Acts 7:51-53 51You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so do you. 52Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53you who received the law as given by angels and did not follow it.”
Stephen’s defense turned into an evangelistic confrontation with these verses. Looking at the style of his defense as a form of speech, he had laid out the facts of the case and in these verses, made his appeal. However, his defense is not about himself but about the listeners. He was not on trial before God, but the religious leaders were. Most of the speech was not about him but about the ruling council and those aligned with them. Stephen’s motivation does not appear to be to simply blame the Sanhedrin but to call them to repentance. He was preaching the gospel in a form they would understand, using their Scripture and sacred stories. The closing of a speech of appeal like this is called the peroration.
Stephen’s description of the leaders is prophetic, polemical, and confrontational, like the Old Testament prophets. He got right to the heart of the matter. His descriptions were illustrative of their deep spiritual problem. They were stiff-necked, like the Israelites when they formed the golden calf in rejection of God (Exodus 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9; 2 Chronicles 30:8). The image is of not turning one’s neck in rebellion and rejection but going one’s own way. Uncircumcised heart and ears were another image from the Old Testament for Israel’s rebellion and stubborn refusal to love God completely (Leviticus 26:41; Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4; 6:10; 9:26; Ezekiel 44:7, 9).
Their basic problem comes in the third description of resisting the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 63:10). The Holy Spirit had spoken to them many times, beginning with the preaching of John the Baptist, then worsening with Jesus, and most recently, with the testimony of the apostles. They had every opportunity to listen and repent, but they refused. All three descriptions match what Israel did in the past, which implies that everything Stephen said up to this point was not simply recounting history but had the specific purpose of confronting the sins of these leaders.
Verse 52 brings Stephen’s accusations to the present. The Sanhedrin, Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, and others were all like their forefathers, who persecuted the Old Testament prophets. The prophets predicted the coming of the Righteous One, referring to the Messiah, but Israel’s leaders refused to believe them and even killed them. The Old Testament does not record the explicit murder of prophets, but Jewish tradition was that Isaiah was sawn in two and Jeremiah was stoned to death (see Hebrews 11:37). Every prophet of God experienced resistance from people. The darkness does not like the light. Rebellious, sinful people do not like to be confronted about their sin.
Stephen got even more specific by accusing the leaders of betraying and killing the Righteous One. They could make the connection with Jesus of Nazareth. All the heroes of the past whom Stephen mentioned were types for Jesus and pointed to him. Even the law itself, delivered by God through angels, pointed to Jesus, and the Jews refused to make the connection. Everything was so obvious to those with faith. It was almost the point of no return for these religious leaders. Blasphemy or rejection of the Holy Spirit’s conviction is the one unpardonable sin because it rejects God’s offer of forgiveness. They were in danger of apostasy. Stephen was more concerned about their eternal destiny than his earthly outcome, which is clear in verse 60.
Although Stephen’s speech is long and complex, the message calls us to sober self-introspection. Are we like these leaders and the ancient Israelites in our rejection of God’s offer of forgiveness and cleansing? Do we need our hearts to be cleansed, renewed, and our fleshly desires cut away in spiritual circumcision? We are confronted with both a warning and an opportunity: grace or judgment.
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