Commentary on Acts 7:35-40

By Bob Myhan

³⁵"This Moses whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.

Stephen here says that it was a messenger of God – rather than God Himself – who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Stephen does not contradict himself in this for the words of a duly appointed messenger are the words of the one who duly appointed him.

"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. (Matt. 10:40)

Stephen affirms, as he had done regarding Joseph, that the one that Israel had rejected was the one chosen by God.

³⁶"He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

The ESV translates,

This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

This indicates that “brought them out” or “led them out” refers to the entire forty-year period from their leaving Egypt to just prior to their entering the land of promise. 

³⁷"This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.'

This prophecy was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.

But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.' (Acts 3:18-23)

It was this prophecy that was being alluded to in the following exchange.

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." (John 1:19-21)

It was apparently not understood that the Prophet and the Christ were one and the same person. Of course, most Messianic prophecies were not understood even by the prophets who spoke them or recorded them.

Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things which angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:10-12)

³⁸This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, ³⁹ whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

The word translated “congregation” in the NKJV is translated “church” in the KJV at this place. It is also translated “church” in the NKJV whenever the point of reference is to a group of Christians meeting together for worship. In this place, of course, it simply refers to the entire body of Israelites. The Greek, “ecclesia,” can refer to any group or assembly of people whether organized or not. We will see it later in Acts 19:35-41, referring to a disorderly body of people some of whom did not even know what was going in their midst. We see also that, even on Mount Sinai, God spoke to Moses through “the Angel” or messenger. Stephen points out that, even in the wilderness, the people “would not obey, but rejected” Moses, the very one God had chosen.

(To be continued)

Benevolence and Relief (Part 16)

By Bob Myhan

Having defended his apostleship, having put God’s covenant with Abraham in its proper perspective, having explained the temporary nature of the Law of Moses and having explained why that Law was not sufficient to aid them in overcoming the lust of the flesh, Paul now gets to the true motivation of the Judaizing teachers.

¹¹See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!

Paul normally used an amanuensis in writing his epistles. This is one who transcribes the words of another.

I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord. (Romans 16:22)

This made it necessary to sign his name to those epistles for the purpose of identification.

The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every epistle; so I write. (2 Thess. 3:17)

It is not known why Paul’s usual practice was to use a penman. Nor do we know why he now abandons that practice. But the fact that he calls attention to the “large letters” he had written shows an emphasis on the importance of the abandonment. In other words, why call attention to the fact if it is not important that they notice it?

¹²As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. ¹³ For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

The motivation of these teachers was not love for the saints in Galatia. They were “false brethren … who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.” (2:4) They were trying to reduce the Lord’s church to little more than another Jewish sect. As a result, they were exploiting saints for personal gain.

¹⁴But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

While the Judaizers desired to boast in the flesh of the Galatians and others, Paul’s boast was “in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” His sermons and letters were always centered on the facts of the gospel and their implications.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. (1 Cor. 1:17-21)

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Cor. 2:1-2)

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. (1 Cor. 15:1-6)

¹⁵For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.

This implies that each of them was “a new creation” by “faith working through love,” not by the works of the law. (5:1-6)

¹⁶And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. ¹⁷From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

The “rule,” of course, is that of the Spirit: the New Testament, the gospel, the faith.

Paul had proved himself many times over. (2 Cor. 4:8-10; 6:4-10; 11:22-28)

¹⁸Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Grace was being extended to them even at the time this inspired epistle was being read in the midst of each of the Galatian churches. &