05 — The First Martyrdom
The climax of the Stephen narrative and the collection’s center: enraged by the speech, the council gnashes their teeth, but Stephen, “full of the Holy Spirit,” gazes into heaven and sees “the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55–56). At his cry they rush upon him, cast him out of the city, and stone him, the witnesses laying their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul; and Stephen dies praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:54–60; 8:1). These files set out the vision and the stoning.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Protomartyr)
The first Christian martyrdom is narrated by Luke with deliberate conformity to the death of Christ: the committed spirit, the prayer for the killers, the death described as “falling asleep.” It is also the hinge on which the whole book of Acts turns toward its second half, for at Stephen’s feet stands Saul, “consenting to his death” (Acts 8:1), whose own conversion the protomartyr’s prayer is read as having seeded. This section treats the two faces of the event: the vision of the Son of Man that crowns the speech and reveals the heavenly meaning of the death, and the stoning itself with its Christ-conformed prayers and the figure of Saul.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Stoning | The rage of the council and the rush upon Stephen (Acts 7:54, 57); the casting out of the city and the stoning, the witnesses laying their garments at the feet of Saul (Acts 7:58); the two dying prayers — “receive my spirit” and “do not hold this sin against them” — and “he fell asleep” (Acts 7:59–60); Saul consenting (Acts 8:1). |
| The Vision of the Son of Man | “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55–56); the only use of “Son of Man” on lips other than Jesus’ in the New Testament; why the Son of Man stands rather than sits; the vision as the heavenly verdict that the condemned witness is vindicated. |
See Also
- The Great Speech — the discourse whose climax provokes the stoning
- The Protomartyr — the theology of the first witness
- The Seed of the Church — Stephen’s prayer and the conversion of Saul
- Christology — the Son of Man at God’s right hand
References
- The Holy Bible — Acts 7:54–8:1. Cited by chapter and verse.
- John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 18. Trans. in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 11.
- Augustine of Hippo. Sermons 314–319, 382. Trans. in The Works of Saint Augustine III/9. Hyde Park: New City Press, 1994.
- Barrett, C. K. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. Vol. 1. ICC. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994.