seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 6:1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
a. Acts 6:1 That is, Jews who had adopted the Greek language and culture
The blueletterbible.org site spoke to me this morning.
There arose a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists: In the Book of Acts, Satan's attacks on the church have come on many different fronts. He has attempted many forms of direct opposition and intimidation, and he has tried to corrupt the church from within. These strategies have been unsuccessful. Now Satan hopes to "divide and conquer" by raising one group in the church against another.
The Hebrews were those Jews who were more inclined to embrace Jewish culture and were mostly from Judea. The Hellenists were those Jews who were more inclined to embrace Greek culture and were mostly from the Diaspora (all over the Roman Empire).
For the most part, Hebrews tended to regard Hellenists as unspiritual compromisers with Greek culture, and Hellenists regarded Hebrews as holier-than-thou traditionalists. There was already a natural suspicion between the two groups, and Satan tried to take advantage of that standing suspicion.
Because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution: Apparently, some of the Hellenistic Jews believed that the widows among the Hebrew Jews were receiving better care.
Whom we may appoint: The final decision rested with the apostles. They asked the congregation to nominate the men (seek out from among you), but the decision really rested with the apostles. This was not an exercise of congregational government, though the apostles wisely wanted and valued the input from the congregation.
And the word of God spread: Because this situation was handled with wisdom and sensitivity to those who were offended, a potentially divisive issue was defused, and the gospel continued to go forth. Even a great many of the priests came to faith in Jesus.
Satan's strategy failed. He tried to divide the church, and it did not work. But Satan's second strategy also failed. The apostles were not distracted from the focus of ministry God had for them.
Disputing with Stephen: Stephen debated with Jews from the Synagogue of the Freedmen, empowered by the Holy Spirit, he shows greater wisdom (they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke).
There is no indication that Stephen, in himself, was smarter, better educated, or a better debater than these Jews. We should attribute his upper hand in the debate to the Spirit by which he spoke.
Those from Cilicia: "The mention of Cilicia suggests this may have been Paul's synagogue before he was converted. He came from Tarsus in Cilicia." (Lovett)
The accusers brought their charges: We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God … this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law … Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change customs. Significantly, many of the same false accusations were leveled against Jesus. You are in a good place when people are treating you like they treated Jesus!
Why would they make such accusations? Because Stephen was clearly teaching that Jesus was greater than Moses; that Jesus was God; that Jesus was greater than the temple; that Jesus was the fulfillment of the law; and that Jesus was greater than their religious customs and traditions.
So far the Apostles have made a couple of decisions without prayer..... they chose a twelfth Apostle and now they chose workers to handle the distribution of food to the widows. With over 5000 men in the congregation..... their little "church" was getting ready to split at the seams..... I'm glad they realized they had a problem.... but I'm upset because they didn't take it to God in prayer first. I mean.... it could have waited a few minutes while they went to the Father for advise or confirmation. Stephen..... was apparently one of those men that just glows with the Gospel. Stephen waited on tables.... hefted contributions.... took on all the jobs assigned to him.... and Stephen was constantly saying great things about Jesus.
The Bible says that Stephen upset some of the people in who were members of the Synagogue of Freedmen. When I saw this.... I thought of the gate that the lame guy was laying at and figured the fact that the name of this membership was called out specifically might be significant..... well turns out Stephen was in a nest of "what about me" guys.
So this is from the gotquestions.org site.
A libertine is a person who rejects moral boundaries and lives “at liberty” from constraint. The result is that the libertine usually lives a profligate, dissolute life. Libertinism is a disregard of authority or a rejection of moral boundaries. Libertinism typically involves pursuing personal desires without consideration of ethics or social mores. The term libertine almost always refers to a male who is sexually promiscuous and disinterested in monogamy.
A libertine can also be a freed slave, and that is how the word libertine is used in Acts 6:9 in the King James Version. As the deacon Stephen was working miracles and preaching in Jerusalem, “there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines . . . disputing with Stephen”. This “synagogue of the Libertines” was comprised of Jews who had been former captives, either as prisoners of Roman wars or as slaves of some kind, but had been freed. The NIV translates the phrase “Synagogue of the Freedmen.”
In less common use, the terms libertine and libertinism have been applied to those who reject traditional religious dogma. However, such religious libertines prefer the term freethinker, which does not connote licentiousness and is less subject to confusion. The one aspect consistent with all uses of the term libertine is the rejection of a prevailing or established code or codes in favor of personal freedom and independent thought.
There it is.... the real crux..... Stephen ran into a bunch of "free thinkers". If this had been written in the 60's and 70's it probably would have said.... "beatniks". I can imagine that spirit filled Stephen meeting up with a "free thinker". I'd even venture to say there might have been quite a few who were quite good at that Greco Roman fighting. I find that really interesting..... Jewish men didn't look at each other naked. As a matter of fact.... Noah's son Ham got in some significant trouble over something he said after seeing his father naked.... and his brothers would have walked backwards into the room to bring their father a blanket to cover himself with rather than accidentally seeing his naked body. But in the Synagogue of the Freedmen..... there were men who wrestled naked...... how different were these people?????
Did Stephen preach that flopping around on a mat with another man.... naked... was a horrible sin? I doubt it..... I bet Stephen was saying that Jesus wanted them to repent.... and those body slappers didn't like it. Goody two shoes v. body slappers......
