Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 6.djvu/67

Rh converts. God has his remnant even in the worst of places.

3. ''A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. Then'' is the word and grace of God greatly magnified, when those are wrought upon by it, that were least likely, as the priests here, who either had opposed it, or at least were linked in with those that had. The priests, whose preferments arose from the law of Moses, were yet willing to let them go for the gospel of Christ; and, it should seem, they came in in a body; many of them agreed together, for the keeping up of one another's credit, and the strengthening of one another's hands, to join at once in giving up their names to Christ: πολύς ὄχλος—a great crowd of priests were by the grace of God helped over their prejudices, and were obedient to the faith, so their conversion is described. (1.) They embraced the doctrine of the gospel; their understandings were captivated to the power of the truths of Christ, and every opposing, objecting thought, brought into obedience to him, 2 Cor. 10. 4, 5. The gospel is said to be made known for the obedience of faith, Rom. 16. 26. Faith is an act of obedience, for this is God's commandment, that we believe, 1 John 3. 23. (2.) They evidenced the sincerity of their believing the gospel of Christ by a cheerful compliance with all the rules and precepts of the gospel. The design of the gospel is to refine and reform our hearts and lives; faith gives law to us, and we must be obedient to it.

8. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. 9. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. 10. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. 11. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. 12. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the Scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, 13. And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: 14. For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. 15. And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Stephen, no doubt, was diligent and faithful in the discharge of his office as distributor of the church's charity, and laid out himself to put that affair in a good method, and did it to universal satisfaction; and though it appears here that he was a man of uncommon gifts, and fitted for a higher station, yet, being called to that office, he did not think it below him to do the duty of it. And being faithful in a little, he was intrusted with more; and though we do not find him propagating the gospel by preaching and baptizing, yet we find him here called out to very honourable services, and owned in them.

I. He proved the truth of the gospel, by working miracles in Christ's name, v. 8.

1. He was full of faith and power, that is, of a strong faith, by which he was enabled to do great things. They that are full of faith, are full of power, because by faith the power of God is engaged for us. His faith did so fill him, that it left no room for unbelief, and made room for the influences of divine grace, so that, as the prophet speaks, he was full of power by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, Mic. 3. 8. By faith we are emptied of self, and so are filled with Christ, who is the wisdom of God, and the power of God.

2. Being so, he did great wonders and miracles among the people, openly, and in the sight of all; for Christ's miracles feared not the strictest scrutiny. It is not strange that Stephen, though he was not a preacher by office, did these great wonders, for we find that these were distinct gifts of the Spirit, and divided severally, for to one was given the working of miracles, and to another prophecy, 1 Cor. 12. 10, 11. And those signs followed not only them that preached, but them that believed, Mark 16. 17.

II. He pleaded the cause of Christianity against those that opposed it, and argued against it; (v. 9, 10.) he served the interests of religion as a disputant, in the high places of the field, while others were serving them as vinedressers and husbandmen.

1. We are here told who were his opponents, v. 9. They were Jews, but Hellenist Jews, Jews of the dispersion, who seem to have been more zealous for their religion than the native Jews; it was with difficulty that they retained the practice and profession of it in the country where they lived, where they were as speckled birds, and not without great expense and toil that they kept up their attendance at Jerusalem, and this made them more active sticklers for Judaism than they were, whose profession of their religion was cheap and easy. They were of the synagogue which is called the synagogue of the Libertines; the Romans called those Liberti or Libertini, who, either being foreigners, were naturalized, or, being slaves by birth, were manumised, or made freemen. Some think that these Libertines were such of the Jews as had obtained the Roman freedom, as Paul had; (ch. 22. 27, 28.) and it is probable that he was the most forward man of this synagogue of the Libertines in disputing with Stephen, and engaged others in the dispute; for we find him busy in the stoning of Stephen, and consenting to his death. There were others that belonged to the synagogue of the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, of which synagogue the Jewish writers speak; and others that belonged to their synagogue, who were of Cilicia and Asia; and if Paul, as a freeman of Rome, did not belong to the synagogue of the Libertines, he belonged to this, as a native of Tarsus, a city of Cilicia; it is probable that he might be a member of both. The Jews that were born in other countries, and had concerns in them, had frequent occasion, not only to resort to, but to reside in, Jerusalem. Each nation had its synagogue, as in London there are French, and Dutch, and Danish churches: and these synagogues were the schools to which the Jews of those nations sent their youth to be educated in the Jewish learning. Now those that were tutors and professors in these synagogues, seeing the gospel grow, and the rulers conniving at the growth of it, and fearing what would be the consequence of it to the Jewish religion, which they were jealous for, being confident of the goodness of their cause, and their own sufficiency to manage it, would undertake to run down Christianity by force of argument; it was a fair and rational way of dealing with it, and what