Acts 6:5-7 - A man full of faith and the Holy Spirit

6:5,6

The people were pleased with the proposal. The seven were chosen in accordance with the apostles’ directions, and we are given the names of all of them. Stephen is mentioned first and it is stressed that he was a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. We will shortly read a lot more about Stephen. Next is Philip, another of the seven of whom we will read more later. The others are not mentioned again, though there is speculation that Nicolas was later connected with the Nicolaitans of Rev 2, though this is pure speculation and is a slur on his character. Here it is mentioned that he was a convert to Judaism. The names of the seven are all Greek names. The apostles then prayed with them and laid hands on them.

6:7

“So the word of God spread.” Solving a practical problem can lead to spiritual growth. Note that the growth is expressed as the word of God spreading. Acts is about the mission of God above all, when we think it is about the church above all we go in the wrong direction. The church did grow in numbers. It is poignant that many large denominations seek to maintain numbers by following the world, and get nowhere, except their numbers diminish all the more quickly. When the church follows God’s ways it will grow. We are also told that a large number of priests came to faith. While the chief priests and other “high-ups” in the religious establishment were vehemently opposed to Christ and the gospel, there were many faithful priests who genuinely wanted to serve God. The same is true today with the upper echelons of many denominational churches having little interest in God, there many ministers who do still love Jesus.