Acts 7

Acts 7 recounts the defense and martyrdom of Stephen, who stood before the council (the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish council) after being accused in Acts 6 of speaking against the temple and the law.

Outline

• Verses 1–8 When the high priest asks whether the charges are true, Stephen begins his account with the call of Abraham and the covenant of circumcision.
• Verses 9–16 Joseph is sold into Egypt and becomes governor, and Jacob's kindred, seventy-five persons in all, go down into Egypt.
• Verses 17–29 Moses is raised by Pharaoh's daughter; at the age of forty he kills an Egyptian and flees to Midian.
• Verses 30–38 Forty years later, Moses is called from a burning bush in the wilderness of Mount Sinai and leads the people out of Egypt.
• Verses 39–43 The fathers reject Moses and make an idol in the form of a calf.
• Verses 44–50 After speaking of the tabernacle of witness and Solomon's temple, Stephen declares that God does not dwell in places made with hands.
• Verses 51–53 He rebukes his hearers for resisting the Holy Spirit as their fathers did and for killing the Just One.
• Verses 54–60 When Stephen says that he sees the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, the crowd drives him out of the city and stones him. The witnesses lay their garments at the feet of Saul.

Key Verses

• Acts 7:48 "Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands" — the central claim of the defense.
• Acts 7:56 "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God" — a testimony to the exaltation of Jesus as the Son of Man.
• Acts 7:60 "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" — a prayer of forgiveness that echoes Jesus' prayer on the cross.

People and Places

• Stephen: One of the Seven, who is martyred in this chapter.
• Saul: Later known as Paul. He appears for the first time in this chapter.
• Figures in the defense: Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, and others.
• Places: Mesopotamia, Haran, Egypt, Shechem, Midian, and Mount Sinai.

Points for Reflection

• The figure "seventy-five" in verse 14 differs from the "seventy" of the Hebrew text of Genesis 46:27 but matches the number in the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament). The burial account in verse 16 also differs from Genesis. Some interpreters regard these differences as the result of the speech being condensed, while others hold that the text faithfully records Stephen's words as he spoke them; other views also exist.
• Jesus, who is usually described as "sitting" at God's right hand, is here described as "standing." Some interpreters read this as a picture of Jesus welcoming or defending His witness.
• Interpreters differ on whether Stephen's statements about the temple amount to a rejection of the temple itself or a critique of the attitude that confines God to a building.
• Saul's appearance leads into the persecution in Acts 8 and the conversion of Paul.