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23 articles found for “Stephen; the seven deacons”

• Seven Deacons

  The Seven Deacons were seven men chosen by the early church in Jerusalem to ensure the fair distribution of relief. They included Stephen and Philip, and their appointment is commonly regarded as the origin of the office of deacon.

• Ethiopian Eunuch

  The Ethiopian eunuch is the treasury official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who appears in Acts 8. After hearing Philip the evangelist explain a passage from Isaiah and proclaim the gospel of Jesus, he was baptized.

• Philip the Evangelist

  Philip the Evangelist appears in the Acts of the Apostles as one of "the seven" chosen in the early Jerusalem church. He preached the gospel in Samaria and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. He is distinct from Philip the Apostle.

• Stephen

  Stephen was a worker in the early church in Jerusalem who appears in the Book of Acts. Chosen as one of the seven men entrusted with the distribution of relief, he was stoned to death after addressing the council and is commonly called the first Christian martyr.

• Martyrdom of Stephen

  The martyrdom of Stephen was the stoning of Stephen, one of the seven men appointed to serve in the early Jerusalem church, after he preached before the council. It is recorded in Acts 6–7.

• Acts 7:60

  Acts 7:60 records the prayer of Stephen, who, as he was being stoned to death, asked forgiveness for those who were killing him. Because it echoes Jesus' prayer on the cross and because Saul (Paul) was present at the scene, the verse is frequently cited as an example of love for one's enemies and of martyrdom.

• Antioch

  Antioch is the name of two cities in the New Testament: Syrian Antioch, where believers were first called "Christians" and from which Paul's missionary journeys set out, and Pisidian Antioch, where Paul preached in the synagogue.

• Asia (Roman Province)

  Asia was a Roman province in western Asia Minor during the New Testament period. Centered on Ephesus, it was the region where Paul carried out an extended ministry and where the seven churches of Revelation were located. It is distinct from the modern continent of Asia.

• Acts 6

  Acts 6 is the chapter that recounts how the Jerusalem church chose seven men to oversee the daily distribution to the needy after complaints arose over it, and how one of them, Stephen, was accused before the council.

• Stephen Langton

  Stephen Langton (c. 1150–1228) was an English theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury, widely known for establishing the chapter divisions used in Bibles today.

• Acts 7

  Acts 7 records Stephen's defense before the council, in which he retraces the history of Israel from Abraham to Solomon, followed immediately by his martyrdom by stoning.

• Acts 8

  Acts 8 describes the great persecution that followed the martyrdom of Stephen and the scattered believers who preached the gospel wherever they went. It recounts Philip's preaching in Samaria and on the desert road to Gaza, including the accounts of Simon the sorcerer and the Ethiopian eunuch.

• John Piper

  John Piper (1946– ) is an American Baptist pastor and theologian. He served for thirty-three years at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, advocated what he calls "Christian Hedonism," and founded the ministry Desiring God.

• Simon Magus

  Simon Magus is the Samaritan sorcerer who appears in Acts 8. After being baptized, he tried to buy the power to impart the Holy Spirit and was rebuked by Peter. The term "simony," meaning the buying and selling of church offices, is derived from his name.

• Cyprus

  Cyprus is an island in the eastern Mediterranean, known today by the same name. In the Book of Acts it appears as the home of Barnabas and as the first place where the gospel was preached on Paul's first missionary journey.

• Stoning

  Stoning is a method of execution in which an offender is put to death by a group of people throwing stones. The Old Testament law prescribed it for a number of grave offenses, and in the New Testament it appears in the account of the woman taken in adultery and in the martyrdom of Stephen.

• Phoenicia

  Phoenicia is a New Testament place name for the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, roughly the coastal region of present-day Lebanon. Its chief cities were Tyre and Sidon, and in Acts it appears as a gateway through which the gospel spread into Gentile lands.

• Alexandria

  Alexandria is a port city on the Mediterranean coast of northern Egypt. It appears four times in the Bible, all in the Book of Acts. It was the hometown of Apollos and, according to tradition, the place where the Septuagint was translated.

• Cilicia

  Cilicia was a region on the Mediterranean coast of southeastern Asia Minor. Tarsus, the hometown of the apostle Paul, was located there, and the region is mentioned in Acts and Galatians.

• Phoenicia

  Phoenicia was the region of port cities such as Tyre and Sidon on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, in what is now Lebanon. The New Korean Revised Version renders the name "Benige." In the Old Testament the region appears mainly under the names of its cities, Tyre and Sidon.