Stephen
One of seven men chosen to serve the church in Jerusalem. Accused of speaking against the temple and the law, he was stoned to death, the first follower of Jesus whose death for his testimony Acts records.
Stephen heads the list of seven men chosen by the Jerusalem church to oversee its daily distribution of food. Acts calls him “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:1–6). He disputed with members of the synagogue of the Freedmen and other Jews from abroad, was charged before the council with speaking against the temple and the law of Moses, and answered with a long speech on the history of Israel (Acts 6:8–7:53). He was dragged out of Jerusalem and stoned, while a young man named Saul, the later Paul, looked after the cloaks of the witnesses (Acts 7:54–8:1). See the Martyrdom of Stephen.
The persecution that followed his death scattered the believers and carried their preaching to Samaria, Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch (Acts 8:1–5) (Acts 11:19). No other New Testament book mentions Stephen; the year of his death is an estimate tied to the date of Paul’s conversion.
In the timeline
- about AD 34, estimated dateThe Martyrdom of Stephen
Acts tells how Stephen, one of seven men chosen to serve the Jerusalem church, is accused before the council of speaking against the temple and the law and is stoned to death. The persecution that follows scatters the believers beyond Jerusalem.