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Acts 7:8
“[God] 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.”
Responding to charges of blasphemy, Stephen, one of the church’s first deacons, gave a speech covering much of the history of old covenant Israel. We have seen that Stephen told of God’s speaking to His people and maintaining their existence outside the promised land and apart from their possession of the temple (Acts 6:8–7:7). His response was necessary because the charge of blasphemy was leveled based on Jesus’ words about the end of the temple and certain changes that would take place regarding the Mosaic customs under the new covenant. The ancient Jews had so connected God and His blessing with the temple, the land of Canaan, and the old covenant order that in their minds, calling into question the permanence of any of those things was, by extension, an attack on the Lord. Yet if Israel’s history could be used to show that God and His blessing were not tied to the temple, the land of Canaan, and the Mosaic legal system, then the charge of blasphemy would be revealed as without merit.
In today’s passage, we see a new theme in Stephen’s speech: the history of old covenant Israel’s resistance to God and His grace. Stephen will ultimately connect this history of resistance to the Sanhedrin’s opposition to Jesus and His followers, demonstrating to the Jewish leaders that instead of doing God’s will, they were actually continuing in the wickedness that brought divine wrath on Israel (7:51–53). Stephen introduces this theme by referring to “the covenant of circumcision” given to Abraham and his descendants (v. 8).
The terrible betrayal of God on the part of old covenant Israel and His ensuing wrath can be understood only if we have a firm grasp of the grace shown in the covenant with Abraham. As we read in Genesis 17, God instituted the covenant of circumcision with Abraham to mark him and his family as belonging to the Lord, separating them from the world so that He would be their God and they would be His people. The sheer graciousness of this arrangement is seen not only in that our Creator called Abraham when he was worshiping other gods (Josh. 24:2–3) but also in that the covenant of circumcision followed Abraham’s great sin in seeking to produce an heir with Hagar even after he came to know the one true God (Gen. 16). Time and again, from the very beginning, old covenant Israel, with some exceptions, would reject this grace and oppose the Creator.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Israel’s rejection of God and His grace under the old covenant led to severe judgment. Consequently, rejection of Christ and His grace under the new covenant will bring even greater judgment, since His death on behalf of His people is an even clearer and more definitive display of divine mercy (Heb. 10:26–31). Let us not reject the grace of God but continue responding to it in faith.
For further study
- 2 Kings 13:23
- Matthew 23:29–36
The bible in a year
- Deuteronomy 8–10
- Mark 12:28–44
- Deuteronomy 11–16
- Mark 13:1–14:9