Acts 6:1
Outline:
I. \\#Acts 1:1-8:4\\ God’s Work in Jerusalem
A. \\#1:1-3\\ The Introduction
B. \\#1:4-26\\ Jesus’ Departure
1. \\#1:4-8\\ The Command
2. \\#1:9-11\\ The Ascension and Promised Return
3. \\#1:12-26\\ The Wait for the Holy Ghost
C. \\#2:1-8:4\\ The Holy Ghost’s Coming
1. \\#Acts 1:1-4\\ The Holy Spirit Comes
2. \\#Acts 2:5-8:4\\ The Power of the Holy Spirit
a. \\#Acts 2:5-13\\ The Power of Languages
b. \\#Acts 2:1-36\\ The Power of Preaching
c. \\#Acts 2:37-41, 47\\ The Power of Salvation
d. \\#Acts 2:42-47\\ The Power of Fellowship
e. \\#Acts 2:44-45\\ The Power of Giving
f. \\#Acts 3:1-11\\ The Power of Healing (miracles) and
more preaching \\#Acts 3:12-26\\
g. \\#Acts 4:1-31\\ The Power of Suffering
h. \\#Acts 4:32-5:42\\ The Power of Chastening
(1) \\#Acts 4:32-37\\ The Continuous Demonstrations
of the Holy Ghost (fellowship, preaching,
giving)
(2) \\#Acts 5:1-11\\ The Holy Ghost Chastens
(3) \\#Acts 5:12-42\\ The Continuous Demonstration of
the Holy Ghost (healing, salvation, suffering)
i. \\#Acts 6:1-7:50\\ The Power of Leadership (salvation,
preaching, persecution)
(1) \\#Acts 6:1-6\\ The Power of Leadership
(2) \\#Acts 6:7\\ The Power of Salvation
(3) \\#Acts 6:8-7:50\\ The Power of Preaching and
Persecution
(a) \\#Acts 6:8-15\\ The Situation
(b) \\#Acts 7:1-53\\ The Preaching
(c) \\#Acts 7:54-60\\ The Persecution
II. \\#Acts 8:5-12:24\\ God’s Work in Judea and Samaria
III. \\#Acts 13:1-28:31\\ God’s Work in Uttermost Parts of the World
I. \\#Acts 6:1-7:50\\ The Power of Leadership (salvation,
persecution)
A. \\#Acts 6:1-6\\ The Power of Leadership
1. \\#1\\ A Problem Arose
a. "the number of the disciples was multiplied" - The
disciples would be those who are learning and serving.
Not only were people getting saved, but they wanted
to learn and be trained in serving Jesus.
b. "the daily ministration" - The Lord had lead the
Apostles to start a ministry to help those who were
lacking. It appears the church was helping to
provide food for the widows who needed help.
c. "Grecians against the Hebrews" - These Grecians are
most likely not non-Jews who were Greek but Jewish
Christians who had been born outside the nation of
Israel. Gentiles were not accepted into the church
until some years later.
2. \\#2\\ The Apostles Were Getting Distracted
a. It seemed reasonable to the Apostles that their main
ministry was in handling the Word of God.
b. They needed some men who could take charge of the
serving that the church was doing. Someone who could
take care of problems like the one just described.
c. \\#3\\ "we may appoint over this business" - The
Apostles were not calling for workers but leaders.
The many disciples mentioned in \\#1\\ could help do
the work but they were not grown in grace enough to
deal with the problems.
3. \\#3-4\\ The Apostles Recommendation - Find seven men who
could be leaders in the church. The Apostles, under the
Holy Ghost, were setting a standard for the church. The
church could create both ministries and offices of
leadership as needed.
a. However, the leaders needed to meet the most basic of
requirements:
(1) They had to be "of honest report."
(2) They had to be filled with "the Holy Ghost."
(3) They had to be "wise."
b. Although the word "deacon" is not used in this text,
this is the birth of that office.
c. The office of a deacon is to be that of a servant with
authority. Sadly in many churches, the part about
serving has been lost and only the part of having
authority remains.
4. \\#5\\ The men chosen are named.
a. Steven will be mentioned in Acts 6-7. He will become
the first martyr for Jesus.
b. Philip will mentioned be mentioned in Acts 8 and Acts
21.
c. I do not know of any passage which mentions the
others; however, Nicholas was a proselyte from
Antioch, supposing that to be Antioch of Syria, where
the Gentile church will eventually headquarter.
5. \\#6\\ "they laid their hands on them" - This is the first
record of the laying on of hands. As far as we know,
this act did not grant any special abilities to the new
deacons for they were already filled with the Holy Ghost.
It appears as those the first time this act was done, it
was symbolic.
B. \\#Acts 6:7\\ The Power of Salvation
1. "The word of God increased" - Meaning that more people
understood what God’s Word, in large part the Old
Testament, said about the Messiah.
2. "the disciples multiplied" - People were getting saved
and immediately serving and studying.
3. "a great company of the priests were obedient to the
faith." - Of those being saved, many of them were
Levites.
C. \\#Acts 6:8-7:50\\ The Power of Preaching and Persecution
1. \\#Acts 6:8-15\\ The Situation
a. \\#Acts 6:8\\ Stephen, full of faith and power"
(1) Having mentioned Stephen’s appointment, the
writer describes Stephen’s short but powerful
ministry.
(2) Being filled with the Holy Ghost, Stephen had
faith, power, and did great and mighty miracles.
We would suppose that means he was healing
people.
b. \\#9\\ "There arose certain of the synagogue" -
Stephen was likely healing and preaching in the
temple when worshippers from several synagogues
joined together to listen to him. Several
commentaries make reference to there being as many as
480 different synagogues in Jerusalem at that time.
It is likely that they had pre-arranged this meeting.
(1) Libertines - The word means "freedman" and likely
consisted on Jews who were either born free or
had earned their freedom under Rome.
(2) Cyrenians - Natives of the city Cyrene in Libya
on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
(3) Alexandrians - There were several cities named
after Alexander but this is likely the
Alexandria of Egypt and the Jews who belonged to
this synagogue likely had some history with that
city.
(4) "them of Cilicia" - A city in Asia Minor not far
from the Mediterranean Sea coast. Some say that
Tarsus, Paul’s city, was joined to this region
and that Paul would have been apart of this
synagogue.
(John Gills Expositor; Electronic commentary from Online Bible
Edition 4.30, on Acts 6:9).
c. "disputing with Stephen" - Apparently these Jewish
worshippers took the position that Jesus was not the
Messiah, but their reasoning to prove such a point
was lacking \\#10\\, so they hired men to lie against
Stephen, calling him a blasphemer \\#11\\.
(1) The persecution had stepped up another notch.
(2) It had gone from threatening \\#Acts 4:17\\, to
beating \\#Acts 5:40\\, now to hiring liars to
accuse the Christians of blasphemy which had a
penalty of death.
d. \\#12\\ Those from the above synagogues brought
charges which required a council of the Jewish
religious leaders to convene. The charges in summary
were:
(1) \\#13\\ Some claimed to have heard Stephen
blaspheme the holy place (the temple).
(2) Some claimed to have heard him blaspheme the Law.
(3) \\#14\\ Some claimed that Stephen had said Jesus
would destroy "this place" (the temple).
(4) And some claimed that Stephen had said Jesus
would change "the customs which Moses delivered
us," some of their Old Testament practices based
on the Law.
(NOTE: One could not help but to notice that religious tolerance did
not begin with Judaism. Christianity gave the world religious
freedom.)
e. Several of the charges deal with the temple. Perhaps
that is the reason the last part of Stephen’s
message speaks of the temple \\#Acts 7:44-50\\.
f. This is very much the same way the religious had
railroaded Jesus except they had to take Jesus at
night when there were not enough people around to get
a "good stoning." If the numbers were too few, the
Romans might find those who had stoned a person and
bring them to justice. So when the dawn broke, the
religious leaders took Jesus to the Roman for
execution.
g. \\#15\\ After the council had heard the charges, they
allowed Stephen to speak in defense of himself.
h. "his face as it had been the face of an angel"
(1) I take it that Stephen’s face shown with the
glory of God.
(2) The fact that God’s presence was among the
council to give Stephen this radiance means that
God could have worked to set Stephen free had
He desired. Sometimes it is just God’s will to
suffer and to die.
<Outline
Index> <Close Window>
