Stephen’s Witness
October 23, 2022 – Acts 6:8-7:16
RECAP – “Obedient to the faith”: Reference John 12:42
VS 8 – “grace and power … signs and wonders” These two phrases are linked together.
Stephens was able to perform signs and wonders because he was filled with grace and
power through the Holy Spirit.
VS 10 – “they could not withstand” This verse is a fulfillment of Luke 21:14-15 and is
again the outcome of being filled with the Spirit.
VS 15 – “the face of an Angel” What would make him like the face of an angel?
Reference Moses Exodus 34:29-35
“This was not the mild, gentle look that is often seen in paintings of angels; not the fierce
look of an avenging angel, but a look that told of inspiration within, clear eyes burning
with the inner light.”
L. E. Browne
CHAPTER 7
VS 1 – “Are these things so” This is a trick question. This is a yes or no question.
VS 2 – “Hear me” This phrase is where as Western Cultured minded people we can
get lost in the implications and typologies hidden throughout Stephen’s speech.
VS 2-8 – “Mesopotamia, Haran, land…” God is not restricted to any one land or any
one material building.
VS 8 – “the covenant of circumcision” The outward token of the covenant which God
made with him.
VS 9-16 – Look for typologies. A literary hermeneutical (interpretation) device in which
a person, event, or institution, in the Old Testament in understood to correspond with a
person, event, or institution in the New Testament.
VS 16 – “carried back to Shechem” In Stephen’s time Shechem was in Samaritan
territory.