Acts 6:11-15 11Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and approaching, they seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin, 13and they put forward false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking words against this holy place and the law; 14for we have heard him saying that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs which Moses passed on to us.” 15And staring at him, everyone who was sitting in the Sanhedrin saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Things next got really bad for Stephen. The Hellenistic Jews from the synagogue of the Freedmen began circulating a rumor about him that he was speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God. Their accusation indicates their wrong thinking about the whole situation and their rebellion against the testimony of the Holy Spirit. To blaspheme means to slander or say something demeaning. In terms of God, it means to attribute or say something about God that is unworthy. Curiously, the Jews put Moses before God in their accusation. This order implies they put tradition before truth. Like other Jews, such as the Pharisees, they were so caught up in being religious that they forgot faith and love. Since they were foreigners from the Diaspora, moving to Jerusalem implies their religious zeal to preserve their version of Judaism. This group of Jews also started this rumor secretly, possibly to hide because of their fear of the crowds who were attracted to the witness of the church.
The false witnesses were effective in stirring up influential people, including the elders and scribes. Who the people were is not stated, but it could have included the Jews of Jerusalem in general. The tide was changing for the believers. Some elders and scribes came to believe the gospel, but these rumor makers went to those with power and part of the ruling council who had earlier interrogated Peter, John, and the other apostles. Now the persecution was spreading not only to the apostles but other ministry leaders like Stephen. Stephen was physically assaulted, arrested, and brought before the Jewish leaders.
Verses 13-14 give the accusation that starts Stephen’s trial. Their accusation shifted slightly from the rumor of verse 11, with the emphasis on blaspheming against the temple and the law. There is no mention of God, possibly because the accusers associated the temple with God, showing their misplaced priorities and weak theology. They thought to speak against the temple was to speak against God. They forgot Jeremiah’s prophecies and messages against the people’s weak theology and wrong thinking about the Temple of Solomon. Verse 14 repeats the accusation a third time while including a reference to Jesus. One of the false accusations against Jesus was that he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days (Mark 14:57–58). What got Stephen in trouble was his affiliation with Jesus. Stephen was the faithful witness of the person and message of Jesus, and the Jews still refused to accept the simple message he preached.
Verse 15 is a significant note about Stephen’s appearance and prepares for his testimony in the next chapter. The meaning of his face looking like an angel is difficult to determine because we first must understand what an angel looks like. Rather than trying to picture in our mind some beautiful image of a heavenly being, which for most people would be some enhanced idea of human beauty, we can look at what such a look implies. Angels are God’s messengers and represent God’s awesome and glorious presence on earth. There was something powerful about how Stephen looked. The glory and presence of God were visible in his face. Stephen’s appearance should have stopped the trial before it even got started, but the hearts of the Jewish leaders were too hardened in their rebellion. The reader is also prepared for Stephen’s powerful defense, knowing that God was with him. People’s deep rebellion against God is often taken out on innocent believers like Stephen.
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