Acts 6:14

for we have heard him say No doubt there was some handle afforded by Stephen's words for their statement.

that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place What the tenor of Stephen's language must have been may be gathered from Acts 7:48, "The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands." And to Jewish people at this time to sever worship from Jerusalem was the same thing as to destroy the Temple. The attempt which has been made to shew that the charge against Stephen is merely a reproduction of that made against Jesus is seen to be futile when we observe that in Stephen's case the witnesses know nothing of "the raising up again of the temple," and that Stephen himself, by not contradicting but explaining their accusation, in his defence points out that their statement had a widely different origin from that which gave cause to the accusation of Jesus.