I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 7-8.

    When Stephen was on trial before the Sanhedrin he recounted the history of the Jews. As he wrapped that summation up he did not pull any punches, he did not sugarcoat his view of those putting him on trial. He flat out told them that they were the successors to those who killed the prophets and that they themselves had killed the Messiah. Unlike the advice we are often given today, Stephen flat out expressed his opinion of the actions taken by the audience to which he was preaching. However, it is worth noting that when they subsequently killed him for what he said he asked God to not hold it against them.

    The persecution which followed the murder of Stephen scattered the believers. Persecution actually caused the Church to spread and grow. It is worth noting that when Peter and John laid their hands on people so that they would receive the Holy Spirit something very noteworthy happened. Those witnessing it so a change take place that was so noticeable that Simon the Sorcerer offered money to obtain the power to do likewise (I will note that when Peter berated him for doing so he seems to have recognized and repented of his sin). However, I think we often put too much emphasis on Simon the Sorcerer and miss Luke’s main point here. Luke used Philip’s ministry in Samaria, and then to the Ethiopian, to illustrate how the Church began to spread and grow because of the persecution.
    There is one final point I want to which I want to draw attention. When The Ethiopian eunuch asked to be baptized, Philip did not tell him that he needed to go through a class to make sure that he fully understood the basic teachings of the Church. Instead, Philip went with him to the body of water and baptized him. As soon as Philip had baptized the eunuch he left him (Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit snatched Philip away) and the eunuch never saw him again. I do not, as a general rule, support the idea of baptizing new believers and leaving them to fend for themselves, but I do support baptizing believers almost immediately upon their profession of faith.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 4-6.

    After healing the lame man, Peter and John were arrested. When they spoke before the Sanhedrin in their defense Peter delivered a speech similar to the one he made on Pentecost. The council was surprised that these two men, who did not have an “Ivy League” education, were not only willing to stand up to them, but made an argument that they could not refute. When the Council told Peter and John to stop preaching in Jesus’ name Peter asked if they thought God would rather they obey the Council, or God? He then closed by saying they could not stop telling others about what they had seen and heard. Some time later the Sanhedrin had the Apostles arrested for continuing to preach in Jesus’ name. Once more Peter states that the Apostles would obey God rather than human authority. When the Sanhedrin wanted to kill the Apostles, Gamaliel pointed out that if the group the Apostles were forming was not from God, it would quickly die out. On the other hand, if it was from God, those opposing it would find themselves fighting against God Himself. It is worth mentioning that the Sanhedrin believed that the nascent Church was a political movement with the goal of driving the Romans out of Israel.