Stephen
The first martyr
Full of the Spirit, he preached and was stoned, and Saul kept the coats of those who killed him.
Full of grace and power
Stephen was one of the seven chosen to serve tables in the church in Jerusalem, but he was much more than an administrator: “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit”, he performed signs and spoke with a wisdom no one could refute.
The sermon that cost his life
Before the Sanhedrin, Stephen retells the whole history of Israel to show that the people had always resisted God, and now had rejected the Righteous One. It is the longest sermon in Acts, and it ends with him seeing “heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God”.
The first martyr, and a seed
Stoned, Stephen dies as Jesus died: giving up his spirit and forgiving his killers (“Lord, do not hold this sin against them”). At the feet of those who were killing him stood a young man named Saul. Stephen's death ended nothing: it scattered the church and planted the seed of the greatest missionary in history.
Where to read in the Bible
- Acts 6–7
Connections
- linked to Paul · cross-reference · Acts 7:58