Acts 7:52

Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? This is the rather said to stain all their glory from succession, and their ancestors, Matthew 2:12; Matthew 5:31,37. The Just One; our Saviour deservedly, and by way of eminence, is so called; as not only being himself just, and fulfilling all righteousness, but being The Lord our Righteousness, Jeremiah 23:6, and is of God made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30. This word is used in a forensic sense, and is the same with innocent, and opposite to guilty; whereby St. Stephen vindicates our Saviour, notwithstanding the unjust sentence passed here upon him. The betrayers, in hiring Judas, and murderers, in that they excited Pilate to condemn him, and abetted the soldiers and others in executing of him.