Atos 8

Atos 8

Guzik - Some people are reluctant persecutors, but Saul wasn’t one of these; he took pleasure in attacking Christians. Paul remembered with shame his experiences of standing by as Stephen was stoned and then trying to destroy the Church (Acts 22:20; 1 Cor. 15:9; Gal. 1:13, 23; Php. 3:6; 1 Ti 1:13). Beloved, if you were not saved as a young child, there is a good chance you have some memories, the recall of which brings you great shame. The lesson from Paul's life is that you can still be a useful instrument in the hands of God in spite of your shameful memories. The memories may come up from time to time, but God's Word mercifully always washes over us with the clear reminder " As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us." (Ps 103:12, cf Ps 32:1 Isa 6:7, 38:17, 44:22 Mic 7:18,19). Acts 26:10 even suggests that Saul (Paul) voted as a member of the Sanhedrin... “And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. (Acts 26:10) Farrar observes: “The part which he played at this time in the horrid work of persecution has, I fear, been always underrated. It is only when we collect the separate passages—they are no less than eight in number—in which allusion is made to this sad period,* it is only when we weigh the terrible significance of the expressions used that we feel the load of remorse which must have lain upon him, and the taunts to which he was liable from malignant enemies” (“Life and Work of St. Paul”). Saul (4569)(Saulos) is transliterated from the Hebrew name Sha'ul (07586) which is used over 300x in the OT and which means "asked." Sha'ul is used of the frist king of Israel, King Saul of the tribe of Benjamin, the same tribe this modern Saul was from. Saul - 15x in 15v - Acts 7:58; Acts 8:1; Acts 8:3; Acts 9:1; Acts 9:8; Acts 9:11; Acts 9:22; Acts 9:24; Acts 11:25; Acts 11:30; Acts 12:25; Acts 13:1; Acts 13:2; Acts 13:7; Acts 13:9 Hearty agreement (4909)(suneudokeo from sun = together + eudokeo = to think well) means literally "to think well together with," to approve along with another or to take pleasure with others, and thus to approve, assent to, consent to, be willing, to agree with, to sympathize with. Sunedokeo is in the present tense which describes the abiding condition of Saul's heart and not just a momentary excitement or thrill from the sight of seeing the blood of a believer. This continuous (present tense) feeling pictures Saul as what we today might call "bloodthirsty" for the destruction of the disciples of Christ! Saul's heart was marked by eagerness to resort to violence and bloodshed against believers! Suneudokeo is used at the end of Paul's indictment of the Gentiles for rejecting the knowledge God had given them " although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval (suneudokeo) to those who practice them." (Ro 1:32+) In short, the attitude of Saul's heart toward Stephen is no different than that of the hearts of the Gentiles he so detested! Suneudokeo is used in Lk 11:48+ of Jesus' scathing rebuke of the Jewish lawyers (Lk 11:46+) declaring "Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. “So you are witnesses (JUST AS WAS SAUL A WITNESS OF STEPHEN'S MURDER) and approve the deeds of your fathers (MURDER OF THE PROPHETS); because it was they who killed them (THE PROPHETS), and you build their tombs." (Lk 11:47, 48+). Saul was clearly cut out of the same cloth so to speak as these evil lawyers who were castigated by Jesus, the very One Who would soon deliver a similar diatribe to Saul! (cf Acts 9:4-5+). Suneudokeo - 6x in 6v - Lk. 11:48; Acts 8:1; Acts 22:20; Ro 1:32; 1 Co. 7:12; 1 Co. 7:13 Putting...to death (336)(anairesis from anaireo = to take up [Acts 7:21] from ana = up + airo = to raise or take up) literally means taking up and carrying away and as an action refers to the taking up of a life rather than simply death. The idea is "take away, make an end of, destroy." As in Shakspeare "The deep damnation of his taking off." Macbeth, i., 7. "Let her who would be rid of him, devise His speedy taking off." Lear, v., 1. And on that day - The day of Stephen's death. This is a day that would go down in infamy on one hand, but a day that would signify the beginning of the spread of the good news to the Gentiles. Indeed, our God causes the tragic end to one man's life, to become the seed that fell into the ground and bore "much fruit" (Jn 12:24). The "seed" of Stephen's body planted in the ground on that day, would result in an unstoppable sowing of the Gospel seed that has impacted even you (if you are a believer) and me, some 2000 years later. Here is the point. From a human perspective, one might look at the death of Stephen, truly a might man of God, as "premature" and as a horrible tragedy. But his death was not premature, for he fully accomplished the work the Father had planned for him to accomplish (cf Jn 4:34 and Jn 17:4). God's perspective of the value of one life is not the same as our perspective, for we seen only in time, while God sees in eternity. One is reminded of the "premature" death of another great man of God, Jim Elliot at the hands of the Acua Indians in South America. But from that "seed" that fell to the ground and died, much fruit has resulted over the subsequent decades (the chief of the tribe became a believer as did others, not to mention the impact Jim's radical life has had on many who have been motivated to take up Jesus Cross, to die daily and to follow Jesus to ends of the world, to every tribe and tongue and people and nation!) Be faithful where God has you planted beloved. He will take care of the fruit which endures for eternity! I am reminded of the words of Jonathan Edwards "O Lord stamp eternity on my eyeballs." (A bold prayer all of should frequently be willing to pray! See Redeem the Time and Vertical Vision) David Guzik - On Sunday, January 8, 1956, on the shores of a lonely river deep in the jungles of Ecuador, natives murdered five missionaries who came to tell about Jesus. To many, this death seemed like a senseless tragedy. Many could only see five young missionaries who had their careers cut short or the five widows and fatherless children. But God did an amazing work through those five men, even in their deaths, and the blessing still reverberates through people like Elisabeth Elliot—one of the five women whose husband was murdered. In the same way, Stephen’s death might seem sort of meaningless at first glance. His young ministry of power and eloquence was cut abruptly short. His ministry also seemed to end in failure—no one was immediately brought to faith, and all that came forth was more persecution against the church. But as always has been the case, the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church. STEPHEN'S DEATH OPENS THE FLOODGATES OF PERSECUTION! Tertullian speaking of Christian persecution wrote “Kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to dust; your injustice is proof that we are innocent...The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.” (Apologeticum) And indeed the blood of the martyr Stephen was the seed sown that bore much missionary fruit, even as promised by our Lord Jesus Christ “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (Jn 12:24) That "seed" of Stephen planted in the ground in Jerusalem is still bearing fruit to this very day! To most men Stephen's death seems premature, taking him in his prime, but to God, Stephen's death was sovereignly decreed before the foundation of the world, so that his demise might play a crucial role in the divine plan of redemption. Derek Thomas - There is a vital principle at work here, one that Luke was intent on ensuring we understand as he tells us the story of the church. In commenting on 1 Peter 1:11,