The Story

There is agate in the wall of Jerusalem called St. Stephen's gate, and they show you a place just outside the gate, where they say that Stephen, one of the Lord's disciples, was stoned to death. It is on the east side of Jerusalem, looking toward the Mount of Olives. You would go out by this gate if you were going across the Kidron to Bethany or to Jericho. Stephen was not one of the twelve apostles, but he was working with them. He was one of those who were appointed to give help from the common fund to the widows and others in need. The disciples then had all things in common. Those who had houses or lands sold them, and brought the money to the apostles, and they gave to everyone as he had need. (Acts 4:32-35) But the number of the disciples was growing. On the day of Pentecost there were added to them about three thousand souls. Soon the number was five thousand. (Acts 2:41; 4:4) There were so many that the apostles were kept busy giving the relief to those who needed it, and had not time for teaching. This was not right. There was also complaint that the help was not fairly distributed, that some widows who spoke Greek, a strange language in Jerusalem, were neglected while others who spoke Hebrew were given more. So seven honest men were chosen whose business it should be to take care of the giving to those in need. One of these was Stephen. He also was full of faith and power, and did great wonders and miracles among the people.

But you know that some of the priests and people were made angry by the Lord's teaching, until finally they sent men with Judas to take Him; and they brought Him before the priests, and before Pilate, and He was crucified. And the Lord had said that it would be the same with His disciples. "If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." (John 15:20) So it was with Stephen. Some who were enemies of Stephen caught him and brought him before the council of priests. They found false witnesses, as they had found false witnesses against the Lord, who said that Stephen spoke against Moses and God and the temple. "And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." Then Stephen spoke long and boldly, and when he had ended the priests were fierce with anger. They put him out of the city and stoned him to death at a place near to this gate. But the Lord was with Stephen to protect him.

Looking up he saw the glory of God, and Jesus at the right hand; and when they stoned him he said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And he said, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," and he "fell asleep."

The words of the Psalm were true for Stephen, as they were true for many after him: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."

St. Stephen's Gate is on the side of Jerusalem toward the Mount of Olives. Our story tells us who Stephen was and why the gate is called by his name. Read the sketch of the story that I have given the younger children, and we will look up some points to make the picture more complete. The apostles were teaching boldly in the temple courts, and healing very many that were sick. Commands of the priests would not silence them. Beating would not silence them. What happened when they were seized and put in prison? (Acts 5:17-20)

The number of people with the apostles was growing fast. It had reached five thousand, and still more multitudes were being added. They had all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need. (Acts 2:44, 45; 4:32-37) Read of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. Trouble rose in distributing the money. The Grecians who made complaint were Jews, but speaking Greek and not the usual Hebrew of Jerusalem. We can understand, too, as the apostles said, that the care for the distribution took them from more important things. "Serving tables" means probably paying out money over a table, not serving food. Remember the tables of the money changers in the temple. Our own word "bank" meant originally a bench or table. Seven able men were appointed to this responsible work. Read what is said of Stephen in Acts 6:8. But read on about his enemies. There were several synagogues in Jerusalem with which people from different countries were connected. The Libertines were some who had been slaves in Rome but now were free. Read about these enemies of Stephen, the council, false witnesses and false charges. How it all reminds us of the council that condemned the Lord, the false witness against Him, and the false charge about destroying the temple. Read Mark 14:53-59. The Lord had warned the disciples that they too would suffer such things, but He promised that He would be with them to protect them and to teach them what to say. (Matthew 10:17-20; Luke 21:12-19) These promises of protection come to mind as we read what verse 15 says of Stephen's face.

Stephen's reply to the high priest's question is a review of the history of the Jews from the call of Abraham to his own time, showing how they had always been perverse, disobeying God, resisting the Holy Spirit and persecuting the prophets, and now they had rejected the Lord. Read verses 54-60. Heaven was near. The Lord whom he served was near to protect this first Christian martyr. His words are in the spirit of the Lord's own words on the cross. (Luke 23:33, 46) "And Saul was consenting unto his death." (Acts 8:1) And this Saul was the Apostle Paul. All this we remember as we stand by St. Stephen's Gate.

To what point in our story do the verses Luke 6:27 and 28 apply? Do they mean that non-resistance is always a Christian duty? Not necessarily that, but it is a duty always to act from love and not from anger and resentment. And what had the Lord told Peter about forgiveness?

1. To what duty had Stephen been appointed?

2. What was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira?

3. Why is Stephen known as the first Christian martyr?

4. How was he strengthened in his death?

5. Note the first mention of Paul.

Deeper Study

Chapter 7 of the Acts completes the first section of the story, the bearing witness to the Lord in Jerusalem (Acts 1:8); for the stoning of Stephen was the beginning of a persecution which caused the scattering of the disciples through Judea and Samaria, taking the Gospel with them. How well they had done their work in Jerusalem we can judge by the numbers added to their party, and by the testimony of the high priest, "Behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine." (Acts 5:28)

Do you remember the occasions when the Jews took up stones to stone the Lord? They were occasions when He declared His Divinity, which they chose to regard as blasphemy. (John 8:59; 10:31) So when Stephen said that he saw the Divine glory and the Lord in heaven, they stopped their ears and stoned him. The punishment of stoning was prescribed for blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16) and for other crimes which represented the spiritual sin of falsifying truth. For stoning represented the extinction of spiritual understanding by the indulgence of false thoughts. In contrast with stoning, crucifixion on wood was associated with violation of good. The distinction was based on the correspondence of stone and wood. (A. 7456, 8799; E. 240, 655)

Consider Stephen's prayer, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," in connection with our Lord's words, "Father, forgive them," and the charge in Luke 6:27, 28; Matthew 5:38-48. "That these words (Matthew 5:38, and on) are not to be understood according to the letter is evident to everyone; for who is under any obligation from Christian love, to turn the left cheek to him who smiteth the right, and to give his cloak to him who is desirous to take his coat? In a word, who is there to whom it is not allowed to resist evil? . . . Internal men, as are the angels in heaven, do not will the recompense of evil for evil, but from heavenly charity forgive; for they know that the Lord protects all who are in good against the evil, and that He protects according to the good appertaining to them, and that He would not protect, if by reason of the evil done to themselves, they should be inflamed with enmity, hatred, and revenge, for these avert protection." (E.556; A. 8223, 9048) Force may be an expression of love. "The end in view shows whether there is charity or not." (T. 407, 408)

Many particulars in the account of Stephen's trial and death remind us of the condemnation and crucifixion of the Lord. The Lord had said that the disciples would suffer as He had suffered. (John 15:20) It was the spirit of the Lord with them that some would feel and love, and others would hate. (Matthew 10:40) Look again at predictions of persecutions and promises of the Lord's protection, some of which the Lord gave to the disciples when He first sent them out to teach, which were now having fulfillment. (Matthew 10:17-20; Luke 21:12-19; E. 137)

The evidence of the Lord's presence with Stephen and His protection in his trial and in his death is clear. Stephen's description of what he saw may indicate his own conception of Jesus and his Divineness. Probably the figure of Jesus was the only figure which he saw, and with this the impression of the glory of God. "On the right hand of God," as in Mark 16:19, expresses the fact that the Lord at His resurrection and ascension entered into the fullness of Divine power. (Compare Matthew 28:18.) That the apostles thought of all Divineness as embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ is shown by the fact that they fulfilled the Lord's charge to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost by baptizing in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:38; 10:48)

The simple words "he fell asleep" describing Stephen's death we may well remember with the Lord's saying of the daughter of Jairus, "She is not dead, but sleepeth," and His saying, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth" when in fact He spoke of his death. Death is a sleep from which the Lord awakens all into the eternal life of the spiritual world. (H. 449, 450)

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