While Peter, Paul and Jesus are “the stars” of The Acts, if we can use such terms in talking about such characters, who are some of the cameos and secondary characters. Angels, play a prominent role in The Acts. Stephen, while maybe not a “star” in the book, is a very important character, who went on to be a significant figure of the early and current church.
Stephen is one of seven named early deacons in the church, so he had an important leadership role in converting others to Christianity. Of the many discourses found in the Acts, Stephen’s speech to Sanhedrin is the longest of all of them.
Stephen was the first recorded martyr of the church. He was also important in the development of the character Paul, who at the time was still called Saul. He witnessed the stoning of Steven, and this surely had a profound impact on Paul, who witnessed first hand just how committed the early Christians were to their faith, to the point of being killed for it.
While he was being stoned Stephen called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (Acts 7:59).
A quick Internet search shows that Steven is an important figure of the Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox and Lutheran sects of Christianity.
Stephen’s feast day is observed the day after Christmas, which is a very important time for the church and shows just how important a character he is.
It has been enjoyable to focus on a secondary character as the “Stars” certainly outside the rest, but by focusing on one you can have a richer experience in reading The Acts.
Work Cited:
Acts of The Apostle. The Bible.
