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

76 The persecution which spreads the gospel outside of Jerusalem is clearly the result of chapter seven but it is neither what Stephen was calling for nor the reason for which he was stoned. The message was the same message which Peter preached, that Jesus was the risen Messiah and salvation could be found only in Him. Conclusion The first issue discussed in this section was Hellenism and its relationship to Stephen. It was found that in the context of Acts the concept of Hellenism probably implies little more than the language of the speakers. Those hellenistic Jews which were mentioned in the account were found to be just as zealous and loyal to the Law as Aramaic speaking Jews. Furthermore, as he composes the story Luke goes to little effort to paint Stephen as a Hellenist, preferring to emphasize his character, power and relationship to the Spirit. Though the Hellenists may have been an identifiable group in the Church they were not a faction which heralded an avant garde theology. Thus, it is doubtful that Luke 's mention of certain hellenistic widows in chapter six was a clue by which he intended the reader to understand any universal overtones to Stephen's speech. Stephen's speech was a powerful and double-edged sword which both defended him and attacked his accusers . If his speech was any indication of his theology then he wa thoroughly faithful with regard to three area : hi view of Mose , the Temple and the Me siah. While his accusers were the one who di obeyed Mo e , abu ed the Temple and rejected the Me iah, tephen, a a man of the pirit, prop rly honored all thr e. Hi d ath came, like Jesu ho e ilhou tte can be een b hind the kneeling mart r, n t a re ult f h y but b cau of hi bold peaking of th truth hi h ut hi rt.