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STUDIES IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

—INTERNATIONAL S.S. LESSONS—

SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS DESIGNED TO ASSIST THOSE OF OUR READERS WHO ATTEND BIBLE CLASSES, WHERE THESE LESSONS ARE USED; THAT THEY MAY BE ENABLED TO LEAD OTHERS INTO THE FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL. PUBLISHED IN ADVANCE, AT THE REQUEST OF FOREIGN READERS.

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THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYRS

LESSON IX., AUG. 28, ACTS 7:54-60; 8:1-4

Golden Text—”He kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”—Acts 7:60

Stephen was one of the seven deacons chosen by the early Church to manage some of its temporal affairs, and thus relieve the burden of the apostles, that they might give their whole attention to its spiritual oversight—to prayer and to the ministry of the word. (Chapter 6.) But the early Church were all ministers according to their ability and opportunity, and so while Stephen thus endeavored to relieve the apostles of temporal cares, that the Church might have the full benefit of their superior service, he was active also in declaring the truth in harmony with the apostles.

And the Lord was with Stephen and corroborated his teaching by granting him power to work “great wonders and miracles among the people.” The rapid growth of the Church under the spur of its early zeal and faith, and the clear testimony of the Lord working with them by miracles and signs, excited and greatly increased the hatred and opposition of a conservative class, who were determined to perpetuate the old institutions of Judaism at any cost; and this hatred ripened into bitter persecution, of which Stephen was the first martyred victim.

The charges brought against Stephen were (1) that he spoke blasphemous words against the holy place [the temple], saying that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy it; and (2) that he would change the customs of Moses.—Acts 6:13,14.

These accusations were likely partial statements of the truth. Stephen had probably been telling the people how that material temple must pass away, and how God was about to rear a more enduring spiritual temple in which it was their privilege to become living stones; and that their temple and in fact the whole system of Judaism was only a shadow or type of the glorious spiritual favors of the new dispensation which it was now their privilege to enjoy, and that their typical system must now pass away, since the antitypical spiritual dispensation had come. We can easily see how these blessed truths would be misunderstood and misrepresented by those who were blinded and excited by prejudice and bitter hatred of the crucified Lord and his followers.

Being unable to resist the wisdom of the spirit by which he spoke, they were the more infuriated against him, and finally they seized him and brought him before the council, the Sanhedrim, and preferred the above charges against him. Stephen doubtless realized the dangers of the hour, but he was so filled with the spirit of God, and so enthusiastic over the glorious gospel he had to proclaim, that he seemed to lose all fear and all concern as to what they would do to him in his eagerness to improve this opportunity of testifying for the Lord before the assembled elders of Israel; and the peace and joy of his heart shone from his eyes, and so illuminated his whole countenance that his face is said to have been like the face of an angel.

In his reply to the charges he briefly rehearsed the whole history of Israel, showing most clearly his faith in the fact that God had marked out the whole economy of that dispensation and that he accepted the teaching of Moses and the prophets, and honored them as God’s chosen witnesses of that dispensation. (Acts 7:1-50.) In verses 48-50 he began to show the difference between the material temple in Jerusalem and the glorious temple which God was about to build, and how the former must therefore pass away. But here he seems to have been interrupted; for there is a sudden break in the discourse. They had heard enough, and probably his voice was for a time drowned in the din of many voices to the effect that his last statements were sufficient proof against him.

VERSES 51-53 were probably spoken above the clamor of many excited and angry voices—”Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers; who have received the law by the disposition of angels [through the agency of God’s messengers] and have not kept it.”

VERSES 54-56. This was enough: they could endure no more. They knew the accusations were only too true, but being far from penitent

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and excited to the more desperate and determined opposition, they ground their teeth with rage, and doubtless looked one upon another to see who would make the first move to lay violent hands upon him; and in the interval before the storm broke forth, Stephen, “being full of the holy Spirit [full of a holy enthusiasm for the Lord and the truth] looked up steadfastly toward heaven” [a prayerful look heavenward for grace to help in this time of need, just when the storm cloud was about to burst in its fury].

As he thus looked heavenward a picture of the glory of the Lord floated before his mental vision, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” His mind was carried forward to the glorious Millennial reign of Christ—the new heavens and the new earth—where he saw Christ stand at the right hand of God [the chief place of power and dominion]. He saw it just as we see it to-day—by faith “in the sure word of prophecy”—and in his mental vision of that future glory caught by the eye of faith, he was refreshed and strengthened in spirit while the merciless stones crushed out his consecrated life.

VERSES 59,60. In the midst of his dying agonies his persecutors heard him commending his spirit, his new life to the Lord, and then praying that this sin might not be laid to their charge.

CHAPTER 8:2 shows again the brotherly love of the early Church: how devout men—men who were not afraid to be counted among the friends and brethren of the faithful martyr—carried

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him to his burial and mourned over him.

VERSES 1,3 show the zeal of one, Saul of Tarsus, in the persecution of the early Christians and his part in the persecution of Stephen, even unto death. He consented to his death and took charge of the cast off outer garments of those who stoned him; and he made havoc of the Church: entering into every house and haling men and women, he committed them to prison. Yet Saul’s was not a hopeless case, and Stephen’s prayer for his persecutors did not go unanswered; for from their midst this one was shortly after raised up to be a most efficient and devoted servant of the truth.

VERSES 1,4 show how the persecution spread to all the Church, causing all except the apostles to leave Jerusalem and remove to other parts. The apostles bravely determined to stand their ground there, doubtless in order to give courage to the scattered flock who might still look to them at Jerusalem as representatives, overseers and counsellors of the Church. Had they gone it would have seemed as if the Church were broken up. But as the others went forth they went everywhere preaching the word, and so the persecution did not really hinder, but it actually helped to spread the truth more and more. They all recognized their commission from God to preach the truth as soon as they received it.

There was no such false idea of preaching then as we find in the churches of to-day. Now chiefly those who are ordained of men, and who have gone through a certain course of human training in so-called theological schools (all of which greatly pervert the Word of God), and who wear broadcloth suits and white neck-ties, and stand in the pulpit of a fine church building, are regarded as preachers of the gospel. But then every member of the Church recognized his obligations, and his divine ordination to the work of the ministry. And so it should be to-day; for, says the Apostle Peter (1 Pet. 2:9), “Ye are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

This is the work of the whole Church, every member of which is a priest, and every member of which should therefore diligently proclaim the word “in season and out of season” (whether at his own convenience or not) whenever and wherever he can, and by whatsoever means he is able to command—by word of mouth, by the pen or by the press, or by all the agencies he can employ.

Let us mark and profit by the example of the faith and zeal and courage and true Christian heroism of the early Church.

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— August 1, 1892 —