The Relationship of Jewish and Gentile Believers to the Law Between A.D. 30 and 70 in the Scripture

71 also a miracle worker, "This is the Moses who said ... 'God shall raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren"' (7:37). That is, the points of correspondence between Moses and Messiah are his appointment as a ruler and deliverer by God, his rejection as such by the people and his performance of miracles. The climax to this section, however comes with 7:38-39 where Stephen's last "This is the one" statement is found. Moses spoke to God on the mountain, and received living oracles from God but the fathers were "unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt." Thus, when Stephen asks rhetorically, and accuses, "Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One" (7:52) he has thoroughly demonstrated his case. Both Stephen and Moses have "announced" (at least typologically , 7:37) the coming of the righteous one and were rejected by their brothers. Using the pattern of one rejected by his brothers , humiliated and yet vindicated by God, Stephen has answered the third part of the charges brought against him. He has declared that "this Nazarene , Jesus ," (6 : 14) is, in fact, the Righteous One (7:52) and the "Son of Man" who stands at the right hand of God (7:56). This concludes the discussion on the defense of Stephen. Hi peech ha not onl served to defend himself but also, in each point , to accuse the accu er . He ha demon trated loyalty to Moses, honored the Temple and recognized and accepted the Me iah . Hi a u r are found guilty on all count . At thi point we will attempt t define th ontributi n f th tephen incident to the book . With ut ubt , p pr d f th rd m J ~ru al m ( t 1- ) nd 1t pr d t th l ) lt c nt1 i ut t that t1 nsiti n an lu t d b du nth f t h n'