Articles
Person Of The Week: Stephen
When an issue of possible discrimination arose in the early church, Stephen was chosen with six others to handle the matter. All seven were “of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3). Stephen had the confidence of his peers.
Stephen was the first disciple outside of the apostolic circle to work miracles (Acts 6:8ff). He was also an eloquent advocate of Christianity, and so effective was he that he, like Christ, was hauled before the Jewish Sanhedrin on false charges.
In his defense, Stephen gave his own leaders a history lesson in which he outlined a pattern of stubborn resistance to the will of God (Acts 7). He told of the patriarchs who sold their brother Joseph and reminded them of the rebellion against Moses’ leadership, leading to the years of wilderness wandering. But when his speech condemned this present generation for the same hardness of heart, the council dragged him outside and stoned him to death.
Thus in Stephen we have the first martyr for Christ and the beginning of systematic persecution against the church. God’s ways are counterintuitive: Stephen, the most courageous defender of the faith, is allowed to be murdered. But rather than being discouraged, the disciples are strengthened for the challenges that yet lie ahead.
