VERSE 1 - "And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.”

A. "And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied”

1. We don’t know how much time had elapsed between chapters 5 and 6. Coffman says that there might have been 6 or 8 years elapse since the Day of Pentecost.

B. “when the number of the disciples was multiplied”

1. Just another indicator that the church was growing at a fast rate.

2. See 2:41; 4:4; 5:14

C. “there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews”

1. The Grecians and the Hebrews were both Jewish.

2. The Grecians were the Jews who had bee scattered throughout the Roman world during the preceeding couple of hundred years.

3. The Hebrews were the Jews who remained in Palestine during all the foreign occupations.

4. There was a natural friction between the groups with the native Jews feeling a suppority, owing to the fact that they were always in close proximity to the temple and Jerusalem.

a. There was also some friction between the two because the Grecian Jews primarily spoke Greek, while the Hebrew Jews spoke Hebrew.

D. “because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.”

1. Points out that there was obviously a large number of widows in need of support from the church.

2. Whether there was a difference being made between the two groups, which from the context seem unlikely, the fact is that the Grecian Christians preceived a difference.

A. “Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.”

1. The Apostles called a meeting of the whole church to discuss the matter.

2. They made it clear that they should not leave the preaching of the Gospel for the conducting of physical matters.

3. This does not mean that the Apostles thought that this was a trivial matter. They were telling the brethren that this was not their task. The were given a special commission by Jesus.

B. “Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.”

1. Three qualifications given for these men.

a. Honest report - Their integrity should be beyond question. They would be handling funds, therefore neither the world, not those in the church should have any doubt as to their honesty.

b. Full of the Holy Ghost - What does this phrase mean? Does it mean that these men were to have a full miraculous measure of the Spirit. It is my view that it does not.

1. Being filled with the Spirit and the word of Christ dwelling in us richly is spoken of as equivilent terms in Ephesians 5:18-20 and Colossians 3:16.

2. The fruits of the Spirit are the result of doing what the word of God teachs and thus walking in the Spirit. See Galatians 5:22, 23, 25

3. Those who disputed with Stephen could not "resist the Spirit by which he spake" (Acts 6:10)

4. So, I think it likely that these men were being submissive to the Spirit in that they were following the will of the Spirit. We do the same today when we obey the Spirit's word.

c. Wisdom - They would need wisdom, or the ability to translate knowledge into sound judgments, if they were to properly carry out their work.

2. "Whom we may appoint over this business"

a. Were these men deacons? The Scriptures do not specifically say so. But the obvious implication is that they were. They were to carry out the same kind of work that the deacons were to do, special work in the church. It can also be assumed that since we have a thumnail sketch of the qualifications (honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, wisdom) that these were broad qualifications under which the specific qualification in Titus and Timothy would be found.

D. “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”

1. The apostles had a very special task to perform, to preach the gospel. This does not demean to task that the six chosen men were to perform. The apostles, however, were doing a work that no one else could perform.

A. "And the saying pleased the whole multitude..."

1. The church was convinced of the wisdom of such an arrangement and enthusiastically concured.

2. Notice that all the name cited were Greek names, thus suggesting that the very group that had lodged the complaint were allowed to administer the program. This showed the love and concern on the part of all. The Greeks, wheter accurate or not, were very concerned about their widows. The Hebrew brethren were so willing to not have this cause a problem in the church that they were to entrust the care of all the widows, including the Hebrew widows, to the ones who had perhaps had the complaint.

3. This is not to say that these seven were part of the complaining group, but that their choosing would show a signal to all that the church wanted to work together.

4. We know of nothing else about these brethren except for the name of Stephen and Philip . This chapter serves as an introduction to Stephen. We will learn more about Philip in chapter 8.

B. "Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them."

1. This seems to be the place where the miraculous gifts were passed on to these seven. Goodness and spirituality were not passed on, they were already present in the men ("full of the Holy Ghost"}.

2. We are not told what kinds of gifts they were given, but the ones given would be needed to carry out their job.

A. “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly”

1. Any time God’s people deal with a challenge effectively and spiritually, the result will always be good. It is no accident that this passage is placed here. The way in which the church dealt with the needs of those who were needy brought it to the attention of non-Christians and drew them to the Lord.

2. There were a large number of converts after what happened with the widows.

B. “and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.”

1. For the first time mentioned, the church had begun to make major inroads into the priesthood on the Mosaic system.

2. Here is what finally stirred the religious hierarchy to action. A number of their own were becoming part of the group which they hated. Likely these priests were of the Sadducee party, since most of the priests were Sadducees. This was even more of a threat to the Sadducee leaders.

C. “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.”

1. Notice that Stephen was not recorded as performing any miracles before the apostles laid hands on them.

2. No Christian could perform miracles without the endowment of those powers by the laying on of hand by the apostles. See Acts 8:15-17

A. “Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines...”

1. There were a number of synagogue throughout Jerusalem, and like our congregations today, often were made of certain distinctive groups.

2. This particular synagogue was made of of foreigner who were residing in Jerusalem, either temporarily or permanently.

3. The leaders of the synagogue took up the challenge laid down by Stephen’s preaching.

4. To dispute means, "to examine together, to discuss, dispute, question."

B. “And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.”

1. Try as they might, they were not able to argue effectively against the truth, as preached by Stephen.

2. Every question that these Jews placed before Stephen was answered effectively, to such an extent that they had no reply.

A. "Then they suborned men..."

1. Suborning means to secure false testimony by means of a bribe.

2. Those who tell the truth do not need bribes.

B. "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God."

1. Of course, these two accusations were completely false.

2. No apostle or preacher in the first century spoke disrespectfully of Moses.

3. It is ironic that in their desire to see Stephen killed, these men violated the very law, the law of Mose, that they accused Stephen of transgressing. See Exodus 20:16; Proverbs 19:9.

A. "And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council"

1. These leaders of the Libertine Synagogue could not not answer Stephen's words, therefore they turned to working up the emotions of the people and active added to it the legal mantle of the Sanhedrin.

2. Up until now the people were strongly on the side of the church. Now the tide began to turn. Likely, the reason for this is that the opposition had been led previously by the Sadducees, who had little influence among the people and were hated by the masses for cooperating with the Romans. Now it seems that the Pharisees, who controlled the Synagogues, had joined the dispute against Christianity. They had far more influence among the common people.

3. Stephen was forceably taken to the council chambers to answer certain charges.

B. "And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us."

1. Stephen was accused of blasphemous words against the temple and the law of Moses.

2. It is quite possible that the words they referred to was that found in John 2:18-21. Jesus spoke about his enemies destroying th temple and he raising it back up. He never spoke of himself doing the act. Of course Jesus was speaking of his own body and not the physical.

3. This is the same kind of accusations that were trumped up against Jesus. See Mark 14:56-64.

4. It is likely that Stephen quoted Jesus's statement and applied it to his death, burial, and resurrection. It is also possible that Stephen talked about he change in the law, since even the Old Testament talked about a change in the law. See Jeremian 31:31-34.

C. "And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel."

1. After the false witnesses finished all looked to Stephen, to see what kind of defense would be made.

2. He had the "face of an angel" in that he clearly had a pure, innocent face in the face of his evil accusers.

3. He had no hatred for his accusers, only love and a desire for them to be saved.