Take Time To Be Holy

Acts 6:5-8

5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. 7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. 8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

In our last study we went over the need for the apostles to separate themselves from ground level ministry to have a deeper and closer connection to God. This was in order to be led by God rather than the congregation. It is easy for ministers to allow their flock to become their idols, and thus lead themselves and their flock astray (Ezk.14:4-5). The apostles needed to hear directly from God, and in order to do that they needed the majority of their time in the Word of God and prayer, for direction from Him.

Hosea 4:4-9

"Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; for your people are like those who contend with the priest. Therefore you shall stumble in the day; the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. "The more they increased, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame. They eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity. And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for their deeds.

And the saying pleased the whole multitude.

What was the saying that pleased the whole multitude of believers? “We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” The church understood that this was necessary to be led by the Holy Spirit rather than their deceitful hearts. Because of the division, it pleased them all to come to a conclusion of how to handle matters of worship, yet we will see that it does not please everyone when they are given an answer from God. The spirit of the church at this time was unified in the desire to be led by God, but it will be divided again when the answers come.

And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, . . .

Stephen must have been the church’s first choice. He is the most descriptive of all the selections and at the top of the list. Stephen is described as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. His very name in the original Greek means “crowned,” or more literally, that which “surrounds or encompasses”. Stephen being at the top of list was among those who were the crown of the apostles and were chosen to encompass them with the protection of the Holy Spirit. Stephen was a great “reward” to the apostles and we will see how he was also a reward to Christ. Stephen quickly rises up, having much faith and zeal for Christ, only to be crowned with the honor of martyrdom. No doubt, Stephen also lived up to the meaning of his name. While he was appointed to serving the financial matters of the church, his main gift was that of an evangelist; and the Holy Spirit was with him in much faith and power doing good works in these early days of the foundation of the church (v.8).

. . . and Philip, . . .

Philip was also considered to be a prominent evangelist. Later, Philip is used by the Lord to spread the gospel into the region of Samaria. Philip was also the conduit for the Holy Spirit to teach Christ to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:37). Philip remained in Caesarea and had four daughters who also were gifted in prophesying (Acts 21:9). Most likely Philip’s daughters prophesied through song as did Deborah in the book of Judges (6:12). Deborah judged Israel but it should be noted that it was the children of Israel who came up to her (4:5) because there was no men to lead them. Israel as a nation was considered a “child” by the Holy Spirit and was being weaned (judged) by God through a woman. This is by no means an encouragement of Israel’s history, but a reproof to them and any institution that would justify women leaders.

Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, . . .

The apostles’ plan found approval with the whole congregation, and seven men were appointed to the ministry. That all seven bore Greek names suggests all were Hellenists. If true, it was a demonstration of the loving unity of the church. Since the Hellenists felt slighted, the church decided to appoint seven from among them to rectify the situation. A split was thus avoided, and again Satan’s attack was thwarted. (MacArthur’s commentary on Acts)

John MacArthur argues that because all seven had Greek names suggests that the unity of the church was demonstrated in choosing Hellenists to handle the distribution for the widows to thwart a division by Satan. However, it is my opinion that this shows that the majority of converts were most likely Hellenists; and the result of the seven reflect the majority in the church. Later we will see how the apostles are constantly battling the circumcision group that will consistently labor to undermine the gospel’s work in the Gentile converts (Tit.1:10). However, this is not to say that the entire circumcision group was not seeking the greater unity of the church, because we see Paul who was the most outspoken against the circumcision “commending” a few of those of the circumcision (Col.4:11). Other than that there is not much said about the rest of the names in this passage, and not much is said any further about these men in Scripture. John MacArthur (and I trust his judgment not having the time to study ‘tradition’ further) points out in his commentary that:

All that is known for certain about Nicolas is that he was a proselyte (A Gentile convert to Judaism) from Antioch. Some of the church Fathers associated him with the heretical group known as the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:6, 15). But there is no evidence, apart from the similarity in the names, to connect him with that group. And as Lenski rightly observes, “It ought to be understood that decidedly more evidence is required in a matter of so serious a charge” (R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1961], 246).

. . . whom they set before the apostles; . . .

Here again, we have the multitude organizing the seven selections to be presented before the apostles for approval. The apostles did not choose these seven and recommend them to be “approved” by the multitude, but rather told the multitude that it was their responsibility to select “men” and put them before the apostles for approval. It is not as though the apostles could not dispute the selections, but that the apostles were to remain out of the selection process to prevent favoritism and corruption. The Holy Spirit gave the whole body a balance of power through this process, and it was what kept the church together for what was ahead; in the long haul of persecution and suffering for the liberty to which they have been set free – the Gospel.

. . . and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.

First, we shall discuss “when they had prayed”. After the body of Christ chose the seven men and presented their choices to the apostles, the apostles apparently took time to pray about the men that were selected. This was to make sure they were qualified and also to pray for their wellbeing. These were going to be the men who were the eyes and ears of the apostles on the ground level. These were the men who were going to pick up where the apostles left off in the dangerous parts of Jerusalem, like the temple grounds preaching the gospel and working miracles before the Jews.

Now, we shall discuss “they laid hands on them.” It was the custom of the early church to lay hands on those who were ordained to the ministry of the gospel, whether it was for the work of evangelist, deacon, teacher, or elder. This is not a command or obligation for a church to “lay hands on” the ministers sent off to a particular work. It was only a good and harmless practice. The practice has no intrinsic power of itself to protect or enable the minister being sent, it only gives immediate encouragement and temporal satisfaction to the one being sent. The power comes in the form of long term prayer warriors committed to the missionary or the particular ministerial worker for their edification and ongoing partnership in their spiritual and material needs. Therefore, the apostles commanded the young elders not to lay hands on new converts too hastily.

1 Tim 5:22

Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins; keep yourself pure. NKJV

The term is also closely associated with the Holy Spirit coming upon those who believed. It was when the apostles laid hands on the Samaritan converts that they received the “witness of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:17). So basically, it was the apostles “affirmation” that confirmed the authenticity of the converts of Philip in that region. Simeon (a sorcerer) who was a false convert of Philip thought he could buy the Holy Spirit from the apostles to profit himself. The apostles would not lay hands on (affirm) his conversion (Acts 8:20-23). Also, when Barnabas and Saul were sent out as missionaries, the church laid hands on them and affirmed their consent to them being sent out (Acts 13:2-3). And the conversions in the church at Ephesus were confirmed by Paul and the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands (Acts 19:6). Again, the power does not come through the act of the laying on of hands, but through the proclamation of the gospel. These Gentile converts already were possessed by the Holy Spirit. Paul laying his hands on them was simply the instrument that the Holy Spirit used to confirm to them the gift of salvation; and the power that was already within them was made evident through them praying and prophesying. The power was not in Paul or in the faith of him laying his hands on the people. The power was in the Word of God that was being taught. This is why believers are to confirm themselves by attending prayer meetings associated with their local church. Your elders will confirm the authenticity of your faith by those means. It is in these areas where true and false conversions will be exposed, but if you never desire to show up at these meetings you are only confirming your lack of faith or whether you illegitimately were converted in the first place.

Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Because the apostles were drenched in the Word and prayer for the church, and the seven men having been sent out to do the works of an evangelist and minister to the widows, the Word of God spread quickly in Jerusalem. The results of this decision multiplied the number of disciples vastly. While the apostles were dedicated strictly to feeding the church from the safety of their homes, the seven men were conversing with the priests of Jerusalem. The priests were most likely those low level priests who took turns doing the laborious work of performing the sacrifices in the temple. If these are the priests who were obedient to the faith, it quickly explains why Stephen is stoned for the slanderous accusation of blasphemy. The chief priests most likely were the party most offended, retaining all the authority in Israel for themselves by placing all the burdens on the people and low level priests to glorify themselves.

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Again, as Peter was the most out spoken and favored leader of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ; Stephen, in a similar way, is the most prominent of the seven prophets of the apostles. Stephen most likely led the way for the conversions of those low level priests, maintaining a good testimony, and the Holy Spirit’s witness to his works. Lord willing we will discuss the results of Stephen's testimony in our next study. But for now take time to be holy.