The Vision of the Son of Man

At the climax of the speech, before the stones fly, Stephen, “full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,” and cried, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55–56). It is the only time in the New Testament that “Son of Man” is spoken by anyone but Jesus, and the only place the Son of Man is said to stand rather than sit. This file sets out the vision and its meaning as the heavenly vindication of the condemned witness.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Protomartyr)

The Heavens Opened

The vision comes at the precise hinge between the speech and the stoning. The council is grinding its teeth (Acts 7:54); and “but he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’” (Acts 7:55–56). Luke gives the vision twice — once in his own narration (“Jesus standing at the right hand of God”) and once in Stephen’s own words to the council (“the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God”) — and the doubling underlines its weight. Stephen, accused of blasphemy, sees the heavens torn open and the crucified Jesus glorified at God’s right hand; and in declaring what he sees, he gives the council the very blasphemy they need, for to claim that the executed Nazarene stands in God’s glory is, in their ears, to claim too much (Barrett, Acts, ICC, 1994, 1:384–385). The vision is thus both the consolation of the martyr and the immediate cause of his death.

“Son of Man” on Other Lips

The title Stephen uses is striking. Throughout the Gospels “the Son of Man” (ho huios tou anthrōpou) is spoken almost exclusively by Jesus, of himself; here, in Acts 7:56, it appears on another’s lips — the only such instance in the New Testament outside the sayings of Jesus (Fitzmyer, Acts, AB 31, 1998, 392–393; Barrett, Acts, ICC, 1:384). The choice is deliberate and pointed. At his own trial, Jesus had answered the high priest’s adjuration with the words of Daniel and the Psalm: “you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62; cf. Dan 7:13; Ps 110:1) — and that claim was the blasphemy on which he was condemned. Stephen, on trial before the same council, now declares that he sees what Jesus had promised they would see: the Son of Man at God’s right hand. The protomartyr’s vision is the fulfillment, before the very same court, of the Lord’s own prophecy at his own trial (Chrysostom, Homilies on Acts 18; NPNF I/11). Stephen dies confessing, in Jesus’ own title, the exaltation of the one whom the council condemned for confessing it.

Why the Son of Man Stands

The most discussed detail of the vision is the posture: the Son of Man is not seated at God’s right hand, as the confession everywhere else has it (Ps 110:1; Mark 14:62; Acts 2:34; Eph 1:20; Heb 1:3; 10:12), but standing. The change is too pointed to be accidental, and the fathers and the commentators have offered several readings. [Disputed: why the Son of Man stands in Acts 7:55–56 rather than sits. (1) The most widely held patristic and modern reading takes the standing as the posture of welcome and vindication — Christ rises to receive his first martyr and to bear witness before God to the one who is bearing witness before men, fulfilling "everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father" (Matt 10:32; so Chrysostom, *Hom. Acts* 18; Gregory of Nyssa, *On Stephen* I; and many moderns). (2) Some read the standing as judicial — Christ stands as advocate or as judge rising to deliver verdict. (3) Some have proposed a connection to an early "standing one" christology or to the Son of Man "coming" in Daniel 7:13, the standing marking the eschatological appearance. (4) A few minimize the distinction as stylistic. The vindication-reading (1) is the dominant one and the one the liturgical tradition has received]. On the dominant reading the standing is the whole point: the Lord who is enthroned in session rises to his feet to receive Stephen — the heavenly court stands as the earthly court condemns, and the verdict of heaven reverses the verdict of the Sanhedrin. The martyr who confesses Christ before men is, in the same moment, confessed by Christ before God.

The Christology of the Dying Prayer

The vision also grounds the christology of Stephen’s death-prayer. Because he has seen the Lord Jesus standing in glory to receive him, he prays to that Lord directly: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). The prayer is addressed to the risen Christ as to God — the spirit committed not, as Jesus committed his, to the Father, but to Jesus himself — and it is among the earliest and clearest instances in the New Testament of prayer offered to Christ (Barrett, Acts, ICC, 1:386; and see The Stoning). The first martyr dies, that is, not merely for Christ but to Christ, invoking the One he sees as the receiver of his soul. The vision and the prayer together make the death a confession of the divinity of the exalted Lord: the Son of Man whom Stephen sees at God’s right hand is the Lord into whose hands he gives his spirit (on the doctrine of the exalted Christ, see Christology).

The Vindication of the Witness

For the Orthodox tradition the vision is the heart of the martyrdom’s meaning. The martys — the “witness” — testifies on earth and is condemned; but the opened heaven reveals that his testimony is received and ratified above. Stephen does not die abandoned; he dies seen, gazing on the glory of God and gazed upon by the Lord who stands to welcome him. This is the pattern the whole later theology of martyrdom will inherit: the martyr’s death is not defeat but glorification, the closing of earth’s verdict and the opening of heaven’s (see The Protomartyr). What the council saw as blasphemy punished, the Church confesses as the first witness vindicated — the heavens opened over the first man to die for the risen Christ, and the Son of Man standing to receive him home.

See Also

References

  • The Holy Bible — Dan 7:13; Ps 110:1; Matt 10:32; Mark 14:62; Luke 22:69; Acts 2:34; 7:54–60; Eph 1:20; Heb 1:3; 10:12. Cited by book chapter:verse.
  • John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 18. Trans. in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 11. (The standing Son of Man.)
  • Gregory of Nyssa. Two Homilies on Saint Stephen the Protomartyr. Greek text in Gregorii Nysseni Opera X/1, ed. O. Lendle. Leiden: Brill, 1990. (The vision and the welcome.)
  • Barrett, C. K. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. Vol. 1. ICC. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994. (Acts 7:55–56; the standing; “Son of Man.”)
  • Fitzmyer, Joseph A. The Acts of the Apostles. Anchor Bible 31. New York: Doubleday, 1998. (The vision of the Son of Man.)