Acts 6:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Or perhaps the writer mentioned this as the reason why they allowed him to deliver his speech. “Gazing at him,” it says, “they saw his face as the face of an angel.”

Why did such grace flourish in Stephen? Was it not from faith? Clearly so, for it was testified of him above that he was full of faith.

Therefore one may have grace even apart from the grace of healings. For this reason the Apostle says, “To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another gifts of healings” (1 Cor 12:8-9).

Here, by the words “they saw his face as the face of an angel,” it seems to me that it is hinted that he was full of grace.

This is also said of Barnabas (Acts 4:36). From this we see that simple and guileless people awaken particular wonder and are especially filled with grace.

Do you see how they accuse him of disturbing public order and of impiety? Yet that it was not proper to him to speak this way or to be so audacious is evident to everyone.

His very face was marked by meekness. Thus, when they did not slander the Apostles, Scripture says nothing of the kind.

But since here everything is slander, God naturally refutes it even by his appearance. The Apostles were not slandered, but forbidden.

Stephen, however, is slandered. Therefore before anything else, his very face defends him. Perhaps it was this that put the high priest to shame.

Then the crowd forgot all his benefactions and rose against him with implacable malice. Stephen's enemies knew this very well.

So they instructed certain men to say, "We heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God" (v. 11). The people believed them, and Stephen was seized as an evildoer.

This was exactly what the members of the Sanhedrin wanted. They quickly convened a formal assembly and opened the trial of Stephen.

The false witnesses stated the accusation: "This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place," that is, the temple, "and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us" (vv. 13-14).

The charge was grave. The eyes of all present turned involuntarily toward the place where the accused stood.

But as they looked at him, they saw his face as the face of an angel. The grace of God, with which Stephen's soul was filled, was reflected at that moment on his face with heavenly light. He looked like a dweller of heaven.

However false the accusation made against Stephen by the false witnesses was, some truth must have lain at its root.

Of course, it could not be that Stephen "spoke blasphemous words against Moses and God, against this holy place and the law." That would mean that he spoke disrespectfully, even insultingly, about the temple of Jerusalem and all the institutions and rites of the Mosaic law.

On the contrary, the apostolic Christians were zealous in visiting the temple during divine service (Acts 2:46; Acts 3:1; Acts 5:12).

Clearly, they not only did not regard observance of the rites of the Old Testament, God-given law as contradicting the Christian religion. They even treated them with reverence and took part in their observance.

Therefore it could not be that Stephen, a most pious member of the Christian community, spoke in any way insultingly about the holy temple and the law during his disputes with his opponents.

Yet a Christian preacher could not dispute with Jews about matters of faith without touching on the thought of the temporary significance of the Old Testament religion.

Stephen also expressed this, among other things, before his opponents. This is clear from the following words of the accusation: "We have heard," the false witnesses said, "how he said that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us."

This thought concerned the merely preparatory significance of the Old Testament religious institutions. Therefore they are now neither necessary nor obligatory for those who recognize, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah who has appeared.

Stephen, of course, expressed this thought with full reverence for the God-given law of Moses.

But the false witnesses tore this thought out from the sequence of other thoughts in Stephen's speeches. They tried to present it in the form and character of an insult, a blasphemy against the holy temple and the law.

These false testimonies were all the more dangerous because they were based on a distortion of the truth. St. Stephen had indeed preached that Christ had brought the whole Old Testament divine economy to its completion and abolition.

But this abolition was to be accomplished not through violence, but through the inward action of the Spirit of God. It had already begun to take place.

Stephen wished solemnly to explain this truth before the Sanhedrin itself. Despite all its prejudice against the preacher of the hated name, it could not fail to marvel at the beauty and God-enlightened face of this man.

It “saw his face as the face of an angel.”

Even with natural and special inspiration, at particularly great moments in life, a person’s outward appearance changes, brightens, and becomes spiritualized.

This must be especially true when there is a special descent of the Holy Spirit upon a person.

Therefore there is nothing unnatural in the fact that Stephen’s enemies themselves were struck at that moment by the angel-like brightness of his face.

This is why the writer of Acts remarks upon it. Compare Chrysostom and Theophylact.

Heavenly calm, exalted feeling, and perhaps a prayerful disposition, inward concentration, and self-recollection needed for his answer could all inwardly stir and animate his young and naturally beautiful face.

This was the face of an innocent sufferer, something not unknown to the judges. But blessed Theophylact, following the indications of many earlier interpreters, says:

“God made him pleasing, since he still had something to say. To strike them at once by his appearance, God shone upon his face.

For even toward the faces of people filled with spiritual grace, those who love them are drawn with desire, while enemies receive instruction.”

“He who is humbled by men is granted visible glory from God. It seems that this alone was enough to stop the mouths of those who opposed him.

But hardness of heart is ready to judge and condemn even the angels!”

“Here, by the words ‘they saw his face as the face of an angel,’ it seems to me,” says St. John Chrysostom, “that it is hinted that he was full of grace.

This is also said of Barnabas (see Acts 4:36). From this we see that simple and guileless people awaken particular wonder and are especially filled with grace.

When they slandered the Apostles, Scripture says nothing of the kind. But since here everything is slander, God naturally refutes it even by Stephen’s appearance.

Before everything else, his very face defended him. Perhaps it was this that put the high priest to shame.”