Acts 7:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

NIV: 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.

NASB: And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.

CSB: And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

NLT: God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. So when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day. And the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob, and when Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Israelite nation.

KJV: And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.

NKJV: Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

Stephen the Jesus-follower continues his defense that true God-worship does not require the Mosaic law or the temple. He does so by reciting the history of Israel, pointing out that through Abraham, the Jews have worshiped God since long before God gave them the Law.

The temple in Jerusalem had become a defining emblem of the united Jewish people. They rejoiced when it was built (1 Kings 8:62–66), mourned deeply when the Babylonians destroyed it (Jeremiah 52:17–23), and worked hard to build it again (Ezra 3). The presence of the temple, even without the ark of the covenant, represented the fact that God still blessed His people, even through the Roman occupation.

To speak against the temple, as Stephen is accused of doing (Acts 6:13), is to deny the special and holy relationship the Jews have with God. But Stephen reminds his audience that in the time of their forefathers, including Abraham, the twelve patriarchs, and the Jews who spent four hundred years in Egyptian slavery, the temple didn't exist. The defining symbol of the Jews' separateness from the world was always circumcision (Genesis 17:9–14). The tabernacle and the temple came later, to confine the worship of God in a way meant to exclude any pagan practices. But circumcision was a mark on the Jewish men that was meant to be universal and personal.

Soon, the Jews will understand this more thoroughly. In only a few decades, in AD 70, the Roman army will destroy Jerusalem, burn the temple, and send the Jews into an exile they will not return from until 1948. Even now, as of this writing, the temple is not rebuilt. Nearly two thousand years after the temple was last destroyed, the identifying mark of a Jewish male is still circumcision.

With this verse, Stephen concludes the account of God's interaction with Abraham and begins to give an account of the patriarchs and the conditions that led to the sojourn to Egypt.

Acts 7:1–8 is the beginning of Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin. Jews from outside Judea have accused Stephen, a follower of Jesus, of speaking against Moses, the Law, and the temple (Acts 6:8–15). Stephen uses the history of Israel to show how hypocritical the charges are. In Abraham's story, alone, Stephen shows how God is sovereign over His people outside Israel and outside the Mosaic law. God called Abraham hundreds of miles from Jerusalem in Mesopotamia and made a covenant with him hundreds of years before the Israelites received the Law. This story is told in full in Genesis 11:27—30:24.

Stephen is a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian and one of the first deacons in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:1–7). He's also a skilled apologist and has been debating Jews from outside Judea about the proper place of the Mosaic law and the temple (Acts 6:8–15). His opponents cannot counter his arguments so they resort to lies. They tell the Sanhedrin that Stephen wants to destroy the temple and repeal the Mosaic law. Stephen counters that his accusers don't respect Moses or the Law, and the temple isn't necessary to worship God. This enrages the mob, and Stephen is stoned, becoming the first Christian martyr.

Chapter 7 is one of the pivot points of the book of Acts. Until recently, the early church has seen favor from the people and indifference from the Sanhedrin. Now, the Sanhedrin has beaten the apostles and ordered them not to preach about Jesus (Acts 5:40), and the people are starting to realize how different Christianity is. In Jerusalem, a Hellenist Jewish Jesus-follower named Stephen has been in a debate with other foreign Jews who finally accuse him of wishing to destroy the temple, like Jesus (Acts 6:8–15). This is Stephen's defense, which leads to his death and the introduction of Paul.

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.