Verses 1-8: The God Who Calls and Covenants

¹ The high priest said, “Are these things so?” ² He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³ and said to him, ‘Get out of your land and away from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’ ⁴ Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living. ⁵ He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child. ⁶ God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. ⁷ ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out, and serve me in this place.’ ⁸ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

• God’s saving story begins with God’s initiative and self-revelation:

  Stephen starts with “The God of glory” appearing to Abraham, highlighting that faith is fundamentally a response to God’s first movement toward humanity. God’s call precedes Abraham’s journey, showing that divine grace and guidance initiate the covenant relationship, while Abraham’s going out displays real obedience within that grace.

• Promise trains God’s people to live by faith across time and delay:

  Abraham receives “no inheritance in it” yet receives a promise “when he still had no child,” teaching that God’s word can be trustworthy even when circumstances contradict immediate fulfillment. The chapter frames the life of faith as dependence on God’s promise through waiting, and endurance through hardship.

• Covenant signs belong to a lived covenant relationship:

  God “gave him the covenant of circumcision,” and Abraham acts upon it with Isaac. The sign is not presented as a bare external badge, but as part of God’s covenant dealings that shape a people’s identity and obligations across generations, anchored in God’s promise and human obedience.

Verses 9-16: Providence Through Betrayal and Deliverance

⁹ “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him, ¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house. ¹¹ Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. ¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. ¹³ On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s race was revealed to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. ¹⁵ Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers, ¹⁶ and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

• Human sin cannot cancel God’s faithful presence:

  Stephen is direct about the patriarchs’ “jealousy” and their selling Joseph, yet he immediately confesses, “God was with him.” The theology is sobering and hopeful: people can act wickedly and be truly responsible, and yet God can remain present and active to preserve life and advance his purposes without endorsing the evil.

• God’s deliverance often comes through suffering into service:

  Joseph’s afflictions are real, but God “delivered him out of all his afflictions” and placed him in a role of wisdom and governance. This holds together two truths: God’s people may pass through profound trials, and God can transform what was meant for harm into a means of provision for many.

• God’s plan embraces families and generations, not isolated individuals:

  The narrative emphasizes Jacob and “all his relatives, seventy-five souls,” showing that God’s covenant work gathers a people and carries them through history. Salvation is personal, but it also has corporate dimensions—God forms and sustains a community through whom he works in the world.

Verses 17-29: Oppression, Calling, and Misunderstood Deliverance

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸ until there arose a different king, who didn’t know Joseph. ¹⁹ The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive. ²⁰ At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father’s house. ²¹ When he was thrown out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son. ²² Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works. ²³ But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. ²⁴ Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. ²⁵ He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand. ²⁶ “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’ ²⁷ But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

• God keeps his promise even when history grows darker:

  The chapter notes that “as the time of the promise came close,” oppression intensifies. The nearness of fulfillment does not always mean ease; instead, Stephen shows that God’s sworn promise can be advancing precisely when circumstances seem most hostile, calling believers to hope rooted in God’s word rather than appearances.

• God raises deliverers within real human complexity:

  Moses is preserved through providential means and trained in Egypt’s wisdom, yet the story also includes his flawed action and the resulting flight. Stephen’s telling prevents simplistic hero narratives: God can prepare servants through unlikely circumstances, and God’s purposes are not halted by human limitation.

• Deliverance can be offered and still be misunderstood or resisted:

  Moses “supposed” his brothers would understand God’s deliverance “by his hand,” “but they didn’t understand.” Theological weight falls on the tragedy of missed recognition: God may truly be acting for salvation, and yet hearts can fail to perceive it, exposing the need for humility, repentance, and spiritual discernment.

• Peace within God’s people is a moral demand, not a secondary issue:

  Moses urges, “Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?” Stephen’s inclusion of this detail shows that internal injustice and strife are not minor problems; they are forms of resistance to God’s righteous ways, disrupting communal witness and harming the vulnerable.

Verses 30-38: Holy Ground, Commission, and Living Revelation

³⁰ “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him, ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled, and dared not look. ³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’ ³⁵ “This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷ This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’ ³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

• God’s holiness is real and demands reverence:

  “Take off your sandals” grounds theology in worship: God is not approached casually. Stephen’s speech insists that genuine religion includes awe before God’s holiness, and that God himself defines the terms of approach.

• God is compassionate and personally attentive to suffering:

  God says, “I have surely seen… have heard… I have come down to deliver them.” This reveals divine compassion that is neither distant nor indifferent. It also gives suffering believers a vocabulary for prayer: God sees, hears, and acts, even when deliverance requires time and obedience.

• God’s sending establishes true authority even when people reject it:

  The same Moses the people refused is the one “God has sent… as both a ruler and a deliverer.” Stephen highlights a recurring biblical pattern: God’s appointed instruments may be questioned or opposed, yet their authority ultimately rests on God’s call, not popular approval.

• Wonders and signs confirm God’s redeeming work in history:

  Stephen recounts “wonders and signs” across Egypt, the sea, and the wilderness, underscoring that redemption is not merely an idea but an enacted reality. God intervenes in history to save, and his acts call for trust and obedience from the community he rescues.

• God’s people live by ‘living revelations’ received and handed on:

  Moses “received living revelations to give to us,” placing weight on God’s communicated word. Stephen’s theology dignifies revelation as life-giving and binding, and it implies accountability: receiving God’s word is meant to lead to faithful keeping, not mere possession.

• Hope is oriented toward the promised ‘prophet… like me’:

  Moses’ saying about a coming prophet forms part of Stephen’s argument that Israel’s story points forward. In the broader sweep of Acts, Stephen’s witness culminates in Jesus’ exaltation; the history he tells is meant to prepare hearts to recognize God’s climactic messenger rather than repeat earlier rejections.

Verses 39-43: Idolatry, Hard Hearts, and Judicial Handing Over

³⁹ to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. ⁴² But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? ⁴³ You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

• Rebellion is not only outward but begins “in their hearts”:

  Stephen diagnoses disobedience as a heart-turning: they “turned back in their hearts to Egypt.” Theologically, sin is deeper than behavior; it is a disordered love that longs for former bondage, refuses God’s way, and reshapes worship around what feels controllable.

• Idolatry is the tragic exchange of God’s saving leadership for human-made substitutes:

  “Make us gods that will go before us” reveals the desire for visible, manageable religion. Stephen shows that idolatry is not merely ancient; it is a perennial temptation to rejoice “in the works of their hands” rather than in the living God who leads and speaks.

• God’s judgment can include letting people have what they persistently choose:

  “God turned, and gave them up” presents a sobering dimension of judgment: persistent resistance can lead to a judicial handing over. This does not excuse sin; it intensifies human responsibility while warning the church that ongoing refusal of God’s word hardens the heart and distorts worship.

• External sacrifices cannot replace faithful worship and obedience:

  The prophetic quotation challenges the idea that ritual alone secures God’s favor. Stephen’s argument presses for integrity: true worship involves obedience and exclusive devotion, not merely religious acts performed while the heart is given to other “figures… made to worship.”

Verses 44-50: Tabernacle, Temple, and the God Who Cannot Be Contained

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; ⁴⁵ which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David, ⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house. ⁴⁸ However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says, ⁴⁹ ‘heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord. ‘Or what is the place of my rest? ⁵⁰ Didn’t my hand make all these things?’

• God graciously gives patterns for worship, yet remains sovereign over them:

  The tabernacle is made “according to the pattern,” and the temple is built by Solomon; both have a legitimate place in salvation history. Yet Stephen guards against absolutizing sacred structures: God himself authorizes worship, but he is never reduced to what human hands construct.

• God’s presence is not confined to a location or controlled by religious institutions:

  “The Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands” does not despise worship spaces; it corrects the belief that God’s presence is captured by them. The prophet’s words—“heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool”—teach God’s transcendence and universal reign, calling the church to worship with humility and mission-mindedness wherever God sends.

• Creation theology confronts idolatry and religious pride:

  “Didn’t my hand make all these things?” asserts God as Creator, undermining every attempt to claim ownership over God or to leverage sacred objects as spiritual leverage. If God made all, then all stand accountable to him, and all worship must remain God-centered rather than place-centered or self-centered.

Verses 51-53: Covenant Accountability and Resisting the Spirit

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. ⁵² Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. ⁵³ You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!”

• The deepest covenant problem is an “uncircumcised” heart that resists God:

  Stephen shifts from history to direct indictment: “uncircumcised in heart and ears” names an inward deafness that outward covenant markers cannot remedy by themselves. This teaches that authentic belonging to God requires inner responsiveness—hearts and ears opened to God—rather than mere external proximity to holy things.

• Resisting the Holy Spirit is a real, grievous possibility with severe consequences:

  “You always resist the Holy Spirit!” underscores that divine grace is not to be presumed upon. God truly speaks and works by his Spirit, and persistent resistance can characterize a community, producing a tragic continuity “as your fathers did, so you do.”

• Rejecting God’s messengers culminates in rejecting the Righteous One:

  Stephen places the killing of prophets and the betrayal of “the Righteous One” on the same trajectory: a settled pattern of opposing God’s corrective word. Theologically, this warns believers that hostility to prophetic truth and repentance is not neutral; it can harden into opposition to God’s ultimate redemptive work.

• Greater privilege increases accountability before God:

  They “received the law… and didn’t keep it.” Stephen’s point is not that the law is bad, but that receiving divine gifts heightens responsibility. Scripture, tradition, and sacraments are blessings, yet they also summon obedience, humility, and repentance rather than self-justification.

Verses 54-60: Martyr Witness, Exalted Christ, and Forgiving Prayer

⁵⁴ Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. ⁵⁵ But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, ⁵⁶ and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” ⁵⁷ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, then rushed at him with one accord. ⁵⁸ They threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

• Conviction can lead to repentance or to violent hardening:

  They were “cut to the heart,” yet instead of yielding, they “gnashed” and then escalated to silencing violence. Stephen’s account warns that exposure to truth demands a response: conviction may become humble turning to God, or it may become hardened resistance that intensifies sin.

• Jesus is exalted, living, and authoritative at God’s right hand:

  Stephen sees “the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,” and identifies him as “the Son of Man.” The theology is explicitly Christ-centered: Jesus shares in divine authority and heavenly honor, validating Stephen’s witness and grounding Christian confidence that the crucified and risen Lord reigns.

• The Spirit sustains faithful witness under persecution:

  Stephen is “full of the Holy Spirit,” and that fullness produces steadfast vision and courageous confession. This teaches that Christian perseverance is not self-generated bravery; it is empowered by God’s Spirit, who strengthens believers to speak truth with hope even when the cost is severe.

• Dying faith entrusts the self to Christ and extends mercy to enemies:

  Stephen prays, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” and, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” Theologically, his prayers model worship directed to Jesus, confidence in life beyond death, and a forgiveness that mirrors God’s own mercy—showing the church that holiness is proven not only in doctrine but also in cruciform love.

• Persecution cannot stop God’s unfolding plan, even through unexpected instruments:

  The mention of “a young man named Saul” places Stephen’s death within a wider providential story still unfolding in Acts. Even when the righteous suffer unjustly, God remains at work in history, and the church is called to trust his reign while remaining faithful in witness.

Conclusion: Acts 7 presents a sweeping theology of God’s faithful initiative, covenant promises, providential deliverance, and the persistent human tendency to resist God’s word and Spirit. Stephen’s speech confronts empty religiosity and misplaced confidence in sacred places while exalting the Most High who made all things and the risen Jesus who stands at God’s right hand. The chapter ends with a martyr’s Spirit-filled vision and forgiving prayer, calling the church to reverent worship, responsive hearts, courageous witness, and mercy shaped by Christ.