Acts 7:1-5 1And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2And he said: “Men, Brothers, and Fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4Then, after he went out from the land of the Chaldeans, he lived in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God caused him to move into this land in which you are now living. 5Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot step, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.
The high priest wanted to hear the proof of what the false witnesses proclaimed. What did Stephen have to say in his defense? The accused had an opportunity to give a response to his accusers. The rest of the chapter describes Stephens’ defense in detail. It is the longest of many speeches in Acts. Stephen does more than simply recount briefly the history of Israel, though that is his main platform. The defense is highly rhetorical, with subtleties throughout that indicate his innocence and warn the listeners, the Jewish leaders, of the dangerous path they were taking of rejecting God’s revelation. They were following the same pattern as their ancestors, but they also had the opportunity to accept what God was doing new in their day. One of the crucial points is that God’s new movement through Jesus was consistent with the past and fulfilled the plan begun with Abraham. Stephen’s speech is significant because it connects the Old Testament with the New Testament.
Verse 2 begins Stephen’s defense, although his name is not repeated in the Greek but is assumed from the context. He addressed the leaders in a more personal way as one of them, calling them Brothers and Fathers. These were his people; he was a Jew speaking to fellow Jews. This simple address and relational appeal should have calmed the animosity down. In addition, beginning his speech by acknowledging the glorious and only God set a firm theological foundation for all that followed. As the speech progresses, it is clear that Stephen knew Israel’s history. He had been preaching the gospel and debating with others in an impressive way, whereby people noted his wisdom (6:10). His speech may have been similar or at least contained many of the points of his sermons. He could connect the Jewish Scriptures with Jesus and the recent events.
Stephen’s first main point, found in verses 2-5, is about God’s call and promise to Abraham from Genesis 12:1. God told Abraham to leave his homeland and family and go to a new land. God promised that Abraham’s descendants would one day possess the land. The challenging part for Abraham was that he would not inherit the land himself, not even a foot. It took great faith for Abraham to trust in this promise, one that he would not see in his life. How could his descendants inherit the land when he had none? One clear point of these opening verses is that God was directing Abraham into the unknown future. God was in control, and his promises were certain. The faith’s past began with God’s sovereignty and glory.
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