Acts chapter 7

vs 51

Uh oh. Now he's not just telling them the story - he's applying it to his audience. And he's doing it in OT language, too! Although his last accusation in this verse is not OT language at all! The Holy Spirit rarely gets mentioned.

vs 52

Wow, the language is so venomous! Here we learn about the death of the prophets (mostly at the hands of the religious leaders!) and of the Christ himself - which is a common enough theme with Peter, so it's not surprising that it's spread.

vs 53

Could you be any harsher? They resist the Holy Spirit, kill God's prophets, kill his holy promised one, and they don't even obey the Law!

vs 54

Ooh, grrr.

vs 55-56

It was one of the last things he'd ever see, so I guess God wanted to make it nice. I'm not really sure what the reason for the inclusion of these two verses is - I mean, is this what pushes the religious leaders over the edge - that he is claiming to see Jesus standing at the right hand of God? Or is it that he is claiming to see God, and they can't?

vs 57

So mature! The picture here is just so comic. If they weren't about to kill Stephen, I'd think it was some sort of highjinx.

vs 58

But they do kill Stephen. And it is here that we are first introduced to a man called Saul. The persecution of Christians by the Jews begins here in earnest, with the first killing.

vs 59-60

I don't know how literally to read this. Him comitting his spirit to God is perfectly reasonable. Him even crying out to God not to hold this sin against them is tragically noble, but believeable. But him falling asleep? I mean, perhaps he got beaned by a rock and knocked unconscious, and started snoring. Perhaps this is just a euphemistic way of talking about Christian death. I mean, he died. Oh, he so died. But did he fall asleep first? I've heard people give sermons taking this verse literally.