Atos 7
J. Vernon McGee · Citado em PreceptAustin
Atos 7
Vernon McGee - God told Moses, “I have heard their groaning.” He saw their need. That was the reason He delivered them. It was for the same reason that He provided a Savior for you and me. It wasn’t because we are such wonderful people. He didn’t look down and say, “My, they are so lovely down there. I must go down and save them. They are so sweet, and so kind, and so loving to Me, and so faithful to Me.” No! God looked down and saw nothing but corrupt, rotten sinners. We were all lost in iniquity. He loved us in spite of our unloveliness. That is the explanation. (Thru the Bible) I have come down to rescue them - Of course Stephen is speaking of Israel in slavery in Egypt, but the implication is that God had sent His Son down to earth to rescue men from enslavement to sin. The verb rescue is exaireo (used in Acts 7:10 of rescuing Joseph). It is interesting that Saul may have been in the audience listening to Stephen give his defense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ using the Old Testament Scriptures, for once converted Paul in one of his first epistles used this same verb in the context of salvation writing "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue (exaireo) us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, (Galatians 1:4+). The idea of God rescuing Israel from slavery would also bring up other thoughts in the minds of his listeners. And so the Sanhedrin must have surely been aware of Jesus' claim in John 8 when the Jews told Him "We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” (Jn 8:33) Jesus responded declaring "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:34-36) John
Atos 7
McGee - The word church (KJV) here does not mean that there was a church in the Old Testament in the same sense that there is a church in the New Testament. The word for church is ekklesia which means “called-out.” Even a group called out to mob somebody would be an ekklesia, a called-out group. So, Israel in the wilderness was a called-out group. They were called out of Egypt, by God, for a particular purpose. Sadly some highly respected teachers like Dr Wayne Grudem interpret the church as including even OT believers, a view with which I strongly disagree and which is not taught in the New Testament. Grudem refers to Acts 7:38 of Stephen's speech to buttress his argument that the New Testament authors (specifically Stephen or the author Dr Luke) speak of the Old Testament people of Israel as "the church". Think about his logic for a moment -- who encompasses the true church, the body of Christ, believers alone or believers plus non-believers? Clearly the answer is the true church of Christ is composed ONLY of believers. And yet Stephen is referring to Israel in the OT (that is the context of his entire chapter!) and clearly not all of Israel who came out of Egypt were truly saved! And yet Grudem chooses to translate Stephen's words as "church" implying that this is the true Church of Christ! Even the ESV translates it as "the congregation." Clearly Grudem's belief that ekklesia includes all believers is patently absurd. This fact alone should demolish his false teaching that the Body of Christ, the Church began in the Old Testament. Related Resource: What was the first / original church? Is the original / first church the true church? Congregation (1577)(ekklesia from ek = out + klesis = a calling, verb = kaleo = to call) literally means called out and as commonly used in the Greco-Roman vernacular referred to citizens who were called out from their homes to be publicly assembled or gathered to discuss or carry out affairs of state.