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

the Stephen incident. Rejection by the Council of Jesus and the Spread of the Word 74 The rejection of Stephen's message by the Sanhedrin is a turning point in the book, but a turning point which involves a rejection of Jesus by the leadership rather than a rejection of Judaism by Jesus. That is, this rejection of the message of Jesus involves a spreading of the word, but not a changing of the word. A modification to the message does occur in the book of Acts, but when it happens several years later 68 it is inspired by direct revelation (Acts 10-11) and confirmed by Apostolic council (Acts 15). If the scenario presented here is correct, Stephen did not lose his life because of false doctrine about the Law or the Temple any more than Jesus did but because, like Jesus, he spoke the truth about his accusers and who the Messiah was. In fact, the words which Stephen spoke were really not new and the reaction which they elicited had occurred before as well. The culmination of Stephen's speech, that (1) Jesus who is the Messiah, (2) was betrayed and murdered by the Jewish leadership, (3) now stands at the right hand of God (4) as ruler and deliverer and (5) this is acknowledged by those who do not resist the Holy Spirit but obey him, imply refle t the major points of Peter's defen e delivered to the Sanhedrin in Act 5. Act 5:30-32 30 The God of our ance tor rai ed up Je– u , whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree . 31 d exalted him at hi right hand a L ade and a ior that h might give re- p ntanc t I rael and f rgi n f in . 611 lf t pl n's m rt ur m ppr Act 7:35, 51-5 , 56 52 the Righteou On , and n become hi betra er and murd r r . A t 7:56 th n f M n t th right hand f d! 7: b th rul r nd lib rat r pnl , , th n P t r' in J pa ould ut ft r ltrm utumn t 1th th J ru 1 m un 11 mm an ther d ht or nme