Who was Stephen in the Bible?
Stephen appears in the book of Acts as an ordinary member of the early church in Jerusalem, chosen for a practical task, and within two chapters he is dead — stoned by the nation's ruling council. His short story raises the questions the rest of Acts answers: what does a person filled with the Holy Spirit actually look like, and what happens when a rejected Christ is proclaimed as glorified?
A Servant Chosen for a Small Task
Stephen first appears in a dispute over the daily distribution of food to widows. Seven men were picked to handle it, and commentators note where that lowly appointment led:
F. B. HoleThe service of a deacon might seem a very small matter, but nothing in God's service is really small. Verse 13 definitely states that such service faithfully rendered is the way to higher and larger things. This is clearly illustrated for us in the subsequent history of two who are mentioned in Acts 6:5. Stephen advanced to become the first Christian martyr: Philip to become a greatly used preacher of the Gospel, the only man designated an evangelist in Scripture.
The Man He Was
Scripture describes him with a cluster of phrases — full of faith and the Holy Spirit, full of grace and power, marked by wisdom. One writer reads that list as a portrait of the Christian life, and notes what it provoked:
Hamilton SmithHe comes before us marked in a striking way by Christian qualities, for he is described as a man "full of faith and the Holy Spirit", "full of grace and power", and marked by "wisdom". These are the outstanding marks of a Christian... If filled with the Spirit we should be marked by the grace that meets every evil in the spirit of Christ, by power to rise above every circumstance, and the wisdom to meet all opposition. Such Christ-like qualities will not bring the possessor into favour with mere religious profession.
His Defence: A History Lesson with a Point
Accused of speaking against Moses, the temple and the law, Stephen answered with a long retelling of Israel's own story. The retelling had a single thread running through it:
Hamilton SmithIn the course of his address, Stephen recalls the history of Israel to show that the flesh, even in the professing people of God, invariably resists the man that God is with. This he proves from Scripture by recounting the way the patriarchs had treated Joseph, and the way the nation had resisted Moses.
What He Saw, and Why the Title Mattered
Stephen's dying words name Jesus as "the Son of Man" standing at God's right hand. Commentators treat this as a step beyond anything preached before it:
William KellyStephen, on the utter refusal of Israel to bow his stiff neck, testifies to His being "the Son of man:" an enlarged and judicial title of His glory, well known even in the Old Testament in the Psalms and Prophets... So that Stephen was quite in keeping with the truth; for the Jew stood in dead opposition to the glorified Messiah, no less than to the Messiah in humiliation.
For the men listening, the claim was not abstract. Many of them had sat in the same room when Jesus made it about Himself:
C. E. StuartNow Stephen tells them to their face that he could see the One who had once stood at their bar standing at the right hand of God. The inference was plain — a child could draw it. Their guilt was undeniable.
A Death Shaped Like His Master's
The parallels between Stephen's trial and death and those of Jesus are close and deliberate:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinLike Christ, he was falsely accused of speaking against Moses, the law and the temple, and of being a blasphemer. They brought him before the same council and did what they did with the Lord, bringing false witnesses against him... The Lord Jesus committed His spirit in the Father's hands, and Stephen prayed that the Lord Jesus receive his spirit; and like the Lord he prayed for the forgiveness of his enemies.
The Answer to His Last Prayer
Watching the stoning, holding the coats, was a young man named Saul. Writers link Stephen's final request directly to what happened next:
F. B. HoleTo the Lord he committed his spirit, and assuming the attitude of prayer, he desired mercy for his murderers. Who could have anticipated so astounding an answer as was given by his exalted Lord in the conversion of Saul, the arch-murderer? The prayer of the Lord Jesus from the cross for His murderers was answered by the sending forth of the Gospel, to begin at Jerusalem: the prayer of Stephen was answered in the conversion of Saul.
A Pattern to Follow
Stephen is more than a historical footnote. His posture — eyes up, not in and not around — is offered as the model:
Hamilton SmithHe realises that all his resources are in Christ — the Man in the glory. He does not look within in the vain endeavour to find something in himself in which he can trust. He does not look around to find support and guidance in others. He looks up, and he looks up steadfastly... Thus in Stephen we see set forth the great fact that if the Holy Spirit came down from Christ in heaven it is in order to lead our hearts up to Christ in heaven.
Summary
- Filled — Stephen is introduced as full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and everything else in his story flows from that one description.
- Faithful in little — he was appointed to serve food to widows; that small task was the doorway to becoming the first Christian martyr.
- Fearless — his address traced one pattern through Israel's history: the flesh always resists the man God is with, and he named his hearers as the latest example.
- Fixed upward — full of the Spirit, he looked up, not in and not around, and saw the Son of Man in glory; the Spirit came down from Christ to lift hearts to Christ.
- Fruitful — his dying prayer for his killers was answered in Saul, the man guarding the coats, who became the apostle Paul.