And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
"A synagogue (gathering-together) was the place where Jewish communities assembled for the reading of their sacred Scriptures and public worship. We do not know when they first came into vogue, but have reason to suppose that they existed from the period of the Persian domination of Palestine. During apostolic times, every Jewish community had its own synagogue, and we shall frequently have occasion to notice them in the history of the Acts. In Jerusalem they were very numerous, each section of foreign Hebrews having a synagogue of their own, quite apart from those used by the natives of the city. The people who attended such a place of worship were called 'sons of the synagogue'. Each synagogue had its rosh, i.e., head or ruler, who maintained order and arranged for the conduct of public worship. It had also a chazan or attendant, who had charge of the building and was responsible for its furnishings. It fell to him, too, to hand the roll of the Scriptures to the reader and to assist in the service in subordinate ways. Sometimes, moreover, he officiated as schoolmaster for the instruction of the children of the congregation. The service consisted chiefly in readings from the Pentateuch and Prophets, with a translating of the original Hebrew into the vernacular (in the case of the Aramaic synagogues), together with stated prayers, etc. An exposition of the lesson or sermon was added when competent speakers were present. The synagogue sometimes consisted of two apartments, the one being used for worship, while the other served for purposed of education and discussion. Our verse speaks of several synagogues belonging to various sections of foreign Jews." (Walker)
"In Jerusalem there were synagogues founded by foreign Jews for their own use while visiting the holy city on feast days, and also for the use of their sons, sent there for their education as, for example, Saul of Tarsus had been (See Acts 22:3). Schools and colleges were in most instances attached to these synagogues, so that the majority of the members appear to have been students ... and Jewish students then were surely not too different from some American and European students now. Engaged as they were in their studies under Israel's spiritual leaders, they no doubt felt well qualified to deal with Stephen, and began heckling him with questions. It is not improbable that Saul of Tarsus was among them, for we learn from Acts 21:39 that Tarsus was 'a city in Cilicia' and we know that Saul was now at Jerusalem, where he had been studying under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). Since Saul was present at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58) and 'consenting unto his death' (Acts 8:1); indeed, since Saul became the chief persecutor of the Pentecostal Church very shortly after this, it seems quite probable that he was one of the company that sought to overcome Stephen in debate." (Stam)
Freedmen - "These were Jewish freedmen, or descendants of men freed from slavery, from the various places mentioned in the verse. They had their own synagogue in Jerusalem." (Ryrie)
"Pompey had carried off a large number of Jews as prisoners to Rome in 63 B.C., and had sold them as slaves. Most of them, as we learn from Philo of Alexandria, afterwards obtained their freedom, being either emancipated by their masters or ransomed by their fellow-countrymen. They thus became, in Roman language, 'freedmen,' and some of them or their descendants returned to their fatherland. The synagogue here spoken of doubtless refers to this community of freed Roman slaves, who had, on account of certain disabilities, to erect a place of worship of their own." (Walker)
Cyrenians - "Representatives, in Jerusalem, of the Jewish colony in Cyrene, a city of the African Lybian province." (Walker)
Alexandrians - "Representatives of the Jewish colony at Alexandria, the capital of Egypt, founded by Alexandria the Great 332 B.C., and called by his name. It was the emporium of the commerce of the East and West. It passed into Roman hands in the year 30 B.C., and exported large quantities of corn to Italy, being in fact, the granary of Rom. The Jews were very numerous and influential there, occupying a separate quarter of their own. The corn trade with Italy was largely in their hands. Alexandria was the metropolis, so to speak, of Hellenistic Judaism, and it was there that Jewish scholars of the dispersion made such strenuous efforts to represent their religious tenets in the terms of Greek philosophy." (Walker)
Cilicia - "A district in the south-east of Asia Minor, contiguous to Syria, with which it had close political and national as well as geographical connexions. It consisted of two parts, the western one being mountainous and inhabited by a fierce and rugged people, ruled by a local sovereign. The eastern part, on the contrary, consisted of a fertile plain between the sea and the mountains (Taurus and Amanus), peopled by civilized and peaceful inhabitants who were directly subject to Roman rule. It formed part of the Roman province of Syria-Cilicia-Phoenicia. It is to this Roman Cilicia that allusion is here made. We know from the writings of Philo that there was a large Jewish colony there. Its principal city was Tarsus. As Saul was from that district, he was doubtless a member, and a most prominent one, of the Cilician synagogue; and we may reasonably suppose that he was one of Stephen's principal opponents (see Acts 7:58)." (Walker)
Asia - "The name Asia in the New Testament always denotes the Roman province so called. This was formed in 133 B.C., being placed under the government of a pro-consul. It was known as pro-consular Asia. It embraced the western part of the peninsula of Asia Minor, including Mysia, Lydia, Caria, and most of Phrygia. Its chief city was Ephesus. Pergamos and Smyrna were also very important towns in it." (Walker)
"We have thus five groups of foreign Jews enumerated here, one from Europe, two from Africa, and two from Asia. The champion of the Gospel was thus face to face with the representatives of three continents." (Walker)
the council - the Sanhedrin
vss 13-14 - "Perhaps Stephen had referred to Jesus' words in John 2:19, which his enemies twisted." (Ryrie)
"The charge that 'this Jesus of Nazareth' (note the contempt in their reference to Christ) was to destroy the temple, was practically the same as that which had previously been brought against Christ Himself (See Matt. 26:61). But neither the Lord nor Stephen had made any such statement. Our Lord had indeed predicted, with heavy heart, that the temple would be destroyed (Luke 19:41-44, etc.) but He had never intimated that He would destroy it. It was also true that He had spoken of His body as 'this temple,' but so far from saying that He would break it down, He had said that if they broke it down He would raise it up again in three days! (See John 2:19) ... If Stephen had indeed spoken of any changes from the Mosaic dispensation it could only have been in the same sense that our Lord spoke of such changes. For example, we find our Lord quoting from the law of Moses in His Sermon on the Mount and repeatedly adding the words: 'But I say unto you,' etc. But this implied no contempt for Moses' law, nor any suggestion of altering its precepts or lowering its standards. The fact is simply that under the Messianic reign a still high standard was to be maintained. There was to be a change indeed, but only in the sense that God's people, by the Spirit, would obey the law spontaneously from their hearts! Event their own prophet Jeremiah had prophesied such a change. 'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people' (Jer. 31:31-33). What peril is involved in rejecting the truth! The rulers of Israel had a short time ago stood at the moral crossroads. Rather than acknowledge the truth, they had allowed selfish pride to draw them deeper and deeper into the gulf of guilt and condemnation in which we now find them. And now these Hellenists — probably mostly young divinity students — take the same perilous path. Unable to answer the truth and yet too obstinate to accept it, they persecute and falsely accuse the one who proclaims it." (Stam)
like the face of an angel - "Reference to angels is characteristic of St. Luke. This is the only mention in the New Testament of 'the face of an angel,' and we may understand it as indicating that St. Stephen's face was seen to be radiant and glorious with a celestial holiness and brightness (see Matt. 28:3). We may compare the glory visible in the face of our Saviour's countenance on the Transfiguration mount (Matt. 27:2; Luke 9:29). See also Acts 7:55, 56. St. Peter tells us that 'the Spirit of glory' rests upon the man who is persecuted for the name of Christ (1 Pet 4:14)." (Walker)
