!” When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian…
Exodus 2:14-15a – Challenge of Hebrew slaves to Moses when he fled to Midian for forty years

After forty years

.. an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.. the voice of the Lord called out to him,

I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.’
ACTS 7:32A NASB- Stephen quoting Exodus 3:
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Stephen continues to quote Scripture from Shmot (Exodus) 3 ::

He likely quotes it Hebrew, even as all had memorized the Scripture, though Stephen would have conversed with the ruler of the Hebrews in the common Greek of the Roman Empire.
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Stephen Compares these Hebrew leaders to those from whom Moses fled for forty years

Then after forty years in Midian, MOSES STEPS UPON HOLY GROUND OF THE LORD!

Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.
ACTS 7:32B CSB
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STEPHEN continues in the familiar Hebrew Scripture, quoting THE LORD GOD:
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.. 34 I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them; and now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

And looking intently at one leader, the High Priest; and then a leader of the Sadducees and several leading Pharisees;

Stephen’s shining light upon Scripture pierces some in the room who recognize the rejection of Moses by the Hebrews for forty years.

Perhaps some recall how they too had rejected Jesus for three years as our Lord preached and healed in their Temple and many synagogues throughout Judea, Galilee and in many towns.

“This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.
ACTS 7:33 – Stephen’s indictment of Jerusalem’s leaders

36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

Every leader in the room recalls signs and wonders recently performed in Jerusalem, yes even at the Temple by the Apostles. They could not restrain these disciples of Jesus from preaching the Gospel, even as Peter and John had mysteriously walked out of Herod’s prison.
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To be continued...
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January 8, 2022
Stephen: Indictment of our Founding Fathers
All who sat in the council, fastening their eyes on him, saw his face like it was the face of an angel.
ACTS 6:15 :: Hebrew Names Version (HNV)

Another Trial before Judah’s Ruling Fathers

7 Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
ἀρχιερεύς – archiereus

Let’s be clear who Jerusalem’s fathers, in charge of these trials, are:
- A new trial now of Stephen
- Two previous hearings or trials of Peter and John
- And most controversial of all, their trial and crucifixion of Jesus, of whom these Jews now preach as risen from death!
And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to put Him to death

Gospel of Luke 19:40 NASB20 – Describing Jesus’ opposition by the chief priests.

After Jesus, they next tried to discredit Peter and John

Arrested AND Released

Yet an angel had released Peter and John from the prison of the High Priest

And now, Stephen

Stephen, not one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, but a newly appointed disciple of the Disciples. A leading man among seven, overseeing multitudes of these ‘Christ’ followers in Jerusalem’s growing congregations – an overt challenge to the authority of its religious-political leaders responsible for their Roman ‘peace.’

How will Stephen defend Christ before Jerusalem’s political fathers?

Not betrayed, but like the Apostles falsely accused.

Acts of the Apostles 7: (and here, ACTS of Stephen)
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Stephanos will reply to the Hebrew High Priest of the Sanhedrin in the common Hellenized Greek of Roman-occupied Jerusalem:
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7:2 ὁ δὲ ἔφη ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες ἀκούσατε ὁ θεὸς τῆς δόξης ὤφθη τῷ πατρὶ ἡμῶν Ἀβραὰμ ὄντι ἐν τῇ Μεσοποταμίᾳ πρὶν ἢ κατοικῆσαι αὐτὸν ἐν Χαρράν

“Hear me, brethren and fathers!

Stephen now begins his defense with their common history, recorded in Scripture and supposedly taught by Jerusalem’s fathers, shepherds of Judah, in their synagogues. He includes himself as their Jewish brothers, born to a line of their own patriarchs.

Abraham

The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and He said to him,

Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.

4 Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.
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Here's Stephen's first point about the Patriarchs (ruling fathers):
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“But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land.
ACTS 7:5a NLT – Stephen’s defense to the fathers of Jerusalem trying him for following the Messiah Jesus

6 But God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, and they would enslave and mistreat them for four hundred years…
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We know that Stephen is leading up to Moses leading them from Egypt (in ancient times).
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.. and so Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.
ACTS 7:8b NASB
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Nothing too controversial in Steven's opening argument to these contemporary patriarchs of the Sanhedrin, right?
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Ἰωσήφ – Joseph – יוֹסֵף

“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him..

11 “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers..
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Joseph's brothers, patriarchs of Israel DID NOT RECOGNIZR their rejected brother, whom these eleven fathers had  thought would be brought down by slavery.
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14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all.

15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought..

Joseph saves Israel (Jacob) and its Patriarchs (his brothers, who finally had bowed down to Joseph)
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Jerusalem's fathers (who sit in judgment of Stephen) continue to listen intently to the disciple of Jesus' Disciples they indicted for speaking against the Law. 
The innocence of an angel shines from his face as God-breathed words flow forth from his tongue.
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Stephen reveals God’s Promise through Abraham

“But as the time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham was approaching, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt..
Acts 7:17 NASB – Stephen’s history of the Patriarchs of Israel
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FOUR HUNDRED YEARS WILL ELAPSE (as we know) between this first part of Stephen's story about the blessings of the patriarchs and the second part of his history of slavery in Egypt.
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.. until another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
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To be continued...
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January 7, 2022
Stephen, Dynamic Preacher of God’s Word
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We return now to Jerusalem in c.A.D.30, from where Luke left us with the Apostles' appointing seven men to help minister to the needs of a growing Church. Today we begin with a look at this first named deacon, Stephen.
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The word [from the Apostles] found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and [six other men].
Acts 6:5 NASB20

Stephen, a man full of faith

The multitudes of the growing church elect seven men to help the Twelve with administration of some daily duties of the church which have begun to cause complaint. Number one on their list: Stephen.

ACTS of the Apostles 6:

So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.
Acts of the Apostles 6:7 CSB

Now, Nineteen (not just the Twelve) Preach the Gospel in Jerusalem

Luke has witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit moving in Christ’s saints in Jerusalem, along with accompanying signs from God. Multitudes now join the fellowship of believers led by Peter and John, all the Apostles and now seven more saints determined to preach Christ crucified and risen from the grave.

Some perhaps, (in addition to the Twelve) may have witnessed the Lord Jesus as one of the more than five-hundred who saw Jesus with their own eyes after His resurrection.

The new congregation of believers encounter opposition from the established rulers of Jerusalem already determined to snuff out the burning new zeal of those who have believed in Jesus by the witness of the Apostles. (Perhaps these will be less likely to oppose the authority of Jerusalem’s official judgment than their outspoken uneducated teachers Peter and John, who had escaped imprisonment prior to trial.)

Stephen, full of grace and power

But what happens within their walls of Jerusalem?

Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
Acts of the Apostles 6:8 CSB

A Church Seized by Signs and Wonders

.. great wonders and miracles among the people.

First, Simon Peter and John, preaching in the courtyards of our Temple with a man healed from life-long lameness.

(We had to release them or the multitudes would have turned on us!)

But now, MORE signs — NOT through twelve Apostles of Jesus, but a NEW disciple of His Disciples!

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
Acts of the Apostles 6:8 NASB20

Who is this new disciple of the former rabbi Jesus?

Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.

These freedmen were also Jews caught up in the disputes of Hellenism, as had led to the call of their Greek brother Stephanos.
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The Synagogue of the Freedmen included men who had been made captives of the Romans under Pompey but were afterwards set free; and who although they had fixed their abode in Rome, had built at their own expense a synagogue at Jerusalem which they frequented when in that city - Source
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More than murmuring, False Witness against Stephen

10 But they were unable to cope with his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. Then they secretly induced men to say,

“We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
Acts 6:11b – false witness against Stephanos by some men of the libertinus

Why would liberated Jews (with their own synagogues) oppose these new rabbis?
- the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including
  - both Cyrenians
    a large and very flourishing city of Libya Cyrenaica or Pentapolitana, about 11 miles (17 km) from the sea. Among its inhabitants were a great number of Jews, whom Ptolemy I. had brought there, and invested with the right of [Roman] citizens
  - and Alexandrians,
    Ἀλεξανδρεύς Alexandria in Egypt
  - and some from Cilicia
    Κιλικία a maritime province in the southeast of Asia Minor, boarding on Pamphylia in the west, Lycaonia and Cappadocia in the north and Syria in the east. Its capital, Tarsus, was the birth place of Paul – source
  - and Asia,
    Ἀσία i.e. Asia Minor, or (usually) only its western shore:—Asia – proconsular Asia embracing Mysia, Lydia, Phrygia, and Caria, corresponding closely to Turkey today
These Hellenized Roman Jews competed with rabbis of other Jewish sects for influence in Jerusalem.

Speaking of murmuring..

12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin.

Πέτρος First Petrus and now this Στέφανος Stephanos

13 They also presented false witnesses..
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This strategy of an alliance between the libertines and more orthodox Jews against Jesus had worked before Pilate just a few months ago.
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.. for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us.”
ACTS of false witness against Stephen by the Freedmen 6:14 NASB

στέφανος Stephen
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στέφανος stéphanos, stef'-an-os; 
from an apparently primary στέφω stéphō (to twine or wreathe);
 a chaplet (as a badge of royalty, a prize in the public games or a symbol of honor generally; 
but more conspicuous and elaborate than the simple fillet, G1238), 
literally or figuratively:—crown.
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Stephen is about to become the angelic crown of witness to the first century church.

To be continued…
January 3, 2022