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A:Acts of the Apostles says that Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin to be tried on a charge of blasphemy. During the trial, Stephen made no attempt to defend himself, merely antagonising the members of the Sanhedrin by reciting a monologue in which he said "Your fathers" persecuted the prophets (Acts 7:51,52), as if unaware that he was also a Jew.Acts 7:55 says that Stephen then looked up into heaven and saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. He was immediately taken out and stoned for his blasphemy.


Some scholars consider the scene involving Stephen's trial and death as significant, not only because Stephen is the first Christian martyr, but also because the death of Stephen in Acts matches so closely the death of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, by the same author. Both accounts speak of the Son of Man at the right hand of God (Luke 22:69; Acts 7:56); both have a prayer for the forgiveness of those who are effecting this execution ( Luke 23:34a; Acts 7:60); both have the dying figure commend his spirit heavenward (Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59). In some ways, the most important difference in the trial stories is that the Jews said they could not sentence Jesus to death and therefore had to bring him to trial before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, whereas in the story of Stephen, the priests saw no reason to involve the Roman governor and were willing to have Stephen stoned to death on their own account. In commenting on whether this really happened, Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says that we can never verify the martyrdom or even existence of Stephen.


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12y ago

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