Acts 7:2

And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, AND HE SAID, MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS, HEARKEN. In this long defense Stephen takes a much wider range, and answers the charges brought against him less directly, than we should have expected. But when we find his accusers stung to the quick by what seems a mere recital of historical facts-especially as the drift of them is expressed in the concluding summary-we may be sure that they were selected and presented with no ordinary skill. What was the precise object aimed at has occasioned much discussion and division of opinion. But it seems clearly to have been twofold: first, by an induction of facts, to show that the national platform which they now idolized, though divinely erected, had been of slow growth, and that the then exi...

2._Men, brethren, and fathers. _Although Stephen saw that those which sat in the council were, for the most part, the sworn enemies of Christ, yet because the ordinary government of the people did belong to them, and they had the oversight of the Church, which God had not as yet cast off, therefore, he is not afraid, for modesty’s sake, to call them fathers. Neither doth he flatteringly purchase favor hereby; but he giveth this honor to the order and government appointed by God, until such time as the authority should be taken from them, the order being altered. Nevertheless, the reverence of the place which they had doth not hinder him nor stop his mouth; but that he doth freely dissent from them, whereby it appeareth how ridiculous the Papists are who will have us so tied unto bare and vain invented titles, that they may enforce us to subscribe unto their decrees, though they be never...

1-16 Stephen was charged as a blasphemer of God, and an apostate from the church; therefore he shows that he is a son of Abraham, and values himself on it. The slow steps by which the promise made to Abraham advanced toward performance, plainly show that it had a spiritual meaning, and that the land intended was the heavenly. God owned Joseph in his troubles, and was with him by the power of his Spirit, both on his own mind by giving him comfort, and on those he was concerned with, by giving him favour in their eyes. Stephen reminds the Jews of their mean beginning as a check to priding themselves in the glories of that nation. Likewise of the wickedness of the patriarchs of their tribes, in envying their brother Joseph; and the same spirit was still working in them toward Christ and his ministers. The faith of the patriarchs, in desiring to be buried in the land of Canaan, plainly show...

Verse Acts 7:2. _MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS_] Rather, _brethren and_ _fathers_, for ανδρες should not be translated separately from αδελφοι. Literally it is men-brethren, a very usual form in Greek; for every person knows that ανδρες αθηναιοι and ανδρες περσαι should not be translated men-Athenians and men-Persians, but simply _Athenians_ and _Persians_. See Acts 17:22. So, in Luke 2:15, ανθρωποι ποιμενες should be translated _shepherds_, not _men-shepherds_. And ανθρωπος βασιλευς Matthew 18:23, should not be translated _man-king_, but _king_, simply. By translating as we do, _men,_ _brethren_, and...

MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS - These were the usual titles by which the Sanhedrin was addressed. In all this Stephen was perfectly respectful, and showed that he was disposed to render due honor to the institutions of the nation. THE GOD OF GLORY - This is a Hebrew form of expression denoting “the glorious God.” It properly denotes His “majesty, or splendor, or magnificence”; and the word “glory” is often applied to the splendid appearances in which God has manifested Himself to people, Deuteronomy 5:24; Exodus 33:18; Exodus 16:7, Exodus 16:10;...

EXPOSITION ACTS 7:1 _And the high priest said _for then _said the high priest, _A.V. The high priest spoke as president of the Sanhedrim (see Acts 9:1. Acts 9:1 and Matthew 26:62). Theophilus the son of Annas or his brother Jonathan is probably meant. ACTS 7:2 _Brethren and fathers _for _men, brethren, and fathers, _A.V. _Haran _for _Charran, _A.V. BRETHREN AND FATHERS. The Greek is ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ (_i.e. _"men who are also my brethren") καὶ πατέρες. H

AND HE SAID,.... Stephen replied, in answer to the high priest's question, and addressed himself to the whole sanhedrim, saying: MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS, HEARKEN; to the following oration and defence; he calls them men, brethren, by an usual Hebraism, that is, "brethren"; and that, because they were of the same nation; for it was common with the Jews to call those of their own country and religion, brethren; and he calls them "fathers", because of their age and dignity, being the great council of the nation, and chosen out of the senior and wiser part of the people: THE GOD OF GLORY APPEARED UNTO OUR FATHER ABRAHAM; he calls God "the God of glory", because he is glorious in himself, in all his persons, perfections, and works, and is to be glorified by his people; and his glory is to be sought by all his creatures, and to be the end of all their actions; and the rather he makes use o...

CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The Address of Stephen (Acts 7:1)._ 2. The Martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7:54). This is the largest chapter in this book and concludes the first section. Stephen is the chosen instrument to deliver the final testimony to the nation. He was not permitted to finish it. We notice at once a marked difference between the previous preaching by the Apostle Peter and the address of Stephen. The testimony of Peter was marked on the day of Pentecost and at the other occasions by great brevity. Stephen's address is the longest discourse reported in the New Testament. The name of Jesus is prominent in all the addresses of Peter. The fact that He was rejected by the people, crucified and that He rose from the dead, and the call to repentance, were the leading features of Peter's preaching.

ABRAHAM AND THE PATRIARCHS. The High Priest invites Stephen to plead to the charge. Addressing his audience in the style used by Paul (Acts 22:1), Stephen speaks of the theophany to Abraham, placing it, as Philo does, in Mesopotamia before the move to Haran (contrast Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:1). The Divine injunction and promise (Acts 7:3) are those of Genesis 12:1 spoken in Haran. That not a foot-breadth was given Abraham in the land of promise, is taken from Deuteronomy 2:5, where an

The high priest said, "Is this so?" And Stephen said, "Men, brothers and fathers, listen to what I have to say. The God of glory appeared to Abraham our father when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Charran. He said to him, 'Get out from your country and from your kindred and come here to a land which I will show you.' Then he came out from the land of the Chaldaeans and took up his residence in Charran. After the death of his father he removed from there and took up his residence in this land where you now live. God did not give him an inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot upon. But he did promise him that he would some day give it to him for a possession and to his descendants after him, although at that time he had no child. God spoke thus--that his descendants would be sojourners in an alien land, that they would make slaves of them and treat them badly for four...