“Lord, do not hold this against them!”

"Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep."(Acts 7:58-60 ESV)

Remember Deacon Stephen, the man “full of grace and power,” has had false charges given about his speaking “blasphemous words against Moses and against God…. And incessantly speaks against this holy place, and the Law.”

Now, in Chapter 7, we find Stephen being called before “the Council” to give an account of these charges. As we read in verses 2-50, we see Stephen providing an excellent account of the history of the Jewish people from Abraham (around 2075 BC) to the present time (approximately 30 AD), which spans approximately 3,000 years of Jewish history. Stephen shows his respect for God, the prophets, the temple, and the Law, so he clearly indicates he is not speaking “blasphemous words against Moses and God”.

As a side note, if you ever want a quick read of the history of the Jewish people, these 48 verses are excellent.

But things change quickly once the Council realizes that Stephen is calling them out for doing exactly what their forefathers had done, namely, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep it.” (vv. 51-53) Ouch! That had to hurt. Here we have the Jewish Council made up of the leaders of the Jewish faith, who held that salvation was only possible by keeping the Old Testament Law, having demonstrated for all to see that they have not kept the Law themselves; remember, they illegally arrested Jesus and gave false witness about his alleged crimes.

Verses 54-60 show exactly how they treated anyone, including our Lord Jesus, who would threaten their positions in the community: “they began stoning Stephen”. As we read this account of a man filled with grace and power, we find that he was martyred for telling the truth. Our hearts are very heavy. But sin is powerful with these people; they would rather violate the very Law they proclaim to honor than to examine their own hearts and “repent” (change their thinking) and believe in the “Righteous One”, the Lord Jesus, for salvation.

Two things we don’t want to ignore as we read this passage: first, a new person is introduced into this story, in verse 58, “the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” Remember how Stephen was introduced back in 6:8, where Luke wrote, “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.”

What a contrast to this introduction of Saul, whom we will later find out was a Pharisee, a rising star among the Jewish Community, full of the knowledge of the Law, he was zealous (boiling over) for the Law and the strict adherence to it. But he was willing to ignore this very Law. He gave hearty approval of the stoning of this righteous man who did nothing worthy of death, not to mention that the Jews did not have the authority from the Romans to put someone to death (John 18:31). But their outrage at hearing the truth drove them to commit this murder.

Secondly, this was all part of God’s plan. Stephen was giving the leadership of the Jewish faith, the Council, the opportunity to hear the truth and to come to saving faith, but they would not accept it. Often, when we examine an event in Scripture, we scrutinize it with a microscope, focusing solely on the event or text immediately before us. We try to reconcile the event in our own “world view”, we say with an accusing tone, “How could God allow this?” We think God was not fair, just, or merciful in this event.

We often forget to correctly interpret any Scripture by taking the event or passage in its complete context. We, of course, need to examine the immediate grammatical context of the several verses before and after the passage we are studying. Still, we must also consider the broader biblical context. We need to see what else the Bible says about this or similar situations. We need to remember God’s unchanging attributes before we try to understand “How He could allow something like this to happen.” We need to remember that our God is a truth-teller; we can trust Him. He is a loving, gracious God, and we can know that whatever happens to us is for our good and His glory. We need to remember that God is omniscient, He knows the beginning from the end, He knows where we and His plans are going. He is omnipresent, no matter where we are He is always with us, we are never alone (7:56).

Instead of looking at any passage with a microscope we need to look at it with a Telescope, we need to look at what we already know about God and what He has done for each of us and interpret any event in light of who God is, not what event is going on in the story. Knowing that God loves each of us, and by design He has “good works” for each of us (Eph. 2:8-10) that will allow us to bring honor and glory to our Savior. Knowing this, we need to be willing to accept the “privilege to participate” in whatever God has designed for us.

Stephen’s death was indeed tragic, but God used what Satan and man intended for harm to His church to move the message of Salvation by Grace, not the Law, to Judea and Samaria.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"