Stephen's death was a turning point in the life of the fledgling Church. It was the first instance of the fulfillment in entirety of Jesus' warning to His disciples that the world would treat them the way it had treated Him. Israel's ruling authority had executed Him as a blasphemer, and now they had done the same to Stephen. And they had done so, not simply because Stephen was propagating Jesus' teaching, but because he bore Jesus' life and fragrance. The Sanhedrin's furious hatred of Stephen was their hatred of his Master. Gaining its first martyr was a significant devleopment for the Church, but it had even greater salvation-historical importance: God's eternal purpose for His creation involves obtaining for Himself sons from every tribe, tongue, nation and people. Luke understood this work to be the focal point of the divine redemptive plan, and so made it a central theme in his two-fold account (cf. Luke 24:44ff; Acts 1:1ff). Thus he recorded Stephen's death, not so much to highlight the Church's first martyr as to show that this event served as the ordained catalyst for globalizing the gospel's witness and fruitfulness.
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