Sept 21 – Acts 6 – “The impact of increasing numbers” – v.1-7: First and inevitably, as numbers in a community increase, there is internal discord. It may be through envy, or a desire to control, or a host of other evils; but in this case it was innocently, through an administration problem – and that happens as any community grows as well. A large proportion of the Jews in Judea, Galilee and around the northern and eastern edge of the Mediterranean have been influenced by Greek culture over the preceding decades, and are known as ‘Hellenists’. Where religiously we may speak of Jews and Gentiles, culturally we would speak of Hebrews (conservative) and Hellenists (liberal). The community has certainly grown to over 20,000 people (from Acts 4:4 we learn there are over 5,000 men alone, not counting women and children, and the number has certainly increased significantly since then) – far too large for any single place to manage – and there are no administrative controls that we are aware of. In a group that large, there will be a fair number of orphans and widows, and the community has taken on the job of looking after them. Apparently, the focus has been on the Hebrew widows (who have a legal tradition of such ministry – Exod 22:22; Deut 14:29; Deut 24:19-21; Deut 26:12 and many other places) and the Hellenist widows have not received so generously. Secondly, with increasing numbers comes the benefit of specialization, as Jethro urged Moses to recognize in Exod 18:13-26. The apostles called together all the disciples (v2) and asked them to choose 7 to distribute alms (Grk. diakoneō – ‘in order to serve’) to the community - this would allow the apostles to focus on prayer and "the ministry of the word". This was seen by all as an agreeable solution, and 7 were duly selected – “Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch” (v5). The numbers continued to grow, and even many of the priests came to Christ (v7). v.8-15: Thirdly, with increasing numbers comes external resentment at the movement’s popularity and growing influence. In his role as deacon, Stephen moved throughout Jerusalem from home to home, serving the widows and orphans, and probably healing and preaching too. People from outside the community took umbrage at his words and began debating with him. We know nothing of them other than their origins as given in v9, although it has been noted that Saul comes from Tarsus in the province of Cilicia, was profoundly anti-Christian at this point, and involved in the attack - we’ll bump into him in the next chapter (Acts 7:58) – so it is not impossible that he was one of the debaters. With the Spirit’s leading, Stephen’s responses in the debate are too strong to defeat, and the opposing side falls back on the time-honored method of paying men to commit perjury, discrediting him with accusations of blasphemy. This brings it under the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin, who now hear the old misquote about the destruction of the temple (v14; cf Matt 26:59-61) – if you tell a lie often enough, it can sound very, very true! Connected to a truth with which they would naturally be uncomfortable – that Jesus “will change the customs that Moses delivered to us” – this was engineered to anger the council greatly. And as all these accusations were leveled at him, Stephen listened with “the face of an angel” – it seems as if his countenance was so unusual that people stared at it; unusual enough to warrant a verse in Scripture. Was it just an expression of perfect peace, or was it a more literal description – that his face shone like Moses’ face did after speaking with God (Exod 34:29), or like Moses, Elijah and Jesus at the Transfiguration Luke 9:30-32. It is a transformation for all of us (2 Cor 3:18). -S
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 14:50:19 +0000