Acts 7:48Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Stephen expresses the same reverence for the temple. It was built by God's special favor toward David, though the actual accomplishment of the work belonged to Solomon (vv. 46-47).

Yet, by pointing out that in the promised land the Israelites had only the tabernacle until David (v. 45), Stephen wishes to show the nonessential significance of the temple in the work of worship. Then he states this thought directly and confirms it by the word of the prophet Isaiah (vv. 48-50).

These thoughts were also expressed by Solomon himself, the builder of the temple (3 Kgs 8:27), and by Isaiah, whom the holy deacon Stephen cites. Speaking in God's name, Isaiah said, "Heaven is My throne. What house will you build for Me?" (Is 66:1-2).

If one were to regard the temple, for example the temple in Jerusalem, as necessary for God and not for men, and as sufficient to contain the very essence of God, then one would have to accept and assert something further. Apart from this temple, God would appear to men nowhere, and nowhere would He receive prayers and sacrifices from them.

This is what the Jews thought about their temple. But Stephen, foreseeing the swift spread of Christ's faith throughout the whole world, says that although the temple in Jerusalem is God's house (v. 47), it is not so by necessity or by sufficiency for God. "The Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands."

Rather, it is so only by God's condescension and goodness, for the sake of the prayers of David (v. 46) and Solomon. God needs no dwelling at all. Yet in His goodness toward men, He dwells in a small temple, so that there men may most surely find Him.

This is how we too think about the temple. But if the Stundists assert that in v. 48 Saint Stephen completely rejected temples, let them explain why, in the two preceding verses, he calls the temple first God's dwelling and then His house.

"Made with hands" expresses the contrast between what is made by man and the majesty of the Creator. The Creator cannot be limited and, as it were, bound by the work of human hands.

"As the prophet says," that is, the greatest of the prophets, Isaiah (Is 66:1-2). Stephen bases his thought on Isaiah's words, a thought of such great importance in his speech before the representatives of Jewish temple worship.

Their essential thought is that God is not contained in His visible receptacles in all His fullness. He is immeasurably greater than all that He has created.

If, for example, one imagines heaven as His throne and earth as His footstool, what kind of temple would be needed to exceed heaven and earth? And where could a place be found for such a greatest temple?

Clearly, this is impossible. Nor is it required, for God, as the true Spirit, has no need in Himself of dwellings ordinary for bodily beings.

Nor does He need such a dwelling for rest. He eternally lives and acts, and, being almighty, He never grows weary so as to need repose.

Temples are necessary for us. Through them we may have Him in our spiritual peace and in our possible approach to Him as the omnipresent One.

For this reason He can be in the temple, but not only in the one in Jerusalem. He can be in all temples, as everywhere, where God reveals Himself or commands that He be honored in one place or another more especially.

The time will come, Jesus Christ Himself said, when true worshipers will worship God in spirit and truth, not on Mount Gerizim nor only in Jerusalem, but everywhere (see Jn 4:21-23).

Perhaps holy Stephen had already expounded this teaching of the Lord. But they did not understand him and slandered him, saying that he spoke blasphemy about the temple as the place of God's dwelling.

By the cited words of the prophet Isaiah, he justifies his most important views concerning the place of God's dwelling.

Since all prophetic speeches were sacred in the eyes of the members of the Sanhedrin, they had to remain silent, even though these words rebuked their false views. They listened to the voice of the righteous man as to the voice of a new angel of God.

"For the correct understanding of St. Stephen's words, let us remember," says His Grace Philaret, "that his speech tended toward the rebuke of the Jews.

"They had seen the wondrous cloud that overshadowed the temple at its consecration. They had heard the promise by which God placed His heart in the temple.

"They therefore thought that the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish people, having the holy temple among them, were thereby also holy, inviolable, and not subject to abandonment by God.

"These thoughts were groundless and crude, though covered with piety. Among the Jews they became food for impiety and lawlessness.

"God lives with us in the temple, they said. Yet they did not care that God was not before their eyes.

"Trusting in the holy place and filled with sins (see Is 1:4-5), they fearlessly added lawlessness to lawlessness.

"When they were threatened, they deceived themselves with the hope that the holy place would save them. Holy men rebuked them, as Isaiah did.

"In this same spirit of rebuke, holy Stephen said that the Most High does not dwell in things made by hands. Therefore the omnipresence of the divine Being is not enclosed in temples, although grace is present in them.

"The Jewish temple was one in the universe, but Christian temples have been born everywhere.

"What was hidden in the Jewish temple beneath the veil of ceremonial shadows and prophetic figures appears in Christian temples in the light of the revealed word of God, and in the power and mighty operation of the Holy Spirit.

"Therefore the grace of the Jerusalem temple belongs preeminently to the Christian temple.

"Did not Christ, the Founder of the spiritual Church, and His apostles visit the temple? Did He not deliver the handmade forms of bread and wine for the celebration of the Mystery of His Body and Blood?

"Therefore do not be so crude as to stop at what is made by hands alone. Yet do not be so proud as to despise what is made by hands, through which God works wonders of grace."

"Who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob." Stephen says this of King David. As the second book of Kings relates, through the prophet Nathan David asked God's permission to build a new, fixed temple in place of the movable and probably already aged tabernacle (2 Sam 7:2). It should be noted that the God-inspired preacher, before speaking of David's intention to build a temple, first mentioned God's grace toward David: "who found favor before God." Through this the Holy Spirit. Speaking by Stephen's mouth, makes us understand that the very intention or desire to build the temple of God, the very thought of it, did not arise simply like many human thoughts and desires. It arose in a man filled with grace, under the overshadowing of the Spirit of God. Therefore one may say that the first thought of building the temple of God was God's thought in man.

"But Solomon built Him a house," holy Stephen continues. If the intention to build the temple was a gift of grace in David, then there is no doubt that the fulfillment of this intention, the building of the temple, was also a work of grace in Solomon. God Himself appointed Solomon to this work and said of him through Nathan, "He shall build a house for My name" (2 Sam 7:13). And to show that this appointment and the appointed work were grace-filled in the highest degree, God said of Solomon at the same time through the same Prophet: "I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to Me a son" (2 Sam 7:14).

Let us not hesitate to add this further conclusion. If the building of the temple of God was an action of grace, then the temple that was built is also a work of grace. If grace was its beginning, then its end must be the spreading of grace among men. For it cannot even be thought that the grace of God would act upon something unworthy of it, or something not in harmony with its intentions for mankind.

Christians, there is a difference between the Jewish temple, to which the preceding reflections first apply under the guidance of holy Stephen's words, and the Christian temple in which we now stand. The Jewish temple, in the days of the Church's barrenness, was alone in the whole world. But Christian temples, in the time of the Church's many children, have been born everywhere in great number. What lay hidden in the Jewish temple beneath the veil of ritual shadows and prophetic figures appears in Christian temples in the light of the revealed word of God, in the power and mighty action of the Holy Spirit through the divine Mysteries. Therefore the grace of the Jewish temple belongs by surpassing measure to the Christian temple.

Blessed, then, is the one among us who has found in his heart the pious desire to build, rebuild, or renew a temple for the Christian God. In this desire he has found grace. Having served grace by the zealous fulfillment of this desire, he may find "grace upon grace" (Jn 1:16). That is, for a grace-filled labor he may receive a grace-filled recompense. For grace cannot fail to be grateful to those who serve its works.

Blessed also is the one who loves the temple that has been built and gladly visits it. He loves a work of grace and visits the dwelling of grace. Therefore in this love and zeal he already bears within himself the seed of grace. When watered in the temple from the springs of grace, which are the word of God and the divine Mysteries, this seed can bring forth abundant fruit: enlightenment, peace, and the salvation of the soul.

Let us return to holy Stephen's reasoning. "Solomon built Him a house," he said, and immediately added, "Yet the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands." What a sudden turn of thought. What are you saying, preacher of God? How are we to understand you, or reconcile you with yourself? If the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, why did Solomon build Him a temple made with hands? Why did David desire this? Why did grace inspire David with this desire? Why did the Most High Himself appoint Solomon to fulfill it?

It is true that Solomon, the builder of the temple, speaks to God with a certain perplexity: "Will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this temple which I have built for Thy name" (1 Kgs 8:27). Therefore he asked not for God's dwelling in the temple, but for His gracious regard toward it: "Let Thine eyes be open upon this temple day and night" (1 Kgs 8:29). Yet did God not grant more than humble prayer dared ask, when "the glory of the Lord filled the temple" (1 Kgs 8:11)? Did He not grant more when He spoke this promise concerning it: "My eyes and My heart shall be there all days" (1 Kgs 9:3)? Does God not dwell where His heart is all days?

To resolve these perplexities and rightly understand holy Stephen's words, let us remember that his speech, as was said above, tended toward the rebuke of the Jews. They had seen the wondrous cloud that overshadowed the temple at its consecration. They had heard the promise by which God placed His "heart" in the temple. Therefore they imagined that the temple of Jerusalem had become not only firm and permanent for its appointed time, but also God's necessary dwelling forever. They imagined that the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish people, because they possessed the holy temple, were for this very reason holy, inviolable, and incapable of being abandoned by God.

These groundless and crude thoughts, though cloaked in devotion, became food for impiety and lawlessness among the Jews. God dwells with us in the temple, they said, and they did not care that God was not before their eyes. Trusting in the holy place, "a sinful nation," in the expression of the prophet Isaiah, "a people laden with sins," fearlessly "added lawlessness to lawlessness" (Is 1:4-5). When they were threatened that the sins multiplied among them would destroy them, they either paid no heed or became angry. They deceived themselves with the hope that the holy place would save them.

The holy men of the Jewish Church had long perceived this error of their people and rebuked it more than once with zeal. Isaiah himself, whom holy Stephen brought forward as a witness, refutes the bold hope of the lawless in the holy temple. He speaks in the person of God Himself: "Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? And what is the place of My rest?" (Is 66:1). In place of a false hope in a merely visible holiness external to them, the prophet instills true hope in the grace of God. This grace is received by man in obedience and makes man himself a temple of God. Therefore the prophet adds, also in the person of God: "Upon whom will I look, but upon him who is meek and quiet, and who trembles at My words?" (Is 66:2). So also through Jeremiah God says, "Do not trust in yourselves with lying words, for they will not profit you at all, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord it is" (Jer 7:4).

In like manner the writer of the book of Maccabees reasons that "the Lord did not choose the nation for the sake of the place, but the place for the sake of the nation" (2 Macc 5:19). Therefore, if the people do not use the grace of the holy place for their sanctification, then grace, not being received, departs. Holiness is hidden, and in the place of God's dwelling there may appear the abomination of desolation.

In this spirit of rebuke holy Stephen said that "the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands" (Acts 7:48). That is, the omnipresent essence of God is not confined in temples, although grace is present in them. The gracious presence of God is not bound to temples, although it has been given to them. Grace does not properly dwell in what is made by hands in temples. Being itself spiritual, it passes through what is made by hands and secretly seeks to give life also to what is spiritual, that is, to the inner man.

If a man is stiff-necked, inattentive, insensible, and resistant to the Holy Spirit, then even in an open temple made with hands the grace-filled dwelling of God is closed to him. A church made with hands does not sanctify or save the one who, for his part, does not struggle to make himself a living church of the living God.

But let us cease explaining Stephen's words. It is enough to say that what he taught, our divine and only Teacher also teaches in these words: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeks such to worship Him" (Jn 4:23).

What shall we say to this, Christians? Shall we say with some, what need have we of a church made with hands? Is it not enough to know only the church not made with hands in the heart? Let us beware. This would mean rushing from one extreme to another. It would mean replacing crude fleshly stiff-neckedness with proud spiritual obstinacy. Did not the Founder of the spiritual Church, Christ Himself, and His Apostles visit the temple made with hands? Did He not hand down the created forms of bread and wine for the divine and deifying Mystery of His Body and Blood? Do not be so crude as to stop at what is made with hands alone. But do not be so proud as to despise what is made with hands, through which God works wonders of grace.

But if someone, after standing the appointed hour in a church made with hands in the manner of Christians, allows himself to spend the rest of his life in passions and vices after the likeness of pagans, then to such a one we speak with holy Stephen. If someone worships before the visible, hand-made image of God's holiness, but does not strive inwardly to be transformed into the image of God in righteousness and holiness of truth, then to such a one we speak. If someone puts incense into the censer, but does not bring God the fragrance of prayer in the fire of love, then to such a one we speak. If someone hears in the temple the sounds of God's word, and, thinking that by this he has fulfilled the work of the Church, carelessly forgets it, then to such a one we speak. If someone sees the ministry of the Mysteries, but does not thirst in soul to partake through them of the grace of God, then to every such person we say with holy Stephen: "The Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands."

Piety and the grace-filled life, the life of God in man, do not consist in walls, signs, sounds, and rites. To find this life, one must, within the enclosure of the temple, while the senses and thoughts are occupied with consecrated signs, the divine sounds of the word, and the sacred actions of the Mysteries. "worship" the heavenly Father "in spirit and truth." Outside the temple also, one must dedicate his whole life to fulfilling the will of God and make it an unceasing divine service.

May faith, prayer, and attentiveness to the commandments of God and to our own deeds help us, brethren, to "find favor before God and ask to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob." That is. May they help us find the grace of the temple not made with hands, or "the indwelling of Christ through faith in our hearts" (Eph 3:17). Amen.