FDRL 212: Introduction Week--Acts 7 The Martyrdom of Stephen

Martyrdom of Stephen

Foundations Religion 212-11
Intro Week Acts 1-15
Choice #4 "The Martyrdom of Stephen" (Acts 7)

This is my first post for my online New Testament class and this week we were studying in the book of Acts. For my student choice assignment, I chose to read more in chapter 7 concerning the martyrdom of Stephen.

In chapter 6 in the book of Acts, we read about Stephen being called. He is said to be "full of faith and power, [and] did great wonders and miracles among the people" (Acts 6:8). In chapter 8, Stephen accuses the people of being stiffnecked and resisting the Holy Ghost just as their fathers did before them. He says that many prophets who testified of Christ were killed by their fathers. Stephen's words hurt the people and they felt guilty. One of the footnotes for this verse led me to 1 Nephi 15:2 in the Book of Mormon where Nephi has been talking with his brothers Laman and Lemuel.

"And I knew that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth...wherefore the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center." (1 Nephi 15:2).

In the middle of all of this, Stephen looks up to see God the Father and his son Jesus Christ standing on his right hand. In my scriptures, I had this verse marked as one of the scripture mastery verses I studied in seminary. The LDS church is one that is unique in our belief in the Godhead rather than the Trinity. We believe that God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are 3 individual beings. Stephen's vision is a confirmation of that belief. Joseph Smith saw two personages--Heavenly Father and Christ--and Stephen saw them as two different individuals as well.

After Stephen says he sees Heavenly Father and Christ, the people throw him outside of the city and stone him to death. I knew that when Christ was hanging on the cross, He plead with the Father saying "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do". Reading Acts 7:60 was just an amazing testimony to me of how Christlike this man truly was.

"And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).

All of the references and footnotes in this scripture led to verses in which Christ is counseling his disciples to be Christlike towards their enemies. "Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you" (Luke 6:28). Stephen's prayer is along those exact same lines---in his final moments, he asks the Lord to forgive the men who are killing him.

In this same assignment, I'm asked to turn to the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon to compare Stephen's death with Abinadi's. Abinadi's final words are perhaps less Christlike, but equally powerful in testimony. Stephen was an apostle and Abinadi was a prophet. Both men sealed their testimonies with their lives because they would not deny the words they had said. The testimonies of both men later led to the conversion of two highly influential men in the gospel--Saul/Paul in the New Testament and Alma in the Book of Mormon.

Stephen's testimony has an impact on me because, to me, it is the perfect example of pure Christlike love. His very last words were pleading with the Father on the behalf of his murderers. Abinadi, to me, is perhaps the most inspiring missionary in the scriptures. He gave his life for his faith and would not renounce his God---even though there appeared to be no one that was affected by his mission and his message. He was not counting his success by the number of baptisms he got--Abinadi was preaching the gospel because he loved the Lord. There's no record of Abinadi performing any baptisms---but that's not to say that he didn't. What we DO know is that because of his testimony, 450 people are later baptized with Alma. And that to me is pretty powerful.