When the Badge Doesn’t Match the Life

Faith Rewired

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When the Badge Doesn’t Match the Life

Stephen’s speech exposes an old religious problem: people claiming God’s name while worshipping something else entirely.

Nov 23

Meet Stephen. A man full of faith and the Spirit. Distributor of bread to Hebraic widows. Gifted speaker. Opposed by some from the synagogue of freedmen¹. Innocent subject of a perverted legal process and a good old smear campaign. Defendant. Truth-teller. Martyr².

You’ve probably heard of him. He was the first Christian witness (μάρτυς martus³) to lose his life for the cause. You can read all about him in Acts 6⁴.

For many years I read his speech in Acts 7 as a long-winded walk through Jewish history⁵ that suddenly took a bit of a weird turn at the end. A speech that got him lynched essentially. Killed by an angry rock-throwing mob. But recently I have taken a closer look. I wanted to know what it was about what he said that got these people mad enough to want to kill him. My conclusion is as disturbing as it is clear.

The initial response was from Diaspora Jews – from North Africa and the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. What was it that got their attention? Perhaps they were Greek-speaking as we know Stephen was (Acts 6:1–5) ⁶. They could not stand up to him in actual debate, where precision and sound use of Scripture would be needed, so they descended into vague populist generalities – “he speaks against Moses and against God” ⁷. Hot-button outrage issues. Moses of course being the Lawgiver of Israel, leader of God’s people for the wilderness wanderings and regarded as the author of the most venerated part of the Tanakh – the Torah.

Next step in the playbook was to produce false witnesses accusing Stephen of “speaking against this holy place and the law” ⁸. The temple and the Torah were core to Jewish identity and religion. They were not only the core in practical terms – i.e. a sacred text to be read and a temple for prayer and sacrifice – but emblematic of God’s election and favour on them as a people.

Evidently Stephen had been echoing Jesus’ teachings of Jn 2:19 – where he said “destroy this temple and I will raise it up again in three days” ⁹. This accusation had been doing the rounds before Jesus’ death (Mt 26:61, Mk 14:58) and so may have been a well-known talking point in Jewish religious circles by the time of Stephen. It seems they were unwilling to make the same connection Ezra did (Ezra 5:12) ¹⁰. Finally, they spoke of “changing the customs Moses handed down to us” (Acts 6:14). Jesus had stated clearly that he was not there to abolish the Law at all (Mt 5:17). He was just there to recover its original intent (e.g. Mt 19:1–9).

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Stephen’s retelling of several key Old Testament stories highlights the parallels of the attitudes of his contemporaries with the sorry tales from times past. Abraham set a worthy example. He had a simple trust in God’s promises, even without a square inch of a land inheritance (7:5), no Scriptures and no temple.

Then came Joseph and his brothers – the venerable “patriarchs” (7:8). They set a less worthy example, falling into jealousy (7:9) that justified trafficking their brother into slavery to Midianite traders who sold him on to an Egyptian official in Pharaoh’s court (Gen 37:36). The “original sin” of the patriarchs ultimately resulted in the enslavement of the whole of the Hebrew people in Egypt. Slavery does seem to be one of those things that echoes down through history.

God raised up a saviour figure in Moses through his incredible provision (7:20–22) yet was rejected by that generation.

A key verse is 7:25 “Moses thought that his own people would realise that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not” ¹¹.

The pattern is thus established – this people do not recognise their Saviours when God sends them. They do not easily accept a “ruler and judge” over them (7:27). Another delay (7:30).

Another saviour figure in Moses (7:30–34), one who had been rejected (7:35) delivers the people in an amazing salvation event. His calling whilst in Sinai makes the point that holy ground can exist outside of Israel (7:33). Moses predicted the coming of another prophet (7:37), with living words (7:38) but he too will be rejected by this people (7:39) ¹², the hearts preferring the oppression of Egypt and the worship of a different God (7:39–41). God left them also (7:42–43).

The tabernacle and temple story (7:44–50) is another example of their faith being off-base. The Jerusalem temple was a key artefact of the identity system and theological world of the Sanhedrin¹³. They ran it. It meant the world to them – to lose the temple would be a theological and political catastrophe. So, any talk of “destroying the temple” was going to be met with an extreme reaction. It had happened before. In Israel’s history. And a repetition was not going to happen on these guy’s watch. Yet Jeremiah had warned of a religion based solely on having a temple in your back yard while living lives devoid of justice (Jer 7:4–5). And Stephen reminds them that God does not live in temples made by human hands (7:48–50) ¹⁴. Having a temple simply is not the main game.

At every point, the pattern has been to resist the saviours that God has provided, and to trust in something else instead (land, presence of their leader, possession of a temple space). What this means in practice is that they have actually preferred the worship of a different god all along. A small- “g” god who will allow them to be in charge instead of submitting to the will of the Biblical Deity. This is what it means to be stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart¹⁵. Not listening and not interested. To the point of not even being willing to turn the head to catch the sound of the voice of God.

“You have received the Law. But you haven’t obeyed it.” I am sure the members of the Sanhedrin were not used to that kind of public challenge from an upstart Greek-speaking Jew. Fury ensued, and after one more statement from Stephen about the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God¹⁶, he found himself being dragged outside the city walls and summarily stoned to death.

What can we learn from this?

Here we have an illustration of a religious phenomenon. We see adherents of a religious and cultural group holding onto their own version of an ancient faith. A version that is compatible with staying in control and wedded to certain cultural and physical markers. There is no personal change, sacrifice, service, or justice. There is no real understanding about what the faith is actually all about. It is a knock-off, a bad imitation. They’ve stolen the brand name but are making a different product¹⁷.

As we look around the world today, we see and hear about a lot of people who call themselves “Christians”. They “go to church”. They would own a Bible or two. All their friends might be “Christians”.. Yet their lives and their attitudes, their language and their political preferences seem to be quite different to what we see taught in the Scriptures. While Jesus preached love their rhetoric contains a high dose of hatred. Where kindness to the poor, the widow and the alien are themes in both Testaments, we are shocked and mystified by attitudes of intentional cruelty. Where forgiveness and non-violence are taught, we see threats, revenge and a love of weapons.

How can this be? Aren’t these people Christians? Stephen has explained it for us. In his day, the question was “Aren’t the Sanhedrin Jews? Aren’t they the pinnacle of their faith community? Aren’t they the chosen ones?” Stephen showed that even though that is what the label might say, the reality was that they were worshipping a different god. It’s the same today. Those who call themselves Christians but do not actually follow Jesus are not Christians at all. They are worshipping a different god. One they have made up¹⁸. They too are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart.

When the Badge Doesn’t Match the Life

When the Badge Doesn’t Match the Life

Stephen’s speech exposes an old religious problem: people claiming God’s name while worshipping something else entirely.

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