Summary
Stephen on Trial: The God of Glory and the Promise to Abraham
In Acts 7, Stephen stands before the high priest charged with blasphemy on three counts: blasphemy against God, against Moses (the law), and against the temple. The penalty, if convicted, is death. Unlike a modern courtroom, where a defendant has the right to remain silent, Stephen is asked, "Are these things so?"—and he answers at length. What follows is not merely a legal defense but a sermon, tracing the line of God's people from Abraham forward and showing that Jesus is the fulfillment of every messianic promise.
Stephen begins by addressing the first charge head-on: "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham." That title—God of glory—is striking. Outside of Stephen's mouth here, it appears only one other place in all of Scripture: Psalm 29. The phrase echoes Exodus 33, where Moses asks to see God's glory and the Lord answers, "I will make all my goodness pass before you." Glory speaks of the composite goodness of God. Stephen's opening line, then, is itself a refutation of the blasphemy charge: he is not slandering God; he is naming Him by His goodness.
From there Stephen lays down what amounts to a review sheet of redemptive history—and he begins, as Scripture does, with Abraham. Abraham is the singular, towering figure of the Old Testament; Mary will sing of him in Luke 1, and Zechariah will name him in the same chapter. The story Stephen rehearses breathes the pages of Genesis: the call out of Mesopotamia, the journey to Haran, the move into the land of promise, the childlessness of Abraham and Sarah, the gift of Isaac, the foretelling of 400 years of slavery in Egypt, the deliverance, the covenant of circumcision, Isaac and Jacob and the twelve patriarchs.
The crucial point in beginning with Abraham is this: the promises of God are not based on the worthiness of the recipient, but on the faithfulness of the One who promises. Joshua 24 puts it bluntly—Abraham's family lived beyond the Euphrates and "served other gods." Abraham was a moon-worshiper. His heart was stony cold in idolatry when God came, transformed it, and filled it with faith in the coming Messiah. Election and covenant rest on God's faithfulness, not on any spiritual achievement in Abraham.
That truth lands directly on us. Where a human courtroom must weigh whether there is even probable cause against a defendant, God's case against sinners is no mere probable cause—it is conclusive. We have sinned in thought, word, and deed, in what we have done and what we have left undone, and we deserve His just judgment. Peter felt the weight of it when he fell at Jesus' knees in Luke 5:8: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Isaiah cried out before the throne in Isaiah 6:5, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips."
But the same grace Abraham received now reaches us. God sent His Son to the cross, where Jesus bore the sin of the world, and the just wrath of God fell on Him in our place. The Father raised Jesus from the tomb, declaring that the sacrifice for sin had been accepted. The gospel rings out to a world that stands guilty, and bathes us in the goodness of the God of glory. Stephen's defense, beginning with Abraham, is finally a proclamation that Jesus is the promised Messiah—and that the God who kept His word to a moon-worshiper in Mesopotamia keeps His word still.
Video citations
- Sermon 10-7-18 Review Sheet: Abraham — Would you open your Bible, please, with me to the seventh chapter of the book of Acts, as we continue our study of this magnificent book that God has given to us. A few weeks ago, I had received a…