Atos 7

Atos 7

Meyer - Our Daily Homily - Being full of the Holy Ghost. The blessed characteristic of Stephen lay in has being perpetually full of the Holy Ghost. It is said of others, even Peter, that they were filled, as though they needed some special and over-mastering inducement for special service. But Stephen is more than once described as full (Acts 6:5), as though he were always kept brimming, like a lake from the hills. Those who are full of the Holy Spirit are always Looking steadfastly upwards. — They look not at the things which are seen, but at those which are not seen. Across the valleys, they catch sight of the Delectable Mountains, rising like the Himalaya above the plains of India. Whilst others look around for help, they lift up their eyes to the hills whence cometh their help; and to them heaven stands always open. Those who are full of the Holy Spirit see and are transfigured by the glory of God. — What wonder that those who sat in the Council beheld Stephen’s face, as it had been the face of an angel. The light that shone there was not as when Jesus was transfiguredin that case, the light of the Shechinah broke out from within — but here the glory of God shone from the open door of Heaven. So the sunrise smites the highest peaks. Those who are full of the Holy Ghost see the Lord Jesus, in his glory, as their Priest. — It is the special work of the Holy Spirit to direct the gaze to Jesus. Those who are full of the Spirit may hardly be aware of his gracious presence, but they are keenly alive to their Lord’s. The Spirit takes of the things of Jesus, and reveals them to the loving and obedient; specially those that concern his priestly work on the cross and in heaven. Mormons Answered Verse by Verse - Acts 7:55, 56 Some Mormons may use this verse to attack the doctrine of the Trinity as well as try to prove that God the Father has a body like our own. Their argument against the Trinity goes like this: Since Stephen saw two distinct personages, one standing next to the other, the Father and the Son must be two different Gods and not one divine person as trinitarians believe. The flaw in this argument is, of course, that it attacks a “straw man” Trinity rather than the concept of deity actually adhered to by orthodox Christianity. The traditional church teaching is that the Father is not the Son, and that the Son is not the Holy Spirit, yet these three distinct persons share the same divine nature and make up the one true God. But the rank-and-file Mormon has not had enough direct exposure to Christian theology to know this. When Mormons assert that trinitarians believe God to be a single person, they are misstating the Trinity doctrine. So when they proceed to disprove this concept by showing the Son to be distinct from the Father, they are actually knocking down a straw man that they themselves have set up-an effective debating technique, but not a sound refutation of Christian belief. As to their second use of Acts 7:55, 56, namely to try to prove that God the Father has a body resembling ours, it should be remembered that “No man hath seen God at any time” (John 1:18). What Stephen saw must have been a vision. And a vision does not necessarily portray someone in an actual physical appearance. This can be seen from the description of Jesus Christ in a vision the apostle John saw: “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace … and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength” (Rev. 1:14–16). Just as John’s vision does not necessarily describe what Jesus actually looks like, Stephen’s vision in Acts, chapter 7, does not necessarily portray God the Father as he actually is. (David Reed, John Farkas Mormons Answered Verse by Verse) G Campbell