Acts 7:58Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See how fully the writer narrates what concerns Paul, in order to show you the work of God that was later accomplished in him. For now he not only does not believe, but even hands Stephen over to countless murderers. Pointing to this, the writer says, “And Saul approved of his killing” (Acts 8:1).

"And they cast him out of the city and stoned him." Since they proved wholly unable to bring Stephen's speech to an end, they stoned him. Even if he had spoken falsely, they ought to have released him as a madman. But if he spoke the truth, they ought rather to have marveled. "And they cast him out of the city" and killed him, as they did with Jesus. "And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man." He calls witnesses those whom they had put forward to bear false witness against him. By this he hints at two things. First, that even those who were considered witnesses were more ready to commit murder, for they took off their garments so they could throw stones more freely and without hindrance. Second, the one who was later to be preacher of the whole world was himself then giving assistance in the murder. Thus in him there took place a divine, wondrous change, not proper to man.

The evildoers laid their garments at the feet of Saul, as the Hebrew names Sheol. He and they already know what they have deserved: the martyr hastened to the stars, while the tormentors rushed into the underworld. The first contest opened and showed what pours forth from this source for one entering such a struggle. Thus Tartarus at once rushes upon the killers, while the heavenly lights descend upon those who die. There is a play on the words Saul and Sheol.

Uninformed readers think that Saul had to guard these garments from thieves. In fact, according to the letter of Deuteronomy ch. 17, the witnesses who personally struck Stephen were assuming responsibility for this not only before the relatives of the condemned man, but also before the Roman government. Without its permission they had no right to carry out a death sentence (Jn 18:31). Therefore they laid their garments at Saul's feet as material evidence of their murder. This certified that they would not deny the unauthorized act they had committed. This is why Saul referred to the fact that he guarded the garments of those who stoned Stephen. He guarded them not from thieves, but from their own owners. He cited it as proof of his active participation in this event (Acts 22:20).

After these words Stephen could no longer expect mercy for himself. It pleased the Lord to strengthen his courage by a vision of the opened heavens and of his Savior in the form of the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of God. Stephen was not afraid to confess this before his enemies and judges, who were growing savage with malice. After this, his judges could no longer restrain their fury. They led him outside the city as a blasphemer, to stone him. In accordance with the requirement of the Mosaic Law (Deut 17:5), the witnesses began to throw the first stones. For convenience they took off their garments and laid them for safekeeping at the feet of Saul, who took a most active part in Stephen's murder (Acts 8:1).

There was no longer any question of a lawful decision in the matter. In their fury they forgot every law and dragged Saint Stephen outside the city gates, to stone him there. Among the Hellenists of Cilicia who disputed with Stephen in the synagogue was a "young man named Saul," from the city of Tarsus, a disciple of the famous Gamaliel. For all his learning, he could not stand against Saint Stephen. Like the others, he burned with hatred toward him, which made him look with malicious joy on his martyr's death. Saul not only approved this vile murder, but also assisted the murderers. They laid their garments at his feet so they could throw the first stones, as the Law prescribed.

Since the right to punish by death had been taken from the Jewish Sanhedrin by the Roman government (see Mt 27:2; Jn 18:31 and note; cf. Josephus, Ant. 20.9.1), and since there is no indication that the Sanhedrin issued a formal decree to stone Stephen, one must recognize that this stoning was a self-willed act of fanatical uprising. The Sanhedrin did not participate formally, but undoubtedly incited it, sympathized with it, and secretly did not prevent it. Formally, the trial begun by the Sanhedrin ended in self-willed revolt and in Stephen's stoning, a wholly revolutionary act by embittered fanatics. Where was the Roman authority looking? How did it permit such a self-willed act and the bloody persecution of Christians that followed (Acts 8:1 and note)?

The murder of Saint Stephen outside the city, not far from the city walls opposite the Garden of Gethsemane, shows that the murderers were not constrained from committing their wickedness, so to speak, in everyone's sight. In part they were beside themselves from fanatical anger, or, to put it otherwise, from irrational zeal for the faith. In part they were doing the will of others, not knowing what they were doing. According to the Law, the witnesses had to throw the first stones (see Jn 8:7-8). More than others, they could know Saint Stephen's innocence. Yet they were chiefly the blind instruments of blind leaders, who shared one blindness in this matter. Among the young men who generally acted sacrilegiously in this affair was Saul, later the great apostle of the nations, Paul.