The Rest of Stephen’s Sermon
by Matthew W. Bassford
Acts 7:2-53 contains the longest sermon in the New Testament by anybody but Jesus. The speaker is Stephen, on trial for his life before the Sanhedrin, and he is accused of a number of crimes. According to Acts 6:11-13, he is accused of blaspheming God and Moses, speaking against the temple and the Law, and advocating the destruction of the temple and the Mosaic customs.
The stoning of Stephen - Acts 7:59
As one might expect from an inspired prophet, Stephen’s defense is ingenious. He points out that from time immemorial, the true custom of the Jews has been disregarding God’s law and God’s chosen. Indeed, God commonly has used those rejected by His people to bring about salvation. According to Acts 7:9-16, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers but later saved them all from famine. In Acts 7:17-36, Moses is the rejected deliverer.
In Acts 7:37-50, Stephen turns his attention to the temple. Once again, true Jewish custom is not to worship God, but to worship idols, as revealed by the idolatry of the Israelites in the wilderness. When they built the tabernacle and the temple, they failed to realize that God did not truly dwell in any human creation.
In Acts 7:51-53, though, Stephen abruptly switches course. He accuses his audience of being as evil as their fathers and, in the rest of the chapter, is dragged out and stoned to death. Admittedly, the text doesn’t say this straight out, but my impression is that Stephen realizes the Sanhedrin is about to jump him and skips to the end of his sermon. He never finishes developing his arguments.
However, it’s not hard to figure out what the full sermon might have been. In Acts 2, Peter uses the evidence of miraculous spiritual gifts, prophecy, and eyewitness testimony to establish that Jesus, though rejected by the Jews, had been made Lord and Christ by God. Stephen would have been familiar with Peter’s argument, and he easily could have shown that as a rejected deliverer, Jesus fits into the pattern established by Joseph and Moses. If his audience had been receptive, he could have invited them into the salvation offered by Jesus just as their fathers had benefited from Joseph and Moses.
Similarly, his comments about God not dwelling in temples made with human hands could have led easily into Jesus’ teaching on the subject. In Matthew 24:2, Jesus predicted that the temple would be destroyed. However, this loss would not be as dire as the Jews might think. According to John 4:21-24, Jesus predicted a time when true worshipers would worship the Father not in a particular earthly location, but in spirit and in truth.
Today, these things are still vital to us. We recognize that the name of Jesus is the only name under heaven by which we might be saved. We understand that when we come to the Father through the Son, we can come to Him anywhere. This is the truth that saves us, and it could have saved the Sanhedrin too, if only they were willing to listen.
