Acts 7:59

Acts 7:59-60 . And thus they stoned Stephen — Who, during this furious assault, continued with his eyes fixed on the heavenly glory, of which he had so bright a vision, calling upon God — The word God is not in the original, which is literally, invoking; and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit — For Christ was the person to whom he prayed: and surely such a solemn prayer addressed to him, in which a departing soul was thus committed into his hands, was such an act of worship as no good man could have paid to a mere creature; Stephen here worshipping Christ in the very same manner in which Christ worshipped the Father on the cross. And he kneeled down, &c. — Having nothing further relating to himself which could give him any solicitude, all his remaining thoughts were occupied in compassion to these inhuman wretches, who were employed in effecting his destruction. Having, therefore, as we have reason to suppose, received many violent blows, rising as well as he could upon his knees, he cried, though with an expiring, yet with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge — With severity proportionable to the weight of the offence, but graciously forgive them, as indeed I do from my heart. The original expression, μη στησης αυτοις την αμαρτιαν , has a peculiar emphasis, and is not easy to be exactly translated, without multiplying words to an improper degree.

It is literally weigh not out to them this sin; that is, a punishment proportionable to it; alluding, it seems, to passages of Scripture where God is represented as weighing men’s characters and actions in the dispensations of his justice and providence. This prayer of Stephen was heard, and remarkably answered, in the conversion of Saul, of whose history we shall shortly hear more. When he had said this — Calmly resigning his soul into the Saviour’s hand, with a sacred serenity, in the midst of this furious assault, he sweetly fell asleep — Leaving the traces of a gentle composure, rather than a horror, upon his breathless corpse.

Stephen called upon him whom he saw standing, and that was our Saviour. My spirit; or, my soul: thus our Saviour commended his spirit into his Father’s hands, Luke 23:46 and this disciple imitates his Master, and comforts himself with this, that to be sure his soul should be safe, whatever became of his body.

Acts 7:59 . Κύριε Ἰησοῦ , Lord Jesus ) Stephen still confesses His name. Θεὶς , laying down [resting on his knees]) He was not able to do so previously: yet he was able to pray, being more unimpeded in mind than in body. At the same time the knees being laid down, so as to kneel, more properly accords with his intercession for the sin of his enemies.— φωνῇ μεγάλῃ , with a loud voice ) with boldness of speech; in order that those raising the tumult might hear.— Κύριε , Lord ) He calls the same Jesus, Lord. Dying persons ought to invoke Him.— ἁμαρτίαν , sin ) It is not inconsistent with maintaining patience to call sin, sin.— ἐκοιμήθη , he fell asleep ) A mournful but sweet word. This proto-martyr had (strange to say) all the very apostles as his survivors.

59, 60. calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, &c.—An unhappy supplement of our translators is the word "God" here; as if, while addressing the Son, he was really calling upon the Father. The sense is perfectly clear without any supplement at all—"calling upon [invoking] and saying, Lord Jesus"; Christ being the Person directly invoked and addressed by name (compare Ac 9:14). Even Grotius, De Wette, Meyer, &c., admit this, adding several other examples of direct prayer to Christ; and Pliny, in his well-known letter to the Emperor Trajan (A.D. 110 or 111), says it was part of the regular Christian service to sing, in alternate strains, a hymn to Christ as God. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit—In presenting to Jesus the identical prayer which He Himself had on the cross offered to His Father, Stephen renders to his glorified Lord absolute divine worship, in the most sublime form, and at the most solemn moment of his life. In this commitment of his spirit to Jesus, Paul afterwards followed his footsteps with a calm, exultant confidence that with Him it was safe for eternity (2Ti 1:12).

Verse 59. - The Lord (in italics) for God (in italics), A.V. The A.V. is certainly not justified by the context, because the words which follow, "Lord Jesus," show to whom the invocation was made, even to him whom he saw standing at the right hand of God. At the same time, the request, Receive my spirit , was a striking acknowledgment of the divinity of Christ. Only he who gave the spirit could receive it back again, and keep it safe unto the resurrection. Compare "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" ( Luke 23:46 ). Acts 7:59

59 . And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God ] The last word is supplied to make the sense clear in English, but from the words which follow it is better to read “the Lord” instead of “God,” for it is the Lord Jesus who is invoked. and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit ] i.e. at its departure from my body; which he knew was soon to take place.

Acts 7:59-60 . Ἐπικαλούμενον ] while he was invoking . Whom? is evident from the address which follows. κύριε Ἰησοῦ ] both to be taken as vocatives ( Revelation 22:20 ) according to the formal expression κύριος Ἰησοῦς (Gersdorf, Beitr. p. 292 ff.), with which the apostolic church designates Jesus as the exalted Lord, not only of His church, but of the world, in the government of which He is installed as σύνθρονος of the Father by His exaltation ( Php 2:6 ff.), until the final completion of His office ( 1 Corinthians 15:28 ); comp. Acts 10:36 . Stephen invoked Jesus ; for he had just beheld Him standing ready to help him. As to the invocation of Christ generally (relative worship, conditioned by the relation of the exalted Christ to the Father), see on Romans 10:12 ; 1 Corinthians 1:2 ; Php 2:10 . δέξαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου ] namely, to thee in heaven until the future resurrection. Comp. on Php 1:26 , remark. “Fecisti me victorem, recipe me in triumphum,” Augustine. φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ] the last expenditure of his strength of love, the fervour of which also discloses itself in the kneeling . μὴ στήσῃς αὐτοῖς τ . ἁμαρτ . ταύτ .] fix not this sin (of my murder) upon them . This negative expression corresponds quite to the positive: ἀφιέναι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν , to let the sin go as regards its relation of guilt, instead of fixing it for punishment. Comp. Romans 10:3 ; Sir 44:21-22 ; 1Ma 13:38 ; 1Ma 14:28 ; 1Ma 15:4 , al.

The notion, “to make availing ” (de Wette), i.e. to impute , corresponds to the thought , but is not denoted by the word . Linguistically correct is also the rendering: “ weigh not this sin to them,” as to which the comparison of שָׁקַל is not needed ( Matthew 26:15 ; Plat. Tim. p. 63 B, Prot. p. 356 B, Pol. x. p. 602 D; Xen. Cyr. viii. 2. 21; Valcken. Diatr. p. 288 A). In this view the sense would be: Determine not the weight of the sin (comp. Acts 25:7 ), consider not how heavy it is. But our explanation is to be preferred, because it corresponds more completely to the prayer of Jesus, Luke 23:34 , which is evidently the pattern of Stephen in his request, only saying negatively what that expresses positively. In the case of such as Saul what was asked took place; comp. Oecumenius. In the similarity of the last words of Stephen, Acts 7:59 with Luke 23:34 ; Luke 23:40 (as also of the words δέξαι τὸ πν . μου with Luke 23:46 ), Baur, with whom Zeller agrees, sees an indication of their unhistorical character; as if the example of the dying Jesus might not have sufficiently suggested itself to the first martyr, and proved sufficient motive for him to die with similar love and self-devotion. ἐκοιμήθη ] “lugubre verbum et suave,” Bengel; on account of the euphemistic nature of the word, never used of the dying of Christ. See on 1 Corinthians 15:18 .

(59) Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. —The words are memorable as an instance of direct prayer addressed, to use the words of Pliny in reporting what he had learned of the worship of Christians, “to Christ as God” ( Epist x. 97). Stephen could not think of Him whom he saw at the right hand of God, but as of One sharing the glory of the Father, hearing and answering prayer. And in the prayer itself we trace an echo of words of which Stephen may well have heard. The Son commended His Spirit to the Father ( Luke 23:46 ); the disciple, in his turn, commends his spirit to the Son. The word “God,” in the sentence “calling upon God,” it should be noted, is, as the italics show, an insertion to complete the sense.