Acts 7:38

7:30-41 Men deceive themselves, if they think God cannot do what he sees to be good any where; he can bring his people into a wilderness, and there speak comfortably to them. He appeared to Moses in a flame of fire, yet the bush was not consumed; which represented the state of Israel in Egypt, where, though they were in the fire of affliction, yet they were not consumed. It may also be looked upon as a type of Christ's taking upon him the nature of man, and the union between the Divine and human nature. The death of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, cannot break the covenant relation between God and them. Our Saviour by this proves the future state, Mt 22:31. Abraham is dead, yet God is still his God, therefore Abraham is still alive. Now, this is that life and immortality which are brought to light by the gospel. Stephen here shows that Moses was an eminent type of Christ, as he was Israel's deliverer. God has compassion for the troubles of his church, and the groans of his persecuted people; and their deliverance takes rise from his pity. And that deliverance was typical of what Christ did, when, for us men, and for our salvation, he came down from heaven. This Jesus, whom they now refused, as their fathers did Moses, even this same has God advanced to be a Prince and Saviour. It does not at all take from the just honour of Moses to say, that he was but an instrument, and that he is infinitely outshone by Jesus.

In the church in the wilderness; or congregation; with the rest of the people in all their difficult journey. The angel; see Acts 7:30 . The lively oracles; God’s law and word is so called, as the only rule to walk by unto life, Deu 32:47 : it is there said to be our life; and it is the only ordinary means of a spiritual and holy life, which it begets and preserves.

Acts 7:38 . Οὗτος , this ) Moses.— γενόμενος ) Construed with μετά .— ἐν τῆ ἐκκλησίᾳ ) It is not the people in this passage, but the congregation of the people, that is denoted.— μετὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου — καὶ τῶν πατέρων , with the angel—and the fathers ) Therefore Moses was mediator. Stephen does not say, with the angels , but with the Angel, i.e. of the covenant.— ἐδέξατο , received ) did not invent.— λόγια , words ) oracles : λόγιον , a diminutive, on account of the brevity of the several enunciations. Every paragraph that begins with that formula, And the Lord spake unto Moses , is in itself a λόγιον . The Decalogue especially is referred to.— ζῶντα , living ) Living is his expression, not life-giving . He praises the law. It is fiery: it is living; Deuteronomy 33:2 .

38. in the church—the collective body of God's chosen people; hence used to denote the whole body of the faithful under the Gospel, or particular sections of them. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, with the angel … and with our fathers—alike near to the Angel of the Covenant, from whom he received all the institutions of the ancient economy, and to the people, to whom he faithfully reported the living oracles and among whom he set up the prescribed institutions. By this high testimony to Moses, Stephen rebuts the main charge for which he was on trial.

Verse 38. - Sinai for Sins , A.V. (Hebrew for Greek form); living cracks for the lively cracks, A.V. In the church. St. Stephen probably used the word ἐκκλησία without any reference to its special meaning, "the Church." It is used in a secular sense in Acts 19:32, 39 , and of the congregation of Israel in the LXX. of 1 Chronicles 13:2 ; 1 Macc. 2:56; Ecclus. 44:15; and elsewhere. In Stephen's time it could hardly have become widely known as the designation of the flock of Christ. On the whole, the marginal rendering, "the congregation," seems best, but with the idea attached that it was the Lord's congregation. The angel which spake . It may be doubted whether the phrase, "the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai," refers to the angel spoken of in ver. 30, or to the angel by whose mouth God spake the words of the ten commandments on Mount Sinai, as recorded in Exodus 20:1-17 ; Deuteronomy 5:1-22 . Chrysostom and most commentators seem to understand it of the angel who gave the Law; but Whitby, not without reason, thinks the reference is to the burning bush. Living oracles . In like manner, St. Paul calls the Holy Scriptures "the oracles of God" ( Romans 3:2 ), and in Hebrews 5:12 we read again of "the first principles of the oracles of God," and St. Peter says, "Let him speak as the oracles of God" ( 1 Peter 4:11 ). For the force of the living or lively oracles, see 1 Peter 1:23, 25 .

38 . This is he, that was in the church [ congregation ] in the wilderness ] i.e. with the congregation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai. with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina [ Sinai ] As in Acts 7:35 , the angel is God Himself; just so in Acts 7:31 the voice which spake is called “a voice of the Lord.” and with our fathers ] Jewish tradition says that the whole world was present at Sinai. Thus Midrash Rabbah on Exodus, cap. 28 ad fin .: “Whatever the prophets were to utter in prophecy in every generation they received from Mount Sinai,” and presently after, commenting on the words of Moses ( Deuteronomy 29:15 ), Him that is not here with us this day , it is said, “These are the souls which were yet to be created,” i.e. to be sent into the world; and to explain ( Deuteronomy 5:22 ) and he added no more , (on which they found the teaching that all revelation was completely given at Sinai,) they say, “The one voice was divided into seven voices, and these were divided into the seventy tongues,” which Jewish tradition held to be the number of the languages of the world. who received the lively oracles to give unto us ] Who (i.e. Moses) received living oracles , &c. Moses is thus shewn to have been a mediator (see Galatians 3:19 ), and thus to have prefigured the mediator of a better covenant ( Hebrews 8:6 ) and of the New Testament ( Hebrews 9:15 ), even Jesus ( Hebrews 12:24 ). The oracles are called living , just as “the word of God” is called living [A.

V. quick] ( Hebrews 4:12 ), because it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. On this effect cp. St Paul’s language concerning the law ( Romans 7:9 ), “When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” But there is at the same time the other sense in the word, which appears when ( John 6:51 ) Christ calls Himself “the living bread which came down from heaven.” For the law pointed onward to Christ, who should lead His people “unto living fountains of waters” ( Revelation 7:17 ). For the thought, cp. 1 Peter 1:23 , “The word of God which liveth and abideth for ever.”

Acts 7:38 . This is he who … had intercourse with the angel … and our fathers , was the mediator ( Galatians 3:19 ) between the two. On γίνομαι μετά , versor cum , which is no Hebraism, comp. Acts 9:19 , Acts 20:18 ; Mark 16:10 ; Ast, Lex. Plat. I. p. 394. ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ] in the assembly of the people (held for the promulgation of the law) in the desert , Exodus 19. This definite reference is warranted by the context, as it is just the special act of the giving of the law that is spoken of. λόγια ζῶντα ] i.e. utterances which are not dead, and so ineffectual, but living, in which , as in the self-revelations of the living God, there is effective power ( John 6:51 ), as well with reference to their influence on the moulding of the moral life according to God’s will, as also especially with reference to the fulfilment of the promises and threatenings thereto annexed. Comp. 1 Peter 1:23 ; Hebrews 5:12 ; Deuteronomy 32:47 . Incorrectly Beza, Calvin, Grotius, Kuinoel, and others hold that ζῆν stands for ζωοποιεῖν . Even according to Paul, the law in itself is holy, just, good, spiritual, and given for life ( Romans 7:12 ; Romans 7:14 ); that it nevertheless kills, arises from the abuse which the power of sin makes of it ( Romans 7:5 ; Romans 7:13 ff.; 1 Corinthians 15:56 ), and is therefore an accidental relation.

(38) That was in the church in the wilderness. —The word ecclesia is used, as it had been in the LXX. ( Deuteronomy 18:16 ; Deuteronomy 23:1 ; Psalm 26:12 ), for the “congregation” of Israel. Of the earlier versions. Tyndale, Cranmer, and the Genevan, had given “congregation.” Even the Rhemish contented itself with “assembly.” The translators of 1611, acting on the instructions which were drawn up for their direction, did not see any reason for making this an exception to the rule, and so gave “church.” Assuming that ecclesia was so rendered elsewhere, it was, it may be admitted, right, as a matter of consistency, that it should be used here, as presenting the thought, which was emphasised in Stephen’s speech, that the society of believers in Christ was like, in character and in its relation to God, to that of Israel. The new ecclesia was the development of the old. (See Note on Matthew 16:18 .) The lively oracles.—The noun was used by the Greeks for the solemn utterances of the Pythian oracles, and thus came to be used by the LXX. in connection with the Urim and Thummim of the high priest (Exodus 28:30), and so for any answer from God (Numbers 24:4). In the New Testament it appears again in Romans 3:2; Hebrews 5:12; 1Peter 4:11.