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e.g. certain
e.g. Peter
(Halachists),
(Hagadists),
from James
(Acts 11:3)
(Acts 9:29).
e.g. Paul.
(Gal. 2:12).
Whatever real grounds there may have been for this murmuring, the apostles met it at once and mediated
between the two sections, for the welfare of the church. Summoning the multitudes, they said:
`It is not reason (arestos, fit, proper, or pleasing) that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables' (Acts
6:2).
Whenever the financial affairs of the church are in view, we shall discover a great reluctance on the part of the
apostles to give even the appearance of using their authority to turn the scale either one way or the other.
`Look ye out from among you seven men of honest report, full of the holy ghost and wisdom, whom we may
appoint over this business' (Acts 6:3).
The apostle Paul acted in the same spirit in connection with the `collection for the saints':
`When I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto
Jerusalem' (1 Cor. 16:3).
When we examine the qualifications deemed necessary for this new work, we are surprised and enlightened as
we observe that `honest report', comes before `full of the holy ghost and wisdom'. While `the holy ghost and
wisdom' indicate spiritual gifts, an `honest report' has to do with manner of life and contact with others; and even to
this day where financial matters are concerned, no amount of `spirituality' will justify the appointment of one who
has not `a good report of them which are without' (1 Tim. 3:7).
Seven men are chosen, of whom Stephen stands out prominently both at the beginning and in his subsequent
witness.
`And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the holy ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and
Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch' (Acts 6:5).
While every one of these men has a Greek name, it does not follow that they were all Hellenists. This would
have been a cause of murmuring from the Hebrews. Nevertheless, the presumption is that most of them were
Hellenists, and they would have had an influence in the right direction as the gospel spread in ever wider circles.
We know nothing of the subsequent ministry of these men except that of Stephen and Philip. It is Stephen that
holds the attention from now on to the end of chapter 7.
`And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people' (Acts 6:8).
The administration of the fund to assist the widows of the church did not monopolize the time of these men, and
both Stephen and Philip engage in most definite public witness. In the course of his duties, Stephen would often be
called upon to explain or defend the faith, and as the synagogue was at that time the home of the infant church, we
can well understand the violent character of some of these gatherings.
`Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and
Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen' (Acts 6:9).
The number of synagogues in Jerusalem at this time was proverbial. The Talmud says that there were 480, and
although these figures are to be received only after making a very great discount, the fact remains that Jews out of
nearly every nation would find their own meeting-place represented in Jerusalem. It is impossible, from the wording
of the text alone, to decide whether Stephen disputed in one synagogue only, that of the Freed Men of many nations;
or in three synagogues, those of the Freed Men, and of the African and Asiatic Hellenists; or even in two
synagogues, which would include the Hellenites of Cyrene and Alexandria, and the Hellenists of Cilicia and Asia.
However this may be, our interest is focussed upon one synagogue - that of Cilicia, for here the young man Saul of
Tarsus, a native of Cilicia, would naturally have worshipped, and here he doubtless took part in those disputes that
so often ended with the overthrowing of Pharisaic pride and tradition: