NOTES for Act 7:52-54

Stephen denounces, and the accusers cannot endure it and rush at him. Did Stephen go too far? Perhaps he should have preached more gently, without wounding anyone's pride. Then perhaps he himself would have remained safe and converted someone...

But a "softened" sermon would have become anything at all except a call to salvation, a word about life and death. A moment came when utmost directness was required, and readiness to testify by blood to faithfulness to the words and to the Word. Stephen could not renounce what he was sure of as the Truth. His testimony about the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God was no metaphor; one does not give one's life for metaphors.

If at Christ's execution at least an imitation of justice had been observed, here the accusers do not even pretend to observe the law. Legal formalities are thrown aside and lynching takes place, murder without trial. Those who do not love the Romans, but get along with them perfectly, gladly violate the Roman ban on passing death sentences. However, Stephen was killed without a sentence being passed, so the letter of the ban was not broken.

And here we see Saul for the first time, a zealot for the law, guided not by the law but by his own hatred. He will still have to see that hatred is not in fact above the law...