Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-08-14
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
For Aug. 19.-Stephen
BY DR.. MARION McH. HULL

out of a complaint. The early
church was a model church in most
respects, but it was far from per.
feet. The members showed a mag
nificent spirit in placing everything
they had in a common fund for dis
tribution as every one had need.
But out of this grew the conten-
ton. The Hellenists complained
that those of their number who
were widows were being neglected
in the daily ministrauon. The Hell
lenists were Jews who had been
living out of Palestine, and who
had been influenced by Grecian cul-
ture and civilization. In the strug-
giles of the Maccabees against the
Greeks there had grown up an in
tense antipathy in the minds of the
Jews of Palestine, the loyalists, the
natiopalists against everything Gre
clan. How intense this was will
appear from story recorded by
the son of Gamaiiel Pauls teachcr),
who said, There were a thousand
boys in my fathers school, five
hundred of whom were Hebrews and
five hundred Hellenists. OF the lat
ter only two are alive" They
thought heaven itself WAS against
the Grecians.
No wonder, therefore, that in the
early church the racial question
arose. and that the Hellenists COM
planned that those Of their number
were not getting a square deal from
the apostles who were all Pales-
tinian Jews.
1t takes two to make quarrel.
however, and the apostles refused
to be the other party. At their
suggestion, the people themselves
chose men of honest report, full of
the Holy Spirit and of wisdom. All
three qualifications were necessary.
The first was necessary 20 inspire
confidence in the hearts of the peo-
pie; the second and third were es-
sentially necessary. Piety is no
guarantee of wisdom, nor is wisdom
any guarantee of piety, but the conf
bination was and is essential to
leadership in the work of the
church. The lack of one or the
other is the cause of the slow prog
ress the church is making in its
work today. The people chose seven
men. three Hellenists, three He
brews and one proselyte. Thus all
classes were represented and fur
Their charges of discrimination made
impossible. Our thought today is
to be directed toward but one of
these, the first one named and the
most outstanding of them all.
Working
Stephen was evidently the most
outstanding layman in the group of
the followers of The Way Gas the
church was first called. He had
already shown evidence of great
piety and wisdom and had COM
mended himself by his exemplary
life to all of his fellow followers!
His name indicates that he was of
Grecian origin, although we have no
further knowledge of his antecedents.
1t is probable that he was elected
to office in A. d. "a. or about
year after the crucifiXion. His
specific work was to see that the
daily distribution of supplies for the
physical needs of the followers Of
The Way was equitably made. There
can be no doubt but that this work
was satisfactorily done, for there
was no more complaint and the
number of the disciples multiplied
greatly,
But Stephen did not stop here.
He had so yielded himself to God
that the Holy Spirit filled him
took possession of every faculty of
his life and used him as His in
strument for the accomplishment of
His will Full of grace and power"
he wrought wonders and signs
among the people. 1t was not his
eIoquence, nor his personality. nor
his executive ability, nor his energy,
nor his tremendous physical en-
durance and effort that brought
about great results. God could have
used any or all of these traits; but
it was that he was full of grace
and full of power that evidenced it
self in signs and wonders. What
these were we have no intlmatlon
Disputing
This brought him in conflict, how
ever. with certain of the synagogue
of the Libertines, the Alexandrlans
the Cyrenians, the Cilicians, and the
Asiatics. "Disputing with Stephen
conveys to our mind the idea of Ill
feeling. but the Greek word conveys
Just the other idea. 1t means TO
Investigate jointly or Ito seek to-
xetber" more literally. They had
a discussion among themselves Win
Stephen on one side and all the rest
WAYS got the best of the argument.
They were not able to resist the wis
dom and the spirit by which he
spoke One of the number VINO ols-
cussed these things with him was
Saul of Tarsus Ia city OF Clllcla).
When we appreciate the tremendous
mower of Saurs mind and remember
the training he had had at the feet
VIC
arguments later the resistless logic
mat he used. we are better able to
appreciate the victories which the
single-handed champion of the truth
won against all of the combined
forces. The reason was that Goo
was using Stephens mind ana
mouth 10 speak His truth.
We can guess pretty we'll what
thev were discussing. The Llber-
tines were Jews who had been taken
IN slavery into the foreign countries
and had later been set free. There
were enough of these Freedmen IN
Jerusalem to form a synagogue OF
their own. For while the temple
vas still in Jerusalem there were
about five hundred synagogues there
also PEOPLE of common INTERESTS
would unite in having a synagogue
L,bere thew might meet each othet
and worship also.
These Freedmen would naturally
flock together by reason OF thell
common interests. And their past
exneriepces under the Gentle yoke
made them very bitter against any
thing that would seem to give g
any Gentle the same religious priv
the
Cflician Jews in Jerusalem had
formed a synagogue: and the Alex
andria Jews, etc. knowing Sauls
bitterness against any tendencies
that he regarded as blasphemous
and the false accusations which
these unsuccessful disDutants made
SStc-nhorn liz 81 4