Chapter 6
The Need for Assistants. 1 [a]At that time, as the number of
disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews
because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 [b]So
the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, “It is not
right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at the table.[c] 3 Brothers,
select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom,
whom we shall appoint to this task, 4 whereas we shall devote ourselves to
prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the holy
Spirit, also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of
Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles who
prayed and laid hands on them.[d] 7 The word of God continued to spread, and
the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly; even a large group
of priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
Accusation Against Stephen. 8 [e]Now Stephen, filled with grace
and power was working great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Certain
members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia came forward and debated with Stephen, 10 but
they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. 11 Then
they instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words
against Moses and God.” 12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the
scribes accosted him, seized him, and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13
They presented false witnesses[f] who testified, “This man never stops saying
things against [this] holy place and the law. 14 For we have heard him claim
that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place and change the customs
that Moses handed down to us.” 15 All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked
intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Footnotes
6:1–7 The Hellenists…the Hebrews: the Hellenists were not
necessarily Jews from the diaspora, but were more probably Palestinian Jews who
spoke only Greek. The Hebrews were Palestinian Jews who spoke Hebrew or Aramaic
and who may also have spoken Greek? Both groups belong to the Jerusalem Jewish
Christian community. The conflict between them leads to a restructuring of the community that will better serve the community’s needs. The real purpose of the
whole episode, however, is to introduce Stephen as a prominent figure in the
community whose long speech and martyrdom will be recounted in Acts 7.
6:2–4 The essential function of the Twelve is the “service
of the word,” including the development of the kerygma by formulation of the
teachings of Jesus.
6:2 To serve at table: some commentators think that it is
not the serving of food that is described here but rather the keeping of the
accounts that recorded the distribution of food to the needy members of the
community. In any case, after Stephen and the others are chosen, they are never
presented carrying out the task for which they were appointed (Acts 6:2–3).
Rather, two of their number, Stephen and Philip, are presented as preachers of
the Christian message. They, the Hellenist counterpart of the Twelve, are
active in the ministry of the word.
6:6 They…laid hands on them: the customary Jewish way of
designating persons for a task and invoking upon them the divine blessing and
power to perform it.
6:8–8:1
The summary (Acts 6:7) on the progress of the Jerusalem
community, illustrated by the conversion of the priests, is followed by a lengthy narrative regarding Stephen. Stephen’s defense is not a response to the
charges made against him but takes the form of a discourse that reviews the
fortunes of God’s word to Israel and leads to a prophetic declaration: a plea
for the hearing of that word as announced by Christ and now possessed by the
Christian community.
The charges that Stephen depreciated the importance of the
temple and the Mosaic law and elevated Jesus to a stature above Moses (Acts
6:13–14) were in fact true. Before the Sanhedrin, no defense against them was
possible. With Stephen, who thus perceived the fuller implications of the
teachings of Jesus, the differences between Judaism and Christianity began to
appear. Luke’s account of Stephen’s martyrdom and its aftermath shows how the
major impetus behind the Christian movement passed from Jerusalem, where the
temple and law prevailed, to Antioch in Syria, where these influences were less
pressing.
6:13 False witnesses: here, and in his account of Stephen’s
execution (Acts 7:54–60), Luke parallels the martyrdom of Stephen with the
death of Jesus.
Source Catholic Bible: New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)
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