 |
|
|
|
Seven Men Chosen for a Special Work6 1More and more people were becoming followers of Jesus. But during this same time, the Greek-speaking followers began to complain against the other Jewish followers. They said that their widows were not getting their share of what the followers received every day. 2The twelve apostlesa called the whole group of followers together.
The apostles said to them, "It would not be right for us to give up our work of teaching God's word in order to be in charge of getting food to people. 3So, brothers and sisters, choose seven of your men who have a good reputation. They must be full of wisdom and the Spiritb. We will give them this work to do. 4Then we can use all our time to pray and to teach the word of God."
5The whole group liked the idea. So they chose these seven men: Stephen (a man with great faith and full of the Holy Spirit), Philipc, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus (a man from Antioch who had become a Jew). 6Then they put these men before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands ond them.
7The word of God was reaching more and more people. The group of followers in Jerusalem became larger and larger. Even a big group of Jewish priests believed and obeyed.
Some Jews Against Stephen 8Stephen received a great blessing. God gave him power to do great wonderse and miraculous signsf among the people. 9But some of the Jews there were from the synagogueg of Free Menh, as it was called. The group included Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asiai. They started arguing with Stephen. 10But the Spiritb was helping him speak with wisdom. His words were so strong that these Jews could not argue with him.
11So they told some men to say, "We heard Stephen say bad things against Mosesj and against God!" 12By doing this, these Jews upset the people, the older Jewish leaders, and the teachers of the law. They became so angry that they came and grabbed Stephen and took him to a meeting of the high council.
13The Jews brought some men into the meeting to tell lies about Stephen. These men said, "This man is always saying things against this holy place and against the Law of Moses. 14We heard him say that Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place and change what Moses told us to do." 15Everyone there in the council meeting was staring at Stephen. They saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.
aapostle A follower of Jesus chosen to represent him in a special way. During his earthly ministry, Jesus named twelve men as apostles. They had the specific responsibility and authority to represent him and proclaim his message throughout the world. Later, he appeared to Paul and gave him a similar commission, especially to non-Jewish people. Barnabas, Paul’s missionary companion, and James, the brother of Jesus, are also called apostles, as well as several others in the New Testament. Some of these occurrences of the word, however, have the more general sense of “messenger” or “representative.”
bSpirit See “Holy Spirit.”
c6:5 Philip Not the apostle named Philip.
dlay hands on This act was a way of asking God to bless people in a special way - to heal them, to cause the Holy Spirit to come into them, or to give them power for a special work.
ewonders Miracles that cause people to react with amazement and fear of God.
fmiraculous sign An amazing act that demonstrates the power of God.
gsynagogue A place in many cities where Jews gathered for prayer, study of the Scriptures, and other public meetings.
hFree Men Jews who had been slaves or whose fathers had been slaves, but were now free.
iAsia The geographical area, sometimes called Asia Minor, that is now the western part of modern Turkey.
jMoses One of the most important leaders of the Israelites during the time of the Old Testament. God used him to give the people his law, which is often called “the Law of Moses.”
|
|
|
|
|
BCC 소개 |
뉴스레터 |
찾아오시는 길 |
개인정보 보호정책 |
TOP ▲ |
|
|
BCC | 서울시 강서구 방화1동 180-14 7F | 비영리법인번호:109-82-03052 | Tel (02) 2662-0793, 2662-8081 | Fax (02) 2662-8082
Portions are Copyrighted 1964-2025 BCC. Contact us for more information |
|
|
..
|
|
