The First Great Apologist

Acts 7:1-53

Last week when we left Stephen he was being presented to the ruling council of the Jews. The charges against him are listed in Acts 6:13-15, and those charges basically boil down to blasphemy. Our section this week covers Stephen’s response to these charges.

Stephen is the first great Christian apologist that we see in the Bible, and as such his style of addressing the Jews is much different then Peter’s. Peter was much more evangelistic in his approach, and his sermons focused more on presenting the Gospel and the need of the hearers to convert and be saved. Stephen will take a more aggressive approach and speak in defense of Jesus and the faith.

Some today will say that such a defense is not necessary, that all we should do is preach on love and forgiveness and leave it up to the Holy Spirit to convict. While it is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict the unbeliever, we must be careful not to throw out direct orders from scripture. For example Paul will later write in his letter to Titus (see Titus 1) that we should be able to defend the word against those who attack it. He warns that many will come to attack, and that they should be answered. Peter will also write on this, and tell all believers to always be prepared to give a defense of the faith. (Peter 3:15)

Stephen is our first model of such a defense. What we have recorded here in Acts 7 is the only place in scripture that we can read the words of any of his sermons, but it is evident from Acts 6 that he spent quit a bit of time defending Jesus and the faith. It is this defense that got him in trouble and now on trail before the same ruling council that ordered Jesus’ death.

In Acts 7:1 they ask Stephen to answer the charges against him, and it as at this point Stephen has a way out. He could here deny Jesus, and take back everything he said. This likely would allow him to walk away with a slap on the wrist. It would have done tremendous damage to the cause of Jesus and the building of the church, but at least he would have been okay. Any modern day lawyer tasked to defend him likely would have suggested this defense, as it would be the only way to get off.

However what looks best to us is often the wrong choice in God’s plans. Stephen being full of the Holy Spirit knew that it was time to take the attack on the sin of Israel up a notch. Where Peter preached that the Jews acted out of ignorance, and should be pitied, Stephen is about to attack them because they should have known better.

Stephen’s sermon walks through the history of Judaism and highlights several characters from the Old Testament that were forerunners of Christ. This historical account amounts not guilty plea against the charge of speaking blasphemous words against Moses, the Law, and the Temple. It shows how the Jews had plenty of knowledge and examples available so that they should have recognized Jesus as the Christ.

Now I must pause here and address a minor issue. Some people with way to much time on their hands have gone through this historical summary of Stephens and found some places where it appears to disagree with the accounts given in the Old Testament. These people will then point to these apparent errors and say “Ha! Bible contradicts itself, so therefore there is no God!” The funny thing about these type arguments is they always seem to originate from some one that has poured over the book looking for problems and yet is to dull to apply some common literary sense.

I will not take the time here to go through each and present a counter argument, as that would likely bore most of my readers with to much historical detail. In general though you should take heart in the fact that for the most part Stephen did get his history right, and the apparent discrepancies are easy reconciled. I would say here though, even if they were not, it would not affect anything. This is where paying attention to what one is reading is critical.

The first question that anyone that is approaching a section of scripture is, “who is speaking, and to whom?” Here we have Stephen speaking to the Jews. This may seem like a trivial detail, but it makes all the difference in the world. This is not God speaking; rather it is just a man. Stephen maybe a great preacher, but he is still just a man.  If Stephen made a mistake, that is really to be expected, and does not invalidate the scripture. This same logic is need if you want to understand the book of Job. If you assume that God is speaking every word in the Bible, then the Book of Job seems like it is packed full of problems that should invalidate the whole thing. However, when you take the context of the conversations and note who is talking to whom, it is no longer an issue. The same works here, if Stephen made a few mistakes in his history, it does not impact the validity of his defense, nor the Bible. So take heart, the Bible has withstood two thousand years of attacks and is still going strong.

Through Stephen’s history lesson he shows the Jews that they have historically rejected every one of God’s men. They have a rich history of failing to recognize God’s messengers and killing them. Jesus convicted them of the same thing in Luke 11:47-51. Unlike Peter, Stephen is putting the guilt and blame for Jesus death on them completely. Where Peter wanted to give them the wiggle room of ignorance, Stephen tells them that are “betrayers and murderers” who have rejected God once again.

Through Stephen’s defense we can learn a couple things that we should apply to our lives today. In his historical overview, we can clearly see the sovereignty of God. This should be a comforting reminder to all Christians that God is always in control no matter how bad it looks from out point of view down here. Just as it must have looked really bad to Joseph when he was in prison, we can often get stuck in the here and now and miss the greater picture. Stephen would not have a rose parade of happiness as a result of his defense. In many ways there is a sad ending to his story, that is if we look at it just form a worldly perspective and not see the greater picture of the hand of God at work.

A second lesson that we should take away from this is that those of us that are Christians should always be ready to defend our faith before the world. We do not need the mastery of Old Testament scriptures that Stephen had, as there are many different ways to defend, but we should be prepared to defend in our own way. For some that might be through science, and others that might be through philosophy. Others may work best with practical common sense arguments, and some may as James says show their faith by their works. Whatever your bent is, you should be able to stand up for what you believe, and be prepared to do it at any time. You do not have to be fearful of this; the Holy Spirit will guide you if you are open to Him. You can take heart in knowing that your faith is real, and since it is real it is defendable.