If the areopagus speech may be taken as a precursor of a later well developed form of christian apologeticthe defense of the gospel against pagan religion stephens speech in acts 7. Stephen was a speech delivered by a jew, and addressed to a jewish audience. Oct 12, 2014 these speeches make up about 25% of the entire book of acts. In stephen s time it could hardly have become widely known as the designation of the flock of christ. Bruce, the book of acts, revised edition grand rapids. Turns out the assembly was full of lessthanstellar leaders, and you, too, can be a great bad leader if you. So thats a fairly long answer to the question are these things so. Stephen continued to share his vision of the exalted christ and, in doing so, enraged the high priests. For our study this morning, we come to the closing portion of the seventh chapter of acts. I shall take my time i feel quite prepared to spend the night with you if necessary. What feelings spurred the men to lie about stephen. A journey through the book of acts stephens speech.
The god of glory appeared to our father abraham when he was in. Stephen abruptly, yet most appropriately, turns his audiences attention to the tabernacle of the testimony. Verse 1 stephens answer to the high priests question is the longest speech in acts. Of the speeches, one of these is in a synagogue at antioch pisidia acts. Stephens speech to the council continued with his account of moses work helping god save israel from egypt. Abraham, isaac, jacob, twelve patriarchs, famine, moses, c.
For the indignant words of the accused cut the judges to the heart, literally, sawed asunder in or to their hearts. After a brief survey of migration in the bible, this article examines migration be it voluntary or enforced in the book of acts. In the first section he addresses the accusation that he spoke blasphemous words against god. Stephens sermon is twice as long as peters sermon delivered at pentecost acts 2. In stephens time it could hardly have become widely known as the designation of the flock of christ. Ive organized his speech around the important person or thing in each block. I think it is important to see that just like peters sermon, it is filled with scripture. Its a strange way to defend yourself from blasphemy.
Here are 3 ways they used apologetics to defend their faith. Stephens sermon points us to the sovereign, abundant grace of god toward rebellious sinners, but also to the danger of hardening our hearts against gods grace. Father, we do thank you for the day that our blessed christ was born. He thinks that the only point made in the speech is that the history of israel is a history. It may be that gods will for our life isnt one that takes us from blessing to blessing, but one that follows stephen on the road to martyrdom. This is the third in a series of three smallgroup bible study discussion guides luke 19, luke 1024 and selected portions of acts which explore the meaning of witness. Stephen appeared to be challenging the authority of the pharisees, the mosaic law, and a major teaching of the sadducees, namely. They were constantly defending their faithto religious leaders, political officers, secular philosophers, and average citizens. Why did stephen give such a speech and why did luke record it. Peter s activities are described at some length, and john and philip are mentioned, but more than half of the book is about paul and his connection with the christian movement.
Acts 7 english standard version esv stephens speech. Acts 7 commentary william barclays daily study bible. A central concern of the book is the relation between pragmatics. Luke, who wrote the book of acts, begins chapter one by referring to his former book, namely the third gospel luke. Blair the study of the acts of the apostles richard heard the acts of the apostles richard heard. His speech is a transition speech that paves the way for presenting the gospel to. Mar 26, 20 there are several problems in the historical accuracy of stephen s speech in acts 6, because they are got from a corrupted record that does not agree with genesis, and genesis does agree with the book of the upright upright record, commonly called the book of jasher. Stephen knows all about abraham as we should, abrahams father was born 222 years after the flood, he was age 205 when he died in haran, they had departed babylonchaldeans rev.
Nt, though few have investigated the explicit quotations in acts. Stephen, the first christian martyr, left us an example of a godly, courageous witness. We thank you for the day that heaven came to earth, god. How does it feel to be accused of something you havent done. Pdf now those who were scattered went about preaching the. The book has been called the acts of the apostles, really a misnomer because acts has very little to say concerning most of the original twelve apostles. Yet stephen is the first martyr and his speech summarizing some important theological points in the transition between peters ministry in jerusalem and pauls mission in acts.
Apr 12, 2018 stephen s speech to the council continued with his account of moses work helping god save israel from egypt. May 28, 2019 stephen concluded his speech by turning the accusation of his accusers in acts 7. The significance of the speeches for interpreting acts. Marion soards analyzes the speech texts by comparing them to writings from ancient history, rhetoric, and midrashic. Most of the sermon focuses on three major characters.
The very length of stephens speech in acts 7, the longest in a book full of speeches, probably indicates something of the importance luke assigned to this. Stephens speech, the longest of all the speeches of acts. In this textbook, however, dr levinson has provided a lucid and integrative analysis of the central topics in pragmatics deixis, implicature, presupposition, speech acts, and conversational structure. Rather than going into detail about the whole book of acts, padilla decides to then contentrate just on the individual speeches in acts and provides a reasonably interesting discussion on each speech, however this is only a very tiny part of the book of acts, so by far the majority of the text receives no attention or explanation, so anyone who. Augustine later declared that had stephen not prayed, the church would have never had the great apostle paul. Walls peter according to the dtext of acts joseph h. Im reading through the book of acts, and i just came across stephens speech to the official assembly of israels elders in chapter 7. Corroborating genesis, book of jasher, and stephens speech.
Here in stephen s speech, there are many echoes, many references to old testament figures that prefigure and that anticipate what happens to jesus. Acts 68 describe the activities of two nonapostles, stephen and philip. From that perspective, he wasnt give much time at all. Luke has recorded direct speech in seven of pauls gospel addresses, plus some sort of description in many others. Acts describes in stephen s speech in surprising detail.
God revealed himself to his people and called them to him. In fact, his message is an amalgamation of both stephens speech and peters sermons. The speech the false testimony against stephen was that he was saying things about the temple and the mosaic law that the jews regarded as untrue and unpatriotic cf. May 07, 2012 nearly all of acts 7 is taken up with stephens recitation of the history of the jews. This gave stephen the opportunity to give a defense of the hope that is in him 1 peter 3. Doble, the son of man saying in stephen s witnessing. The lecture was delivered on 19th december, 1942, at a conference of graduate and theological student members of the intervarsity fellowship held in wadham college, oxford. Howard marshall the acts and the actssome notes on the book of acts in the second century a. This advanced introduction to the study of acts covers important questions about authorship, genre, history, theology, and interpretation. Both are hellenistic jews and neither is numbered among the 12. Kistemaker reformed theological seminary jackson, ms 39209 about half of the book of acts consists of speeches, discourses, and letters.
The reaction of the audience to stephens speech reached a dramatic high point in verse 54 and heightened even further stephens. When his last sermon, delivered in prison, was published, a friend commented to samuel johnson that the effort was far better than he had thought the man capable of. In it, stephen showed that god wants people to worship him everywhere, not just in one special place. Main campusjoin us for an enlightening conversation about faith, gaining a deeper understanding of who jesus is, as we study scripture together with andy stanley. Stephens most effective contribution to the kingdom of god came through his martyrdom. This historical reappraisal of the acts of the apostles, written in narrative form, allows the reader to understand the biblical authors worldview, historical and ideological assumptions, and purposes as they were communicated through portions of this work. Stephens speech is often called a defense, or apology, but it is obviously not a speech for the defense in the forensic sense of the term. The line between apologetic and polemic is difficult to draw. Jan 25, 2020 saint lukes recording of this story in his book of acts is not merely an historical account. The second is to serve as preparation for urbana96. Acts 7 niv stephens speech to the sanhedrin bible gateway.
Indeed, stephen s speech in acts 7 contains several problems, with four of these in verses 28 including the two you mention. Acts is a continuation of what luke wrote about in his gospel. Stephen s speech was probably not finished as he had intended, but the increasing impatience and the murmuring of his hearers did not permit him to conclude in such a way as to bring jesus into greater prominence. Acts 7 is the seventh chapter of the acts of the apostles in the new testament of the christian bible. A central concern of the book is the relation between pragmatics and semantics, and dr levinson shows clearly how a pragmatic approach can resolve some of the problems semantics have been confronting and simplifying semantic analyses. What two themes run through stephens speech in acts. There are several problems in the historical accuracy of stephens speech in acts 6, because they are got from a corrupted record that does not agree with genesis, and genesis does agree with the book of the upright upright record, commonly called the book of jasher. The charges leveled against stephen about this holy place and the customs handed down by moses are two of the major themes in stephens sermon. That s what this passage commends for christian preaching. Bnew acts 19 arts and humanities flashcards quizlet. Acts 7 stephens speech stephen is arrested for speaking out against the temple and the law of moses. There is the anger that sees a people commit the most terrible of crimes. In his speech, stephen reminded them of their faithful patriarch.
It highlights the role of the holy spirit in giving courage to christians, especially when they are suffering. And this is not only the closing of the seventh chapter of. Stephens speech, a wonderful synopsis of the old testament, can be divided into three sections and a conclusion. Alexander stephen and the cornerstone speech emerging civil war. Stephens speech, omitting any further notice of objections based on our own ignorance of the practices and methods of distant ages. Stephen talked about people whose stories are in the old testament. Stephen was filled with the holy spirit and, at that moment, saw the glory of god and christ seated at his right hand. Fitzmyer notes that it is likely that luke has passed on to us an inherited form of stephens speech, into which he has introduced modificationsin its present form it is certainly a lucan composition, but it builds on inherited tradition p. Bruce sees it as a defense of pure christianity as gods appointed way of worship. The god of glory appeared to our father abraham when he was in mesopotamia, before he lived in haran, 3 and said to him, go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that i will show you. The jewish religious leaders listening to stephen boiled over with anger. I wrote out the following observations that i gathered from reading stephens speech in acts 7.
This is our first remark, and it is an important one. The speeches in the third gospel can be compared with their parallels in the. The god of glory appeared to our father abraham while he was still in mesopotamia, before he lived in harran. May 06, 2010 this free kids sunday school lesson is based on the story of stephen in acts 67. One is simply to strengthen believers as witnesses to the work and life of jesus, both in history and in their lives. Acts free bible commentary on the book of acts in easy english.
Acts 7 commentary kretzmanns popular commentary of the bible. This essay has limited value, especially the unconvincing comparison of stephen s speech and wisdom. Perhaps if stephen could continue talking, he would focus on the resurrected. Summary of stephens speech in acts, and what he said about. Acts free bible commentary on the book of acts in easy.
The discussion confines itself to an examination of the nine explicit quotations in stephens speech of acts 7 which are identified with introductory formulae, i. The b god of glory appeared to our father abraham when he was in mesopotamia, before he dwelt in c haran, 3 and said to him, d get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that i will show you. Osvaldo padilla explores fresh avenues of understanding the book of acts by examining the text in light of the most recent research on the book itself, philosophical hermeneutics, genre theory and historiography. But in the end, we will, like stephen, look up to heaven and see jesus standing in affirmation. Our story starts off where the gospel of luke left offjesus is back now that hes resurrected, jesus decides to hang out and chat with his disciples whom luke calls apostles for forty days.
Thus when we talk to people about the lord, we must pray that he. While luke is clear that these are false charges, it is possible that stephen has preached something which could have been taken as against the temple and the law. Acts, church, conflict, elders, god, holy spirit, jesus, leadership, sin, stephen, truth. The development of stephens theology in order to evaluate the function of these discrepancies in the theology of stephens speech, it is first necessary to place them in the where the speech actually conflicts with the ot h. Historian and theologian is for the previous generation. While drawing his last breath, stephen called out to god to forgive those that were stoning him. But his usage is well within the parameters of acceptableness in the day. Counting both the short and the long addresses, we number at least 26 speeches that are made by either apostles and christian leaders or by nonchristians jews and gentiles. Acts 7 takes 8 to 9 minutes to read out loud and most of it is stephens speech. What two themes run through stephen s speech in acts. So as we begin to be looking for these echoes and these repetitions or these connections, we will very easily discover them and see them.
Habermas formal pragmatics and the speech act of stephen. Stephens speech was an indictment against israel and their failure as the chosen people of god who had been given the law, the holy things, and the promise of the messiah. In its current form it is clearly the longest speech in the book of acts, yet it diverges from the other speeches in the book in that it is nonapostolic and apparently nonkerygmatic. Stephen, who quotes the text, alters it, because he is not talking to. Naturally, these accusations, though true, were not well received by the jews. Jan 31, 2020 so in acts 7 we find a recitation of folklore about israels origin and progress. Most of the book of acts is concerned with gods efforts to overcome the.
Observations from reading stephens speech in acts 7. We must not consider the speeches in acts in isolation from those in the former part of lukes history. I cannot speak so long as there is any noise or confusion. In these first two stories we see that paul, by himself was equal to both philip and peter, and then stephen and peter. Mar 21, 2019 here, in its entirety, is the text of the famous cornerstone speech stephens delivered on this day in 1861. Acts 7 the church applies big ideas to every day lifethe choice of whose honor do we seek. In the book of acts, when the apostles did evangelism, they did apologetics. Acts of the apostles online commentary america magazine. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse the speech act of st stephen in acts 6. About half of the book of acts consists of speeches, discourses, and letters. The speeches in acts make the book interesting, because when people talk we learn something about their personalities.
Strange details in stephens defense xenos christian fellowship. There is anger in stephens closing words, but there is sorrow too. Stephen s call as deacon, brave speech, and death acts 6. David guzik commentary on acts 7 describes the martyr death of stephen.
651 850 728 1543 91 1443 1134 827 1156 699 539 353 266 153 1201 1183 632 1251 1454 591 425 94 1049 656 588 243 1036 375 1066 113 639