Acts 7:1-53 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?… The charge was blasphemy and revolution against consecrated authority. The answer was, God by his Spirit has been preparing for this time. Jesus is the Messiah. As in former days our fathers resisted the Holy Ghost, so now this highest manifestation of his grace in "Jesus Christ." An appeal to repentance and faith, Notice - I. THE TESTIMONY TO THE WORD OF GOD. Christianity is no novelty discarding the past. Yet not a mere development, but a new gift in Christ. A great lesson on the study of the Old Testament, which is too much neglected. A help to trace the line of the spiritual manifestations. A warning against unbelief. A declaration of the grace of God, apart from human merit. II. THE BOLDNESS OF THE INSPIRED PREACHER. Fearlessness of man. Courage of deep conviction. Freedom from Jewish prejudice. Gospel liberty not rationalistic license. Spiritual conception of God and his worship. Charge of the Jews. III. THE POSITION OF CHRISTIANITY plainly set forth as the final revelation, and the challenge founded upon it. Receive the gospel or you resist the Spirit. This position evidently rested on the person and work of Christ, "the righteous One," whose message was above that "ordained by angels" (see Hebrews 1., 2.). The circumcision of the Old Testament was declared worthless in view of the new circumcision of the "heart and ears," otherwise the sign of the new covenant, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Although evidently broken off by the murderous riot which ensued, the address was advancing to an appeal to faith on the basis of the new outpouring of the Spirit: "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." A great example to us to lead men through conviction of sin to acceptance of grace - through the sense of what they are to the hope of what they may be in Christ. - R. Parallel Verses KJV: Then said the high priest, Are these things so? |
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