Acts 7:51-53 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ye stiff-necked, &c.— "Thus have I given you a brief account of the various periods of revelation, or the several dispensations of God to man, from the time in which Abraham, our renowned ancestor, was called out of idolatry to the knowledge of the true God, unto this very day when the kingdom of the Messiah has begun to take place—that seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth are to be blessed. And what I would have you understand by all that has been said, is this: that, in various ages and circumstances, God hath made various revelations, and appointed different positive institutions; that temporal afflictions are consistent with being in the divine favour; and that a temporal Messiah is not to be expected: but that God, who of old laid the plan for the successive dispensations, is now going to introduce the last and best of them, by erecting his spiritual kingdom under the Messiah, who is none other than Jesus of Nazareth. And, it is no wonder that you should treat him as you did; for you are a stubborn, obdurate people, who, though you boast of the circumcision of the flesh, yet are uncircumcised in heart and ears, and incorrigibly bent upon your own wicked ways. You even reject the very means which oughtto bring you to repentance, refusing the gracious invitations and offers of the Spirit of God, and treading in the steps of your disobedient ancestors. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? Nay, they even slew many who prophesied of the coming of that divine person, the Messiah, whom Abraham, Moses, Israel, David, Solomon,—the tabernacle, the temple, the law, the prophets, and all the past dispensations, did unanimously point at, and did some way or other tend to prepare men for. And yet, notwithstanding all this vast apparatus of along succession of promises, prophesies, shadows, and representations, which God from age to age hath given, to prepare you for the reception of him;—you, who ought to have received him with the greatest affection and regard, and protected him from any injurious treatment from others:—You yourselves, I say, have basely betrayed, and wickedly murdered him. And as your sin is much greater than that of your fathers, who rejected only Moses and the prophets; you may reasonably expect (unless you speedilyand sincerely repent) that the judgments of God, which followed them, will come upon you to the uttermost. Nor will it be in the least wonderful, if God should depart from you, and if what you have charged me with asserting, should come to pass; namely, that your city and temple should be destroyed, and your whole nation slain, or carried away into a long and severe captivity. I have charged you with despising and murdering the Just One: but how should you be supposed to attend to one who came in so low and humble a manner, when the law, in which you so much boast,waspublishedinanawful pompous manner, amidst troops of angels;—and yet, you have not kept it." Christ was, by way of eminence, called the Just or Righteous One, as being alone perfectly righteous; Acts 7:52. See ch. Acts 3:14.Isaiah 53:11.Zechariah 9:9. It is a fine remark of Grotius, that the Sanhedrim was obliged, by virtue of its very constitution, to guard and defend the lives of the prophets with peculiar care. How much more to protect from anyinjurious assault, so divine a messenger as Christ was; instead of which, they had not only basely deserted him, but had themselves become principals in his murder. The word διαταγας, rendered disposition, (Acts 7:53.) is a militaryword, and signifies ranks or troops; so that the passage should be read, who have received the law through ranks of angels, who were marshalled in solemn array on that great occasion. Comp. Deuteronomy 33:2 and Psalms 68:17. The sacred writer gives us an august idea of the majesty which attended the giving of the law. It was delivered with the utmost pomp and magnificence, amid the innumerable hosts of the Lord God Almighty. To what we have said on Acts 7:2 respecting this speech of St. Stephen, we will here subjoin, in brief, the sum of his discourse. "I acknowledge the glory of God revealed to the fathers, Acts 7:2,—the calling of Moses, Acts 7:34., &c.—the dignity of the law, Acts 7:8; Acts 7:38; Acts 7:44.—the holiness of this place, Acts 7:7; Acts 7:45; Acts 7:47—And indeed the law is more ancient than the temple; the promise more ancient than the law: for God shewed himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their children, freely, Acts 7:2., &c. Acts 7:9., &c. Acts 7:17., &c. Acts 7:32; Acts 7:34; Acts 7:45.—And they shewed faith and obedience to God, Acts 7:4; Acts 7:20; Acts 7:23 particularly by their regard for the law, Acts 7:8 and the promised land, Acts 7:16. Mean time, God never confined his presence to this one place, or to the observers of the law; for he has been acceptably worshipped before the law was given, or the temple built, and out of this land, Acts 7:2; Acts 7:9; Acts 7:33; Acts 7:44. And that our fathers, and their posterity, were not tied down to this land, their various sojournings and exiles shew, Acts 7:4., &c. Acts 7:14; Acts 7:29; Acts 7:43-44 but you and your fathers have always been evil, Acts 7:9 have withstood Moses, Acts 7:25., &c. Acts 7:39., &c. have despised the land, Acts 7:29 forsaken God, Acts 7:40., &c. superstitiously honoured the temple, Acts 7:48 resisted God and his spirit, Acts 7:25 killed the prophets, and the Messiah himself, Acts 7:52 and not kept the law for which ye contend, Acts 7:53. Therefore, God is not bound to you, much less to you alone."