ONE OF THE SEVEN (ACTS 6:5) · CALLED IN ACTS 6

Stephen. “Full of faith and of the Holy Ghost”; stoned outside Jerusalem, praying for those who stoned him.

ALSO CALLED

No other name

FROM

Scripture does not say

TRADE

Scripture does not say

FAMILY

Scripture names no family, home town or trade for Stephen.

WRITINGS

None

BACKGROUND

Home, trade and family

FAMILY

  • From the textScripture names no family, home town or trade for Stephen. Acts 6:5

THE CALLING

The calling

“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 (KJV) →

WHERE HE WENT

Acts and after

  • Jerusalem · Chosen, tried before the council, and stoned “out of the city”. Acts 6:7 Acts 6:12 +1 more
  • Cyrene · Home of one of the synagogue groups that disputed with him. Acts 6:9
  • Alexandria · Home of one of the synagogue groups that disputed with him. Acts 6:9
  • Cilicia · Home of one of the synagogue groups that disputed with him (Saul was of Tarsus in Cilicia, Acts 22:3). Acts 6:9 Acts 22:3
  • Phoenicia · Reached by those scattered “upon the persecution that arose about Stephen”. Acts 11:19
  • Cyprus · Reached by those scattered after his death. Acts 11:19
  • Antioch · Reached by those scattered after his death; there some began to preach to the Grecians. Acts 11:19–20
  • Caphar Gamala (his tomb, in tradition) · tradition · no map pin · Where, Souvay reports, the priest Lucian said in 415 the body had been revealed to him; not in the atlas.

IN ACTS AND THE LETTERS

  • “Full of faith and power”, he “did great wonders and miracles among the people”. Acts 6:8
  • Men of the synagogue of the Libertines, and of Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those of Cilicia and Asia disputed with him and “were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake”. Acts 6:9–10
  • They brought him before the council with false witnesses, who said he spoke against “this holy place, and the law”, and that Jesus would destroy the place and change the customs of Moses. The council “saw his face as it had been the face of an angel”. Acts 6:11–15
  • Asked by the high priest “Are these things so?”, he told Israel's story from Abraham through Joseph and Moses, “whom they refused”, to the tabernacle and Solomon's house; said “the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands”; and charged his hearers: “as your fathers did, so do ye”, calling them “the betrayers and murderers” of “the Just One”, who had received the law “and have not kept it”. Acts 7:1–53
  • “Full of the Holy Ghost”, he looked up and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55–56
  • They cast him out of the city and stoned him; the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul, who “was consenting unto his death”. Acts 7:57–8:1
  • A great persecution followed; all but the apostles were scattered through Judaea and Samaria, and some went as far as Phenice, Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word. Acts 8:1 Acts 8:4 Acts 11:19
  • Years later Paul told the crowd in Jerusalem: “when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by”. Acts 22:20
  • From the textStephen gives “threescore and fifteen souls” for Jacob's family going down to Egypt (Acts 7:14); Genesis 46:27 and Exodus 1:5 give seventy. The Greek Septuagint, in the site's text, reads seventy-five in both places. He also says the patriarchs were laid at Sychem in a tomb “that Abraham bought” (Acts 7:16); Genesis has Abraham buying the cave of Machpelah and Jacob buying the ground at Shechem. Acts 7:14 Genesis 46:27 Exodus 1:5 Acts 7:16 Genesis 23:16–20 Genesis 33:19 +1 more

COMPANIONS

Who was with him

Each line joins him to someone Scripture places beside him.

  • Philip the evangelist Chosen with him as one of the Seven. Acts 6:5
  • Prochorus One of the Seven. Acts 6:5
  • Nicanor One of the Seven. Acts 6:5
  • Timon One of the Seven. Acts 6:5
  • Parmenas One of the Seven. Acts 6:5
  • Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch One of the Seven. Acts 6:5
  • Saul (Paul) Kept the clothes of those who stoned him and consented to his death; later called him “thy martyr Stephen”. Acts 7:58–8:1 Acts 22:20

HOW THE STORY ENDS

Scripture says, tradition says

SCRIPTURE SAYS

  • Stoned outside the city, he prayed “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”, knelt and cried “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Acts 7:58–60
  • “Devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.” Acts 8:2
  • From the textHis is the first killing of a disciple for his witness that Acts records, and the only death of anyone on these six pages that Scripture tells. Acts 7:59–60

TRADITION SAYS

  • Irenaeus calls him the one “who, of all men, was the first to follow the footsteps of the martyrdom of the Lord, being the first that was slain for confessing Christ”.[7] Who says so: Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.12.10, about AD 180
  • In 415 a priest named Lucian said he had learned by revelation that the body lay at Caphar Gamala, north of Jerusalem; the relics were moved to the church on Mount Sion.[17] Who says so: Lucian's account, as reported by Souvay (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912), AD 415
  • In 460 the relics went to a basilica built by the empress Eudocia outside the Damascus Gate, where tradition placed the stoning; the idea that he died east of the city, by the gate now called St. Stephen's, Souvay says, “is unheard of until the twelfth century”.[17] Who says so: Reported by Souvay (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912), AD 460; the eastern site from the 12th century

OPEN QUESTIONS

Where readers have differed

Yes: the first deacons

Irenaeus (about AD 180), the first known to say so; Cyprian; “almost all scholars” in McGiffert's day, Lightfoot among them; Easton (1897); Souvay (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912)

Irenaeus calls Stephen the one “who was chosen the first deacon by the apostles”. Acts uses the related words for their “daily ministration” and to “serve tables”. Acts 6:1–2 [7][2][15][17]

No: an office for this one task

John Chrysostom (Homily 14 on Acts, about AD 400); in modern times Vitringa and Stanley, as reported by McGiffert

Chrysostom asks whether theirs was the rank of deacons, and answers that “neither Deacons nor Presbyters is their designation: but it was for this particular purpose that they were ordained.” Acts 6:3 [12][2]

No: the first of the Jerusalem “elders”

Böhmer, Ritschl, Lange and Lechler, as reported by McGiffert; A. C. McGiffert (1890)

Luke never calls the Seven deacons; the apostles' own work is called a “ministry” in the same passage; and when the elders first appear they receive the relief sent from Antioch, the kind of task the Seven were chosen for. Acts 6:4 Acts 11:29–30 [2]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 5

Acts 6 Acts 7 Acts 8 Acts 11 Acts 22

PASSAGES · 5

Acts 6:1–15 Acts 7:1–60 Acts 8:1–4 Acts 11:19–20 Acts 22:19–20

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Scripture does not say where Stephen came from, how he came to believe, or whether he was a Greek-speaking Jew.
  • Acts does not call the Seven “deacons”; it says they were chosen to serve at the daily ministration.
  • Acts does not say whether the council passed sentence before the stoning, or where he was buried.

IDENTIFICATIONS THIS PAGE RELIES ON

  • From the textHe is first named when the Seven are chosen (Acts 6:5) and appears only in Acts; the person page and this page are the same man. Acts 6:5
  • Early church · Eusebius (trans. A. C. McGiffert, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1), 1890Eusebius (about AD 325) notes that he was the first “to receive the crown, corresponding to his name”: Stephanos is Greek for a crown.[1][2]
  • Scholars' viewWhether he was a Greek-speaking Jew is not said. Souvay (1912) writes that his Greek name “suggests he was a Hellenist”; Press (ISBE, 1915) that his name and place in the church “seem to imply” it. Acts 6:1 Acts 6:5 [17][24]
  • Later tradition · Charles Souvay, 1912A tradition of the 5th century, reported by Souvay, makes Stephanos the Greek for an Aramaic name, Kelil (“crown”), which “may be” his original name and was cut on a slab found in his tomb.[17]
  • Later tradition · Charles Souvay, 1912Later lists make him one of the Seventy (Luke 10:1): Epiphanius in the 4th century, and the list “On the Seventy Apostles” printed among the doubtful works of Hippolytus, which calls him “the first martyr”. Souvay doubts whether Epiphanius is “deserving of any credence”.[17][11]

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • Eusebius (trans. A. C. McGiffert, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1), Church History (1890), 1.12.1-4; 2.1.1-5, 10-13; 2.15-16; 2.23; 2.24; 3.11; 3.19-20; 3.25.4; 3.31.2-5; 3.32.1-6; 3.37.1; 3.39.9, 15; 4.22.4; 5.8.3; 6.14.6-7; 6.25.5; 6.36.2; 7.19; 7.25.15.
  • A. C. McGiffert, Notes to Eusebius, Church History (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1) (1890), book 1 ch. 12 notes 201, 212; book 2 ch. 1 notes 235, 239, 241, 244, 246; ch. 15 notes 389-391; ch. 16 note 394; ch. 23 notes 493, 500, 516, 522, 523; book 3 ch. 20 notes 720, 724; ch. 25 note 798; ch. 31 notes 858, 866, 868; book 6 ch. 36 note 2046.
  • Jerome (trans. E. C. Richardson, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 3), Lives of Illustrious Men (1892), chapters 2 (James, with Richardson's note 2343), 4 (Jude), 5 (on Hebrews), 6 (Barnabas, with note 2364), 8 (Mark).
  • Jerome (trans. W. H. Fremantle, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 6), Against Helvidius; Letter 108 (to Eustochium) (1893), Against Helvidius 15 and 19 (the tract dated about AD 383 by the editor); Letter 108, section 8 (dated AD 404 by the editor).
  • Origen (trans. John Patrick, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9, ed. Allan Menzies), Commentary on Matthew (1896), book 10, section 17, The Brethren of Jesus; ANF vol. 9 first published Buffalo, 1896; checked against the 1903 Scribner reprint (archive.org scan antenicenefather0009unse_s0x0).
  • Alexander Walker (trans.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8, Apocrypha of the New Testament: introduction; Protevangelium of James, chapter 9; The Journeyings and Martyrdom of St. Barnabas the Apostle (1886).
  • Irenaeus (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1), Against Heresies (1885), 3.1.1 (also in Eusebius 5.8.3); 3.12.10.
  • A. Cleveland Coxe (ed.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, Introductory Note to the Epistle of Barnabas (1885).
  • Clement of Alexandria (trans. William Wilson, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2), Stromata (1885), book 2, chapters 6 and 20; book 5, chapter 10.
  • Tertullian (trans. S. Thelwall, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4), On Modesty (1885), chapter 20; the editor's note 701 dates the work 'not earlier than a.d. 208'.
  • Hippolytus (trans. J. H. MacMahon and S. D. F. Salmond, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5), The Refutation of All Heresies; and, among the dubious pieces, On the Seventy Apostles (1886), Refutation book 7, chapter 18 in the ANF numbering, with note 873; On the Seventy Apostles, nos. 1, 6-7, 13-14, 24, 56, 65, with note 2027 ('Probably spurious, but yet antique').
  • John Chrysostom (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 11), Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles (1889), Homily 14, on Acts 6 (preached AD 400, by the editor's preface).
  • J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, 10th edition (1890), note on 1:19, p. 84; 'The Name and Office of an Apostle', pp. 95-96; dissertation 'The Brethren of the Lord', pp. 252-291.
  • Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol. 6 (Acts to Revelation) (1706-1721), on Acts 7:14-16; 13:13; 15:38.
  • M. G. Easton, Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), entries Barnabas; Jude; Mark; Philip (2); Stephen.
  • William Smith, Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884), entry Mark.
  • Charles Souvay, St. Stephen (The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14) (1912).
  • John Francis Fenlon, St. Barnabas (The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 2) (1907).
  • Joseph MacRory, St. Mark (The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 9) (1910).
  • S. F. Hunter, Philip, the Evangelist (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) (1915), vol. 4, p. 2369; checked against the printed 1915 edition (archive.org scan internationalst00orrgoog).
  • J. H. Farmer, Mark, John (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) (1915), vol. 3, p. 1987; checked against the printed 1915 edition (archive.org scan bibleencyclopedi03orruoft), which reads “815 AD”.
  • H. E. Jacobs, Barnabas (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) (1915), vol. 1, pp. 405-406; checked against the printed 1915 edition (archive.org scan bibleencyclopaed01unknuoft).
  • H. E. Jacobs, Brethren of the Lord (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) (1915), vol. 1, pp. 518-519; checked against the printed 1915 edition (archive.org scan bibleencyclopaed01unknuoft).
  • S. D. Press, Stephen (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) (1915), vol. 5, p. 2851; checked against the printed 1915 edition (archive.org scan bibleencyclopedi05orruoft), which prints “c 36 or 37 AD”.
  • A. T. Robertson, Paul, the Apostle (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) (1915), part 3, III. Chronology of Paul's Career, (1) The Death of Stephen; vol. 4, p. 2271; checked against the printed 1915 edition (archive.org scan internationalst00orrgoog).
  • Jacobus de Voragine (Caxton's English of 1483, ed. F. S. Ellis), The Golden Legend, vol. 6: The Lives of SS. Simon and Jude (1900).
  • C. M. Kerr, Philip (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) (1915), vol. 4, p. 2368, the apostle's later life; read in the printed 1915 edition (archive.org scan).

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