The persecution of the Church, foretold by Jesus, begins in earnest with the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7. What did Stephen say that so infuriated the Sanhedrin? And why was the persecution of the Church and the blood of the martyrs part of God’s plan?
Luke tells us in Acts 6 that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit, faith, grace and power, and worked many signs and wonders among the people. When Stephen addresses the Sanhedrin in Acts 7, it is the Holy Spirit speaking to them through Stephen.
At first glance, Stephen’s speech seems like a somewhat dry recitation of the story of God’s chosen people, ending with an unexpected and harsh denunciation of the Sanhedrin. In fact, Stephen’s whole speech is building up to that point. The story of Israel is the story of God calling to His people through His prophets and holy ones, and of the people rejecting God’s chosen representatives. Joseph was sold into slavery. Moses was rejected by the Israelites after he killed the Egyptian; he was exiled from an exiled people. When God called Moses, and worked through him to lead the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt, the Israelites turned away from God and Moses again in the desert, when they built the golden calf.
“He assumed [his] kinsfolk would understand that God was offering them deliverance through him, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:25). Stephen is speaking of Moses, but how much more do these words apply to Jesus. Likewise, “this Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge?’ God sent as [both] ruler and deliverer” (Acts 7:35); Jesus is the new Moses. Where Moses won a temporal victory over a temporal enemy (the Egyptians), Jesus wins the definitive victory over the definitive enemies (satan, sin, and death). Jesus performed signs, greater than Moses. Moses spoke God’s word; Jesus is the Word, who provides the ultimate understanding of the law of Moses.
Yet “our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside and in their hearts turned back to Egypt” (Acts 7:39). So too with the Pharisees and priests in Jesus’ time.
In Moses’ time God gave the Israelites the “tent of testimony,” and in Solomon’s time he gave them the temple. “Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48). While the priests’ worship of God became increasingly constrained, centered on the Temple, ritual washing, and strict Sabbath observance, Jesus called for true conversion, purifying the heart, and He sent the Holy Spirit to run wild upon the world, transforming everything for those who will cooperate with His grace. Stephen is a witness, a martyr, to all of this.
The Holy Spirit speaks the truth in love. The Holy Spirit does not condemn, but when the Spirit testifies it can convict, showing the human heart where it has resisted God’s grace. This conviction can lead to repentance and conversion; or it can lead to a hardening of the heart, a doubling down on sin, a rage against those who convict. What a contrast between the priests, stoning God’s holy one in their blind fury, and Stephen, blessed to see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Father, and forgiving his murderers before receiving his reward, an apprentice following the example of his master.
So why did God permit the persecution of the Church? So that the disciples could fulfill Christ’s mandate to preach the gospel to all nations. In the immediate aftermath of the stoning of Stephen, “on that day,” Luke reports, “there broke out a severe persecution of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles… Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.” (Acts 8:1,4). Philip, one of the deacons appointed by the apostles in Acts 6, travels to Samaria, followed by Peter and John, and wins converts there. Called by the Holy Spirit, Philip takes the Gaza road and makes a disciple of the Ethiopian eunuch. From there Philip “went about proclaiming the good news to all the towns until he reached Caesarea” (Acts 8:40).
Saul’s role in the persecution of the Church would lead directly to his conversion. Traveling to Damascus to arrest Christians, “still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), Saul would encounter the risen Lord, leading to his conversion and his commission as the apostle to the gentiles. Previously zealous for the law, Paul would face a multitude of hardships, but through his efforts many would be saved.
Looking beyond the scope of Acts of the Apostles, the martyrdom of the apostles is an incalculable witness to the veracity of the Resurrection. The willingness of the apostles to suffer and die rather than renounce the gospel is a definitive proof of its truth. There is no way to know how many souls across the centuries were saved by the blood of the martyrs. But two examples are revealing:
In the Second Century AD, St. Justin Martyr was converted in large part because of the witness of the martyrs: “Even at the time when I was content with the doctrines of Plato,” he wrote, “when I heard Christians accused and saw them fearlessly meet death and all that is considered terrible, I felt that such people could not possibly have been leading the life of vicious pleasure with which they were credited.”
In 19th Century Uganda, Charles Lwanga and 21 others were killed for their faith. “When missionaries returned to Uganda after Mwanga’s death some years later, they found the Christian community had grown nearly four-fold in secret, encouraged by the witness of these martyrs.”
But as with the crucifixion of Christ, the persecution of the Church was part of God’s plan of salvation. Praise God for the brave men and women who gave their lives to witness to the Good News!
Notes: St. Justin Martyr’s trial is well-documented; this exchange below between the saint and a Roman prefect named Rusticus is particularly inspiring:
Rusticus: Listen, you who are so eloquent and who believes that he has the truth—if I have you beaten and beheaded, do you believe that you will then go up to heaven?
Justin: If I suffer as you say, I hope to receive the reward of those who keep Christ’s commandments. I know that all who do that will remain in God’s grace even to the consummation of all things.
Rusticus: So you think you will go up to heaven, there to receive a reward?
Justin: I don’t think it, I know it. I have no doubt about it whatsoever.
Rusticus: Very well. Come here and sacrifice to the gods.
Justin: No one in their right mind gives up truth for falsehood.
Rusticus: If you don’t do as I tell you, you will be tortured without mercy.
Justin: We ask nothing better than to suffer for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ and so to be saved. If we do this we can stand confidently and quietly before the fearful judgment seat of that same God and savior, when in accordance with divine ordering all this world will pass away.
Image: The Stoning of Saint Stephen by Giovanni Battista Lucini (downloaded from Wikipedia Commons).
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