Acts 6 - Short and Sweet

Acts 6:1; "Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution."

As the number of Christians increase, there will likely be an increase in problems and complaints, as illustrated here. Here we have Greek Jewish converts with a problem. A parallel connection is with the Gibeonites (Gentiles) in the book of Joshua. This problem is addressed.

Acts 6:2-4; " And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, 'It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word."

To solve this problem, the full number of disciples is summoned, and a distinction in service is made; "preaching the word of God" as a service, function, or office distinct from "serving tables." In addition, there seems to be something important about numbers; here we have "the twelve" advising the choosing of "seven men" of good repute. Also, qualifications are mentioned and therefore must be of some import. The seven chosen must be of "good repute," or have good reputations, good names. They must be full of the Spirit and of wisdom. Then we read about this counsel, who was chosen, and their names.

Acts 6:5; "And what they said pleased the whole gathering and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenus, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch."

Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is described as "a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit." His name in Greek means "crown, garland." Philip means "lover of horses." Prochorus is "he that presides over the chorus." Nicanor means "people of victory." Timon means "respect." Parmenus means "standing faithful, firm, one who abides." And Nicolaus means "victory for the people." As expected all of these men are Greek, and Jews.

Acts 6:6, 7; "These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith."

In verses 8-15, the rest of the chapter, Stephen is singled out from the seven and his ministry is described. He is full of grace and power, and he does many signs and wonders amongst the people. This draws a crowd to Stephen of those who dispute what he says, but are unable to withstand the wisdom and Spirit with which he was speaking.

But instead of submitting to his wisdom and the Spirit of God in humility, repentance and conversion, they resort to evil means to silence and defeat him; they secretly instigate men to accuse him, and bring in false witnesses to further distort Stephen's message and inflame the people against him. They "lay hands on him." Note the contrast of "the laying on of hands" here with that mentioned above by the apostles.

What they accuse him of is true; Jesus of Nazareth did say He would destroy the Temple and was bringing about changes in the customs of Moses. Stephen gets his chance to speak in chapter 7.

DR