And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit that spoke.
και ουκ ισχυον αντιστηναι τη σοφια και τω πνευματι ω ελαλει
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Perhaps he spoke very openly and spoke of the cessation of the Law. Or, more precisely, he did not state it outright, but hinted at it. If he had spoken plainly, these men would not have needed false witnesses. But observe: he does not assume for himself the right to teach, but is compelled to do so by those disputing with him.
This is what the Lord Himself says to His martyrs: "For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict" (Lk 21:15). Therefore it was fitting that in the protomartyr He should confirm what He had deigned to promise to all who are delivered up for His name.
In the time of the Apostles, the Jews were scattered throughout all the lands of the world then known. Born and raised far from Palestine among foreigners, they often did not know the language of their own people.
They spoke the language of the land where they were born and had their permanent dwelling. Yet they all continued to regard Jerusalem as their common holy city, from which they were to await salvation for Israel.
For this reason, commercial affairs, and especially religious needs, always drew a great multitude of Jews scattered among the Gentiles to Jerusalem.
The result was that there were then very many synagogues in Jerusalem, that is, places of Jewish prayer assemblies. Every city or region with a more or less considerable Jewish population had its own synagogue in Jerusalem.
Stephen, one of the seven deacons, probably belonged before his conversion to Christ to one of the synagogues mentioned here. For this reason also, he probably had many acquaintances among the foreign Jews.
When Stephen went about the city fulfilling his duty of service to poor Christians, he was at the same time performing great wonders and signs among the people.
He therefore drew universal attention, and especially the attention of his acquaintances who belonged to the foreign synagogues. These men could not forgive even the apostasy of one who had formerly shared their mind.
Their agitation against him was increased still more because, whenever they entered public contests with Stephen on matters of faith, they always suffered defeat and shame.
Enlightened by the Spirit of God, Stephen always spoke with irresistible persuasiveness. This decisively armed his brethren against him, and they resolved to destroy Stephen.
But the scholastic learning of the Pharisees could not long withstand Stephen, who was filled with the Spirit of God.
He was drawn to a broader and more fruitful field of preaching, and he did in fact enter upon it. A distributor of alms would naturally often meet all kinds of people and often begin conversations about Christianity and its relation to Judaism.
Until now the Christians, most of whom were converted Jews and Hellenists, differed little from the Jews. They continued to observe the outward forms of Jewish worship, gathering in temples and synagogues.
Yet this connection was, of course, temporary. As independent forms took shape in the Christian Church, it had to be completely broken. Those who were more spiritually enlightened were already beginning to realize this.
At their head stood the deacon Stephen, who began to preach precisely in this spirit. The place of his preaching was the synagogues of the Hellenists. Being himself a Hellenist, he addressed his preaching chiefly to those of his own condition.
His preaching attracted attention, but at the same time it met opposition. Hellenists from various lands usually had their own separate synagogues. In Jerusalem they numbered as many as four hundred.
In one of these synagogues, to which the Freedmen, that is, freed slaves, the Cyrenians, and the Alexandrians belonged, they entered into a heated dispute with Stephen.
Others also joined these debates, namely “some from Cilicia and Asia,” so that the dispute became extremely fierce. The result of this dispute was the complete triumph of St. Stephen over his opponents.
The Hellenists were unable “to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.” The proud scribes had to see, with amazement, that the preacher was not an ordinary villager.
They had grown accustomed to seeing such men as preachers of Christianity. But Stephen possessed not only pagan education, but also Jewish learning.
The dispute, of course, concerned the Messiah. The Jewish scribes, with their distorted conception of the Messiah, had to be driven to fury.
They heard St. Stephen prove with invincible force, from Holy Scripture and history, that this Messiah had already come.
He showed that the Jewish people, and especially the greatly learned teachers of the law, not only failed to know and acknowledge Him, but crucified Him on the Cross as a criminal.
And this Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth, whose preacher Stephen had become.
"But they could not withstand him" means that they were defeated by Stephen in disputation. Wisdom here does not mean Jewish-Hellenic learning. It means true Christian wisdom, as a special gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:8).
The dispute with Stephen was conducted by representatives of five synagogues, chiefly Hellenistic ones. These were synagogues where Jews gathered who lived in various places and spoke the common Greek dialect, κοινή.
For this reason, despite the difference in their places of residence, they could be in mutual agreement, though in various ways. The writer of Acts first names representatives from the West.
These were captives freed from Rome, who had now become free and were therefore called Libertines, from the Latin Libertini. Then he names Cyrenians from Libya and Alexandrians from Egypt.
After this, representatives of Cilicia and Asia, from Asia Minor, are mentioned. In all the places indicated, especially Rome and Alexandria, there were very many Jews.
It is not surprising that they had their own separate synagogues in Jerusalem. It is said that there were then as many as five hundred synagogues in Jerusalem.
There is no doubt that most of these synagogues were purely Hebrew. But the five indicated here probably contained a majority of Hellenists.
Some representatives of the Hellenists had murmured over insufficient care for their widows. But these, inflamed by envy and rivaling the Palestinian Hebrews, rushed to overthrow the Christian teaching itself.
At that time Stephen was preaching this teaching with particular zeal. Some suppose that Saul may have been among the Cilicians, since he was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia.
All these representatives, as men enlightened by a double education, Hebrew and Greco-Roman, could rise up against Stephen with great skill. But the Holy Spirit invisibly made him wise.
His struggle against the multitude of enemies was so extraordinarily wise that he compelled them to be silent. But this was offensive to them.
Therefore they resolved to take deadly vengeance on him, sparing neither their conscience nor paying any heed to truth. And they carried this out by resorting to slander.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 11 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS