Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
One of the seven deacons, who became a preacher of the gospel. He was the first Christian martyr. His personal character and history are recorded in Acts 6. “He fell asleep” with a prayer for his persecutors on his lips (7:60). Devout men carried him to his grave (8:2). It was at the feet of the young Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, that those who stoned him laid their clothes (comp. Deut. 17:5-7) before they began their cruel work. The scene which
Saul then witnessed and the words he heard appear to have made a deep and lasting impression on his mind (Acts 22:19, 20). The speech of Stephen before the Jewish ruler is the first apology for the universalism of the gospel as a message to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. It is the longest speech contained in the Acts, a place of prominence being given to it as a defence.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
the first Christian martyr, was the chief of the seven (commonly called Deacons) appointed to rectify the complaints in the early Church of Jerusalem, made by the Hellenistic against the hebrew Christians. His Greek name indicates his own Hellenistic origin. His importance is stamped on the narrative by a reiteration of emphatic, almost superlative, phrases: “full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” (Acts 6:5) “full of grace and power,”
ibid. (Acts 6:8) irresistible “spirit and wisdom,” ibid (Acts 6:10) “full of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 7:55) He shot far ahead of his six companions, and far above his particular office. First, he arrests attention by the “great wonders and miracles that he did.” Then begins a series of disputations with the Hellenistic Jews of north Africa, Alexandria and Asia Minor, his companions in race and birthplace. The subject of these
disputations is not expressly mentioned; but from what follows it is obvious that he struck into a new vein of teaching, which evidently caused his martyrdom. Down to this time the apostles and the early Christian community had clung in their worship, not merely to the holy land and the holy city but to the holy place of the temple. This local worship, with the Jewish customs belonging to it, Stephen denounced. So we must infer from the
accusations brought against him confirmed as they are by the tenor of his defence. He was arrested at the instigation of the Hellenistic Jews, and brought before the Sanhedrin. His speech in his defence, and his execution by stoning outside the gates of Jerusalem, are related at length in Acts 7. The frame work in which his defence is cast is a summary of the history of the Jewish Church. In the facts which he selects from his history he is
guided by two principles. The first is the endeavor to prove that, even in the previous Jewish history, the presence and favor of God had not been confined to the holy land or the temple of Jerusalem. The second principle of selection is based on the at tempt to show that there was a tendency from the earliest times toward the same ungrateful and narrow spirit that had appeared in this last stage of their political existence. It would seem that,
just at the close of his argument, Stephen saw a change in the aspect of his judges, as if for the first time they had caught the drift of his meaning. He broke off from his calm address, and tumult suddenly upon them in an impassioned attack, which shows that he saw what was in store for him. As he spoke they showed by their faces that their hearts “were being sawn asunder,” and they kept gnashing their set teeth against him; but still,
though with difficultly, restraining themselves. He, in this last crisis of his fate, turned his face upward to the; open sky, and as he gazed the vault of heaven seemed to him to part asunder; and the divine Glory appeared through the rending of the earthly veil—the divine Presence, seated on a throne, and on the right hand the human form of Jesus. Stephen spoke as if to himself, describing the glorious vision; and in so doing, alone of all
the speakers and writers in the New Testament except, only Christ himself, uses the expressive phrase “the Son of man.” As his judges heard the words, they would listen no longer. They broke into, a loud yell; they clapped their hands to their ears; they flew as with one impulse upon him, and dragged him out of the city to the place of execution. Those who took the lead in the execution were the persons wile had taken upon themselves the
responsibility of denouncing him. (17:7) comp. John 8:7 In this instance they were the witnesses who had reported or misreported the words of Stephen. They, according to the custom, stripped themselves; and one, of the prominent leaders in the transaction was deputed by custom to signify his assent to the act by taking the clothes into his custody and standing over them while the bloody work went on. The person was officiated on this occasion was
a young man from Tarsus, the future apostle of the Gentiles. [Paul] As the first volley of stones burst upon him, Stephen called upon the Master whose human form he had just seen in the heavens, and repeated almost the words with which he himself had given up his life on the cross, “O Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” Another crash of stones brought him on his knees. One loud, piercing cry, answering to the shriek or yell with which his enemies
had flown upon him, escaped his dying lips. Again clinging to the spirit of his Master’s words, he cried “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” and instantly sank upon the ground, and, in the touching language of the narrator who then uses for the first time the words afterward applied to the departure of all Christians, but here the more remarkable from the bloody scenes in the midst of which death took place, fell asleep . His mangled
body was buried by the class of Hellenists and proselytes to which he belonged. The importance of Stephen’s career may be briefl
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
STE'PHEN (crown), usually known as the first martyr, was one of the seven men of honest report who were elected, at the suggestion of the twelve apostles, to relieve them of a particular class of their labors. Acts 6:5. He was a forerunner of the apostle Paul. He is described as a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. Acts 6:8, 1 Kgs 16:10. He argued for the new faith with convincing power. It was to stop lips so eloquent that he was arrested
and placed before the "council," the Sanhedrin. But as he realized his position the prospect of testifying in that assemblage of the chief of his people to the love and work of Jesus so wrought upon him that his spirit rose within him, and his face had such beauty and purity, such thoughtfulness and manliness, that he awed his judges, for on him, their victim, they beheld the angel-face. His defence was a calm historical proof of the two points:
1. God had not limited his favor to the Holy Land or to the temple; 2. The Jews had always opposed to this free spirit of their God a narrow, bigoted spirit. How long he would have spoken none can say, but the manner in which these quiet and truthful words were received caused him to break off" abruptly into fierce invective and reproach; but so direct was its appeal to the consciences of the populace that they were excited to madness, Acts 7:54,
and fell upon Stephen like wild beasts, shouting and stopping their ears; and after they had forced him beyond the walls of the city, they stoned him to death, Saul being present and conspicuous in this tumultuous transaction. The last breath of the martyr was spent, like that of his divine Master, in prayer for the forgiveness of his murderers. It is worthy of remark that this prayer of Stephen is directed to the Lord Jesus, or rather it seems
to be a continuation of the prayer respecting himself which was addressed immediately to Christ, as the word "God" in v. 59 of our translation is an interpolation. The date of Stephen's martyrdom was about a.d. 37. His blood was the seed of the Church, and was soon followed by the conversion of his bitterest persecutor.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
same as Stephanas