Outline Test

General information

Stephen's speech begins and ends with references to glory.

7.2
7.56

Stephen starts by identifying with the hearers. Then towards the end, he distances himself from them in order to accuse them.

7.2

Stephen's speech doesn't have specifically Christian elements until the very end. Stephen is slowly building up his hearers' openness with the OT walk-through before hitting them with the overtly Christian message.

Some of the details in the speech don't appear in the OT text.

The OT doesn't mention that the angels mediated the law (7.38, 7.53)
There is no theophany mentioned in Genesis 12.7 or in the Jewish tradition.

List of OT references in Acts 7

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Themes

The theme of God acting outside of the temple and the promised land.

Egypt	God rescues Joseph
Sinai	The burning bush: "Holy ground" outside of the temple, Jerusalem and the promised land (7.30)

The theme of Israel's opposition to the men whom God chooses to use

The theme of people who don't recognize others for who they really are.

Joseph's brothers don't recognize him
The Israelites don't recognize Moses (7.26ff)

7.2

Stephen doesn't actually respond to the charges against him in the speech.

'Was Abraham's call in Haran or in Ur? Open for details

etc etc

7.7

Either Stephen or Luke seems to have altered the meaning of the Exodus 3.12 quote.

In Exodus 3.12, the text refers to Israel coming out of Egypt to worship God at "this mountain." In Acts 7.7, the words are changed to "this place", thus giving the impression that Israel came out of Egypt to worship God 'in this place', that is, in Palestine, where Stephen is speaking. Witherington, Acts of the Apostles ().

7.8

The repeated mentions of circumcision in Acts 7.8 is a setup for 7.51, where Stephen will accuse his hearers of being spiritually uncircumcised. Witherington, Acts of the Apostles ().

Stephen doesn't mention things about Abraham that are important in other NT references to him.

Abraham appears in other NT writings, where Abraham's faith is the important element, or where his faith is said to be credited to him as righteousness. So it is surprising that Stephen doesn't mention these things. His focus is on God's promise of land to Abraham. Witherington, Acts of the Apostles ().

7.15-16

Were the patriarchs buried in Hebron or Shechem?

7.17-20

From the way Stephen expresses things, he appears to be hinting at parallels between Moses and Jesus:

Verse	Moses	Jesus
7.17	"the time was coming to fulfill promises"	Jesus came to fulfill God's promises
7.18	New king in power in Egypt that did not recognize the rights of Israel from Joseph's time	Rome in power and does not recognize Israel's rights
7.19	Oppression	Oppression
7.20	Moses was recognized as a special child when he was born	Jesus was recognized as a special child when he was born
7.22	Moses had wisdom and power	Jesus had wisdom and power, Luke 2.22
7.25	God was rescuing Israel through Moses	God rescues Israel and the world through Jesus

7.37

There is a play on words in the use of Deuteronomy 18.15.

In Deuteronomy 18.15, Moses uses the words 'raise up' to refer to God preparing prophets in each generation that Israel should listen to. In Acts 7.37, Stephen uses the quote as a prophecy that God would literally raise up (resurrect) one specific leader, Jesus, that Israel should listen to.

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