Now there arose some, of that which is called the synagogue of the Libertines and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen.
ανεστησαν δε τινες των εκ της συναγωγης της λεγομενης λιβερτινων και κυρηναιων και αλεξανδρεων και των απο κιλικιας και ασιας συζητουντες τω στεφανω
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
There were various synagogues, of the Libertines and of the Cyrenians. The Cyrenians were those who had synagogues beyond Alexandria, among the peoples there. Perhaps they also lived here in Jerusalem, so that they would not need to come here often. The Libertines were Roman freedmen. Since many foreigners lived here, they too had synagogues in which they read the Law and offered prayers.
"Then some rose up from the synagogue." By rising up he means their irritation and anger. There were various synagogues. "Disputing with Stephen." They disputed in order to force him to say something.
In the time of the Apostles the Jews were scattered throughout all the countries of the then known world. Born and raised far from Palestine among foreigners, they often did not know the language of their people, but spoke the language of the country where they were born and lived permanently.
Meanwhile, they all continued to regard Jerusalem as their common sacred city, from which they had to expect salvation for Israel. Therefore both commercial affairs and especially religious needs always attracted to Jerusalem a great multitude of Jews scattered among the Gentiles.
As a result, there were then a great many synagogues in Jerusalem, or places for Jewish prayer assemblies. Every city or region with a more or less considerable number of Jewish inhabitants had its own synagogue in Jerusalem.
Before his conversion to Christ, Stephen, one of the seven deacons, probably belonged to one of the synagogues mentioned here. Therefore he probably also had many acquaintances among the foreign Jews.
When Stephen walked through the city to carry out his duty of serving poor Christians, he also performed great wonders and signs among the people. He drew universal attention, especially from his acquaintances belonging to the foreign synagogues.
The latter could not forgive the very apostasy of a brother who had once been of one mind with them. Their agitation against him increased still more because, whenever they entered public disputations with Stephen on matters of faith, they always suffered defeat and disgrace.
Enlightened by the Spirit of God, Stephen always spoke with irresistible conviction. This decisively armed his brethren against him, and they resolved to destroy Stephen.
The first experiments of Saul's hostility toward the name of Christ probably consisted in disputes with those who proclaimed it.
He was drawn to a broader and more fruitful field of preaching, and he did in fact enter upon it. A distributor of alms naturally often had to meet all kinds of people and often began conversations about Christianity and its relation to Judaism.
Until then, Christians, who consisted mostly of converted Jews and Hellenists, differed little from Jews and continued to observe the external forms of Jewish worship, gathering in temples and synagogues.
But this connection was, of course, temporary. As independent forms developed in the Christian Church, it had to be completely broken. The more spiritually enlightened people were now beginning to realize this.
At their head stood the deacon Stephen, who began preaching in precisely this spirit. The place of his preaching was the synagogues of the Hellenists.
Being himself a Hellenist, he addressed his preaching chiefly to those who shared his position. His preaching attracted attention, but at the same time it met opposition.
Hellenists from different countries usually had their separate synagogues, of which there were reckoned to be as many as four hundred in Jerusalem. In one of these synagogues, to which the Libertines, that is, freed slaves, the Cyrenians, and the Alexandrians belonged, they entered into a heated dispute with Stephen.
Some others also joined these debates, namely, "certain men from Cilicia and Asia," so that the dispute became extremely heated. The result of this dispute was the complete triumph of Saint Stephen over his opponents.
The Hellenists were unable "to resist 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, such as they were accustomed to seeing among Christian preachers.
He possessed not only Greek education, but also Jewish learning. The dispute, of course, concerned the Messiah.
With their distorted idea of the Messiah, the Jewish scribes had to become enraged when they heard Saint Stephen proving with irresistible power 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 recognize Him, but crucified Him on the cross as a criminal. This Messiah was Jesus the Nazarene, whose preacher Stephen had become.
"Certain men entered into dispute." This powerful and fruitful activity of Stephen for Christianity among the people aroused zeal and envy against him among the unbelieving Jews, specifically among the Hellenists.
They may have been acquainted with Stephen earlier, since he himself was very probably also from the Hellenists. This is shown by his Greek name and by his speech in chapter 7, where Old Testament passages are cited according to the Greek translation of the Seventy.
Church tradition also testifies that he was a relative of Saul, who was from Tarsus of Cilicia. These unbelieving Hellenists rose up, ἀνέστησαν, and began disputes with Stephen.
The Greek expression does not speak of one dispute only, but presupposes repeated disputes. Their aim, as is clear from what follows, was to destroy him by slander, since they were unable to refute him and thereby weaken or stop his influence on the people.
Some from the so-called synagogue of the Libertines, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and from Cilicia and Asia, rose against Stephen and began disputes with him.
According to the calculations of the rabbis, there were about five hundred synagogues in Jerusalem at that time. Among them were the five mentioned here: those of the Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Cilicians, and Asians.
The Libertines were Jews whom the Romans, especially under Pompey about sixty years before Christ, had resettled in Rome as prisoners of war. Later they were freed and returned to their homeland as free men.
Many of them, however, voluntarily remained in Rome. Those who returned, and the generation descended from them, formed a special synagogue in Jerusalem called, from the name of these freedmen, libertini, the synagogue of the Libertines.
The Cyrenians and Alexandrians were Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria who had moved to Jerusalem or were staying there temporarily. In Cyrene, a city in Libya west of Egypt, one fourth of the inhabitants were Jews, according to Josephus, Antiquities 14.7.2; 16.6.1.
Likewise in Alexandria, in lower Egypt, two of the five parts of the city were inhabited by Jews, according to Josephus, Antiquities 14.7.2; 14.10.1; 19.5.2.
In both cities they had lived from ancient times, either resettled as prisoners of war or moving there voluntarily. Alexandria was a center of Jewish-Greek learning.
Probably the synagogue of the Alexandrians in Jerusalem bore the stamp of this Hellenic-Jewish learning. The two other synagogues mentioned here, those of the Cilicians and Asians, were the same in origin.
Cilicia and Asia were two regions of Asia Minor in which many Jews also lived. Those who had moved from them to Jerusalem, or were staying there temporarily, also had their special synagogues there.
Saul, a native of Tarsus, the chief city of Cilicia, probably belonged to the synagogue of the Cilicians. Thus five Hellenistic synagogues, in the persons of some of their members, rose up hostilely against Stephen and began disputes with him.
The dispute with Stephen was carried on by representatives of five synagogues, chiefly Hellenistic ones. In these synagogues gathered Jews who lived in various places and spoke the common Greek dialect, κοινή.
Therefore, despite the differences in their places of residence, they could be in mutual agreement, though in different ways. The writer of Acts first names representatives of the western regions.
These were prisoners 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 he indicates representatives of Cilicia and Asia, from Asia Minor. In all the places mentioned, especially in Rome and Alexandria, there was a great multitude of 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.
Without doubt, most of these synagogues were purely Hebrew. But the five named here probably contained a majority of Hellenists.
Some representatives of the Hellenists murmured over insufficient care for their widows. These others, inflamed by envy and competing with the Palestinian Jews, rushed to overthrow the Christian teaching itself, which Stephen was then preaching with special zeal.
It is supposed that Saul may have been among the Cilicians, since he was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia. All these representatives, being men enlightened by a double education, Jewish and Greco-Roman, could rise against Stephen with great skill.
But the Holy Spirit invisibly made him wise. His struggle against a multitude of enemies was so extraordinarily wise that he forced them to be silent.
This was offensive to them. Therefore they resolved to avenge themselves on him mortally, sparing neither their conscience nor paying any attention to truth. They carried this out by resorting to slander.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 23 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS