04 — The Speech Before the Sanhedrin
Asked by the high priest “Are these things so?”, Stephen answers with the longest speech in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 7:1–53): a sweeping retelling of Israel’s history from Abraham through Joseph and Moses to David and Solomon, turning at its climax into a prophetic reproach of his hearers as “stiff-necked” betrayers and murderers of the Righteous One. Woven through it is a distinctive theology of the Temple “made with hands” and of the Law received “by the disposition of angels.” These files set out the speech as a whole and its two great themes.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Protomartyr)
The speech is the theological heart of the Stephen narrative and one of the most discussed passages in Acts. It is at once a defense, a sermon, and an indictment: Stephen meets the charge of speaking against the Temple and the Law not by denying it but by re-reading the whole sacred history to show that God was never bound to a building and that Israel had always resisted His messengers — culminating in the betrayal of Christ. Its composition, source, and theology are debated; this section presents the speech in its movement and its substance, reserving the source-critical questions for Section 09.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Great Speech | The structure and movement of Acts 7:1–53: the patriarchs (Abraham, Joseph), Moses and the wilderness, the tabernacle and the Temple, and the turn to reproach (“you stiff-necked people… you always resist the Holy Spirit”); the speech as defense, sermon, and indictment in one. |
| The Temple and the Law | The two distinctive theological notes: that “the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands” (Acts 7:48–50, citing Isa 66:1–2), and that Israel received “the law as delivered by angels” yet “did not keep it” (Acts 7:53; cf. 7:38); the relation of this Temple-critique to the charge, and the scholarly debate over its background. |
See Also
- The Arrest and the Charges — the accusation the speech answers
- The Vision of the Son of Man — the speech’s climax in the opened heaven
- The Historical Questions — the source and composition of the speech
- Holy Scripture — Stephen’s reading of the Old Testament
References
- The Holy Bible — Acts 7:1–53. Cited by chapter and verse.
- John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 15–17. Trans. in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 11.
- Barrett, C. K. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. Vol. 1. ICC. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994.
- Simon, Marcel. St. Stephen and the Hellenists in the Primitive Church. London: Longmans, Green, 1958.