NOTES for Act 6:8-15

The account of the reprisal against Stephen begins immediately after the mention of his appointment to ministry, and the story of his witness lasts longer than the story of the ministry itself, so that we do not even know whether Stephen was given much time to work normally. But from what is said we can see that Stephen was a good worker, and it appears that what he did was enough for Christ's opponents to turn specifically against him.

It is impossible to refute Stephen; there is nothing to answer him on the merits, but they want to silence him by any means, and here lawlessness begins on the part of the accusers. In every unrighteous reprisal against Christ's disciples there is something reminiscent of the reprisal against the Teacher Himself: again the accusers stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, again they produced false witnesses... But the Teacher had warned them in advance: "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you..." (John 15:20).