The Stoning Of Stephen

Questions This Sermon Answers:

1. Who was Stephen in the Bible and why was he stoned?

Stephen was one of the seven men "of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom" (Acts 6:3, NKJV) chosen to serve the church — and the first Christian martyr. Accused falsely of blasphemy, he answered with a sweeping survey of Israel’s history that ended in an indictment his judges could not bear. They "gnashed at him with their teeth" (Acts 7:54, NKJV), drove him out of the city, and stoned him.

2. What did Stephen say that made the council so angry?

He turned their own history against them: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51, NKJV). Their fathers persecuted the prophets who foretold "the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers" (Acts 7:52, NKJV). It was not Stephen’s history lesson that enraged them — it was its conclusion.

3. Why was Jesus standing at the right hand of God?

Everywhere else Scripture pictures the ascended Christ seated. For Stephen, He stands — as advocate, witness, and welcomer of His dying servant. The seated King rises for His martyr. It is one of the most tender details in Acts: the first man to die for the name of Jesus is received by Jesus on His feet.

4. What can Christians learn from the first martyr?

That faithfulness, not safety, is the calling — and that grace is sufficient at the extremity. Stephen died praying like his Lord: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit... Lord, do not charge them with this sin" (Acts 7:59–60, NKJV). The gospel he preached shaped the death he died. Few of us will face stones; all of us will face the choice between truth and approval.

5. Who was Saul and why was he at the stoning?

"Now Saul was consenting to his death" (Acts 8:1, NKJV) — the witnesses "laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul" (Acts 7:58, NKJV). The church’s fiercest persecutor stood guard over the coats at its first martyrdom. In God’s providence, the prayer of the dying Stephen was answered beyond imagining: that young man became the apostle Paul.

6. What is the significance of "Son of Man" in Stephen’s vision (Acts 7:56)?

"Son of Man" is the title Jesus used most for Himself, drawn from Daniel’s vision of "One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven," to whom is given "dominion and glory and a kingdom" (Daniel 7:13–14, NKJV). When Stephen sees "the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56), he proclaims Jesus as the divine, reigning King — the very claim that had condemned Christ before the same council (Mark 14:62).

7. How does Stephen’s death mirror the death of Christ?

Strikingly. Like his Lord, Stephen commits his spirit to heaven and prays for his killers: "Lord, do not charge them with this sin" (Acts 7:60, NKJV), echoing "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34, NKJV). The first Christian martyr dies in the image of the crucified Christ — proof that the Spirit conforms suffering saints to their Savior, even in death.

8. What does Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 teach about reading the Old Testament?

It models a Christ-centered reading of redemptive history. Stephen traces Israel’s story and exposes a pattern: God sends deliverers and the people resist them — Joseph, Moses, the prophets — until, as he charges, they became "the betrayers and murderers" of the Just One (Acts 7:52, NKJV). The whole Old Testament leads to Christ, and Israel’s repeated rejection of God’s messengers reaches its climax at the cross.

9. What does the stoning of Stephen teach about suffering and martyrdom?

That faithful witness may cost everything, and that God is sovereign over it. "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12, NKJV). Stephen’s name means "crown," and he received one. The Reformed tradition has long held that the blood of the martyrs is seed — God uses even the death of His servants to advance, not hinder, His kingdom.

10. How did Stephen’s death help spread the gospel and lead to Saul’s conversion?

Directly. "A great persecution arose against the church... and they were all scattered," yet "those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word" (Acts 8:1, 4, NKJV) — the gospel spread because of the violence. And Saul, who "was consenting to his death" (Acts 8:1), would soon meet the risen Christ (Acts 9). Augustine observed that the church owed Paul to the prayer of Stephen.