Defending the faith from the Hebrew Bible
Act 7:1-19 NASB -
"1 The high priest said, "Are these things so?"
2 And he said,
"Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father
Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to
him, 'LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL
SHOW YOU.' 4 "Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran.
From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which
you are now living. 5 "But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a
foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that HE WOULD
GIVE IT TO HIM AS A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS DESCENDANTS AFTER HIM. 6 "But
God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN
LAND, AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. 7
" 'AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY WILL BE IN BONDAGE I MYSELF WILL
JUDGE,' said God, 'AND AFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN THIS
PLACE.' 8 "And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham
became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac
became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
9 "The
patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with
him, 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and
wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over
Egypt and all his household. 11 "Now a famine came over all Egypt and
Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. 12
"But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers
there the first time. 13 "On the second visit Joseph made himself known to
his brothers, and Joseph's family was disclosed to Pharaoh. 14 "Then
Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to
him, seventy-five persons in all. 15 "And Jacob went down to Egypt and
there he and our fathers died. 16 "From there they were removed to Shechem
and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the
sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 "But as the
time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the
people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until THERE AROSE ANOTHER KING
OVER EGYPT WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT JOSEPH. 19 "It was he who took shrewd
advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose
their infants and they would not survive."
This is the first
detailed defense of faith that we find in the books of Acts. A defense like this is called an “Apologetic”
in which we strive to answer questions that have been raised about what and why
we believe. In this case the questions
are about if what Stephen has been teaching is actually what he has been
accused of teaching. The following
accusations have been made.
Act 6:13-15 NASB -
"13 They put forward false witnesses who said, "This man incessantly
speaks against this holy place and the Law; 14 for we have heard him say that
this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses
handed down to us." 15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting
in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel."
1. Stephen speaks against the temple and the law
2. Stephen says that Jesus will destroy the
temple and the customs of Moses
These accusations are
the same as someone being charged with committing treason against the United
States. They would be the same if
someone denounced their U.S. citizenship and formally became a member of
ISIS. If Stephen is teaching these
things then he has betrayed Israel and the faith of the Jews. This is why everyone becomes so upset.
In response to this
Stephen makes clear that he is not against the law or Moses. He begins by showing them that they have
common ground in the Scriptures, in the salvation history of Israel, and while
in this section we are just getting there, in Moses as well. All that he says here would have built a
bridge of communication between him and his Jewish audience. They would not have disagreed with anything
that he is expressing concerning the historical roots of the nation and faith
of Israel.
Now the story of
Joseph is really the story of a messiah (anointed one of God) being one in
which his brothers (the founding fathers of Israel) out of jealousy sold him
into slavery and reported him dead to his father. Joseph would have perished, but God rescued
him and raised Joseph up to rule. By
doing this Israel was saved from starvation along with all the nations.
Here we have the
death - Symbolic when they take the coat of many colors back covered with blood
to report Joseph’s death to his father.
Burial – Legally
declared a rapist, though innocent,
Joseph the anointed one is buried in a prison.
Resurrected - Because Joseph can interpret Pharaoh’s dream
he is raised up out of the prison (the grave) and given authority and
honor.
So Stephen is
building common ground but also preparing the way for the though that Israel
has a history of rejecting those who God had sent to save them. He is preparing a culturally sensitive way to
present the gospel while defending himself against these false accusations.
How should we then
live?
When people question
your faith do you get angry and defensive?
Are you ready to give
a calm and careful defense of your faith to those who ask?
If you don’t feel
ready to give a calm and careful defense then how could you become ready?
When talking to an
unbeliever about the faith look for common ground that God has given you. What
do you share in common that could be used to build a bridge of communication
about the gospel?
Meditate on this
passage
2Timothy 2:24-26 NASB
- "24 The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all,
able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who
are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the
knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from
the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will."
Prayer: Lord, help me to know how to share the gospel
with people who have questions or are even attacking me. Provide me the filling of the Holy Spirit
that I may communicate in bold love to others.
Help me to know your Word well enough that I can use it in sharing my
faith. Lord have mercy. Amen
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