新约 - 使徒行传(Acts)第7章

Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"
To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran.
'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.'
"So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.
He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child.
God spoke to him in this way: 'Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,' God said, 'and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.'
Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
"Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him
and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
"Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food.
When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.
On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family.
After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all.
Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.
Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
"As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased.
Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt.
He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
"At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father's house.
When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.
Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
"When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites.
He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.
Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.
The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?'
"But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us?
Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'
When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice:
'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.
"Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground.
I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.'
"This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.
"This is that Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.'
He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.
"But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.
They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt--we don't know what has happened to him!'
That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made.
But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: "'Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile' beyond Babylon.
"Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David,
who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:
"'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things?'
"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him--
you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
"Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,
dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
使徒行传第七章   第 7 章 

  徒 7:2-53> 虽被责难不忘福音,他所讲的你明白吗?可是我们大多的时候都只为自己打算…… 

  7:2-53 司提反开始作出一篇很长的演说,内容是关于以色列与神的关系。他的演说有三大重点:( 1 )以色列的历史是神在世上工作的历史。( 2 )人类远在圣殿建成之前已敬拜神,神并不住在圣殿里。( 3 )耶稣的死是以色列人反叛和拒绝神的又一例证。事实上,司提反并不是为自己辩护;相反,他采取攻势,争取机会摘要阐述关于耶稣的教导。你遇到与司提反相同的攻击时,是忙于自辩、保自己的名声,还是忘我地为福音辩护呢? 

  徒 7:8> 割礼是立约的记号,犹太人仍施行表示他们仍顺服,是吗? 

  7:8 割礼是神与亚伯拉罕和整个以色列民族之间立约的记号(参创 17:9-13 )。司提反的演说是以色列历史的概要,也总括这个“约”怎样随着时间而成就。尽管在司提反时代的犹太人仍然奉行割礼仪式,但他们却没有顺服神。 

  徒 7:17> 司提反不是没什么好说吧,竟拿历史出来说?“我的历史”也会很有用? 

  7:17 司提反重温犹太人的历史,清楚印证神的信实和权能。尽管神的选民不断失败,但祂仍然可以实现祂的计划。当要面对一个混乱的局面时,要记住:( 1 )神正在掌管一切,没有什么是祂意料之外的;( 2 )这个世界将要过去,惟有神是永存的;( 3 )神是公义的,祂必会赏善罚恶。重温自己的信主历程或教会的历史,可以叫你看到神的不断看顾和保守,这一种历史感会支持你继续上路。讲述自己的得救见证是最好的传福音材料。 

  徒 7:38> 顺服与否是以色列人和神关系好坏的关键,是他们一生的功课,你可有同感? 

  7:38 司提反演说的重点是指出神藉着摩西传给百姓的律法,就是神与百姓立约的记号,只要他们顺服,就可以继续成为神的选民,否则,就破坏了这个约,并且放弃了作选民的权利。 

  徒 7:43> 以色列人流行拜偶像,那个摩洛是一个什么偶像? 

  7:43 司提反叙述以色列人在旷野漂流时拜偶像的情况(参出 32:4 )。摩洛是一个要以孩童作祭物的神,理番是一个埃及神。 

  徒 7:52> 许多先知也曾遭受逼迫?太可怕啦,谁曾遭害? 

  7:52 许多先知也曾遭受逼迫和杀害:如耶利米(参耶 38:1-6 )、以赛亚(参王下 21:16 )、阿摩司(参摩 7:10-13 )、撒迦利亚(参代下 24:20-22 )、以利亚(参王上 19:1-2 )等。耶稣也说过犹太人如何不断拒绝神的信息并迫害祂使者的比喻(参路 20:9-19 )。那“义者”是指弥赛亚。 

  徒 7:55-58> 甘心殉道不尤人──为福音的缘故竟可以这样,我可以有如此的心志为福音吗? 

  7:55-58 司提反看到神的荣耀,耶稣基督站在神的右边。司提反所说的话与耶稣在公会前所说的话很相似(参太 26:64 ;可 14:62 ;路 22:69 )。司提反所见的异象证实耶稣的宣告,并激怒了那些判耶稣死罪的犹太领袖;他们不能再容忍司提反的话,所以便聚集群众把他打死。人们大概不会因为我们见证基督而杀害我们;不过,他们会让我们知道他们不想听什么真理,也希望我们闭口不言。虽然有许多人会攻击你和你的信息,但你仍然要在你的行为和言语上荣耀神,也许有些人会因此而跟随主。记住,司提反的殉道给保罗留下深刻的印象,他后来成为最伟大的布道家。 

  徒 7:58> 曾经逼迫基督徒,且是大发热心,这人是谁? 

  7:58 扫罗又叫保罗( 13:9 ),是一个伟大的宣教士,曾写了新约圣经中多封书信。扫罗是希伯来名,保罗则是希腊名字;当他开始到外邦地方传道时,就用保罗这个名字了。路加第一次提到的扫罗,是憎恨和迫害耶稣信徒的人,但后来的描述截然不同。在此书的其余部分,记录了保罗是一个献身跟随基督又满有恩赐的传道者。因为保罗曾经逼迫信徒,他很了解反对耶稣的人,所以他最有资格向那些犹太人传讲耶稣。神可以改变任何人,保罗就是一个有力的例子。 

  徒 7:59> 司提反被打死了,可真残忍!不知道他们的心想些什么? 

  7:59 “亵渎”是指说了侮辱神的话;亵渎神者要被石头打死(参利 24:14 )。盛怒的宗教领袖未经审讯,就用石头打死司提反。他们不明白司提反的话是真理,因为他们并不寻求真理,只固守自己的看法。 

  徒 7:60> 司提反求主赦免他们,人何有这种宽容?如果,我是说如果别人如此对你…… 

  7:60 司提反临死前说的话,与耶稣在十字架上所说的话甚为相似(参路 23:34 )。初期信徒都很高兴承受耶稣曾经受过的苦难,因为这表示他们配得上( 5:41 )。司提反预备要像耶稣一样受苦,甚至愿意求主赦免杀他的人。这种宽容的表现惟有靠圣灵才能做到。圣灵也能帮助我们像司提反一样的宽容,能够爱我们的仇敌(参路 6:27 )。如果有人因为你的信仰而伤害你,你会有什么反应呢?──《灵修版圣经注释》