Acts 6:8-15

The preaching, miracles, and arrest of Stephen.

The reason why the preaching of Stephen gave so much greater offence than that of the Twelve probably was that he saw that the coming of Christ virtually abrogated the Ceremonial Law, and that its abandonment was only a question of time. He thus anticipated St. Paul, perhaps even went beyond him at least in theory (see on Acts 6:14). But as his speech gives no clear indications of such views, not even in Acts 7:48 some suppose that he attacked the authority, not of the Law of Moses itself, but only of those traditional additions to it which the scribes held to be of equal or greater authority. Stephen was probably a Hellenist, and his opponents in the synagogues (Acts 6:9) were also Hellenists.