By Nick Bibile
“And cast him out
of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.”
—Acts
7:58
When we read of the martyrdom of Stephen, the Holy Spirit does not dwell on the pain of his suffering. Scripture does not describe the agony of the stones, the wounds, or the physical torment. Instead, the Holy Spirit directs our attention to something greater—the triumph of the martyr.
Acts 6:15 says:
“And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.”
Stephen entered death with heavenly peace. His countenance reflected the glory of the One he served. While men raged against him, heaven seemed already opened to him.
Yet in this solemn moment, Luke records a detail that may seem small, but is full of meaning:
“The witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.”
According to Jewish law, the witnesses against the accused were required to cast the first stones (Deuteronomy 17:7). They were the chief executioners because they were the ones who had testified against the condemned man. In order to throw the stones freely, they removed their outer robes and laid them at the feet of the one overseeing the execution.
That man was Saul.
Young Saul stood there approving, consenting, and even delighting in Stephen’s death. He guarded the garments of the executioners, showing his full agreement with the murder. He was not a passive observer—he was a willing participant.
Here we see one of the greatest contrasts in all of Scripture: Stephen and Saul.
Both were sincere men.
There was no hypocrisy in Stephen. His words came from the depth of his heart. He believed Christ with his whole soul.
Neither was there hypocrisy in Saul. He truly believed he was serving God by persecuting Christians. He was not pretending. He thought he was defending the honor of God and preserving the purity of Jewish religion.
Both men had strong convictions.
Stephen had deep conviction concerning Christ Jesus as the promised Messiah, the risen Savior, and the Son of God.
Saul had deep conviction concerning Judaism, the law, and the traditions of the fathers.
Both were zealous.
Stephen boldly preached Christ even when it cost him his life.
Saul zealously opposed Christ, believing he was protecting God’s truth.
Both were sincere. Both were passionate. Both were willing to suffer for what they believed.
But sincerity alone does not save.
A man may be sincerely wrong.
Saul was a man of self-righteousness.
He trusted in his religion, his obedience, his zeal, and his morality.
He describes himself in:
Philippians 3:4–6
“Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”
Saul thought he was accepted before God because of what he was and what he had done. He was proud of his righteousness.
As he watched Stephen die, he stood there clothed in the pride of self-righteousness.
But Stephen was different.
Stephen trusted in a Savior.
He rested in Messiah—Christ Jesus—who bled and died on Calvary. His righteousness was not found in the law but in Christ.
He did not draw comfort from what he had done, but from what Christ had done.
His confidence was not in himself, but in the righteousness of Another.
This is the great difference between these two men.
These two men represent two religions.
One says: Be good enough to go to heaven.
The other says: Sinners can go to heaven if they repent and trust in Christ.
One trusts in law-keeping and good works.
The other rests entirely upon grace and mercy.
Even today, both religions sit in churches every Sunday.
Saul was a ritualist and a formalist.
He loved the outward forms of religion. He honored the temple, the ceremonies, and the visible holiness of the Pharisees. He loved the letter of the Old Testament but missed its heart.
He was a fleshly man.
Stephen was a spiritual man.
He understood that true religion is not merely outward obedience but inward transformation. A man’s heart must be changed.
This change does not come by observing ceremonies or keeping laws—it comes by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Saul trusted in religion.
Stephen trusted in regeneration.
These two classes are still among us today.
Stephen defended Christ at the cost of his life.
Saul opposed Christ with all his strength.
Saul heard Stephen’s sermon. It was powerful, bold, and full of truth. It traced Israel’s history and exposed their rejection of God’s messengers, climaxing in their rejection of Christ Himself.
Did Saul repent?
No.
Stephen’s sermon did not soften him—it hardened him.
He became even more enraged against Christians.
Jesus did not fit the Pharisees’ system, and therefore Saul hated Him.
After Stephen’s death we read:
Acts 8:2–3
“And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.”
Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit.
Saul was full of fury.
Stephen died triumphantly.
Saul breathed out threatenings and slaughter.
There have been men converted by the dying words of martyrs—but not yet Saul.
Still, God was working.
We see people like Saul today.
Some resist the gospel. Some harden themselves against truth. Some become more hostile the more clearly Christ is preached.
Our duty is not to save them.
Our duty is to bring them to Christ.
We are commanded to witness, to preach, to plead, and to proclaim the gospel faithfully.
But salvation belongs to the Lord.
Once you have shown someone the way of salvation, even if they reject it, you are not responsible for their soul in that sense. You have obeyed Christ.
Now you leave them with God.
Trust Him to do what only He can do.
God can turn a Saul into a Paul.
Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. Surely his death seemed like a terrible loss to the church.
From man’s perspective, yes.
But not from God’s.
Sometimes God takes home His most useful servants when they seem most needed.
Why?
Because they are ripe for glory.
The Master gathers His ripened fruit.
Stephen was ready for heaven.
God does not make mistakes when He calls His servants home.
Do not be surprised when the most useful men are taken first.
Now Stephen was gone.
Who would take his place?
The witnesses had laid their garments at Saul’s feet.
It is almost as though Stephen’s mantle was lying there also.
As Elijah left his mantle for Elisha, so Stephen’s witness would be carried forward by Saul.
The church did not know where Stephen’s successor would come from.
But God knew.
He was standing among Stephen’s enemies.
It was Saul.
The church lost Stephen—but she gained Paul.
And what an exchange that was.
This same Saul would become the great apostle to the Gentiles.
He would write much of the New Testament.
He would proclaim justification by faith, sovereign grace, and salvation by Christ alone with unmatched clarity.
He would cry:
“Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”
God often raises His greatest servants from the most unlikely places.
Though Saul rejected Stephen’s sermon at the time, he never escaped it.
That sermon stayed in his mind.
In many ways, Stephen’s speech became the seedbed of Paul’s theology.
Its themes—Abraham, Moses, the covenant, the temple, the law, and Israel’s resistance to God—appear throughout Paul’s later writings.
What Stephen preached, Paul would later proclaim with greater fullness.
It is very possible that as Paul later traveled with Luke, he helped preserve the very sermon he once hated.
Stephen died.
But his sermon lived.
Truth often works silently long after the preacher is gone.
After Saul became Paul, he never forgot Stephen.
He says in:
Acts 22:19–20
“And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.”
Remembering old sins is often good for the believer.
It keeps us humble.
Paul says:
1 Timothy 1:12–15
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
He never got over grace.
He never forgot the pit from which he was dug.
This made him love Christ more.
He was like the woman who loved much because she had been forgiven much.
He counted all things loss for Christ.
Philippians 3:8
“I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord…”
A man who knows how much he has been forgiven will love much.
That was Paul.
Paul’s past also kept him faithful to the doctrines of grace.
He knew he had not saved himself.
He was not converted by free will.
He was on the road to destroy the church when Christ stopped him.
Christ knocked him down.
Christ conquered him.
Christ saved him.
This was sovereign grace.
Galatians 1:15
“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace…”
Paul knew salvation was not of works.
It was grace alone.
That truth shaped every sermon he preached.
Paul’s life was divided into two parts:
First, the persecutor.
Then, the persecuted.
He who once hunted Christians became the hunted preacher of Christ.
Driven from city to city, beaten, imprisoned, and stoned, he must often have remembered Stephen.
When stones fell on Paul, surely he remembered the stones that fell on Stephen.
But this gave him hope.
If sovereign grace could save him, it could save anyone.
That is why Paul never drew back.
He preached to Jew and Gentile, bond and free, barbarian and Greek.
Because he had obtained mercy.
Lastly, both Stephen and Saul are now in heaven.
What a meeting that must have been.
Stephen, once murdered with Saul’s approval.
Saul, once the persecutor, now clothed in the same righteousness of Christ.
And Saul would say:
“I am here because of grace alone.”
Not law.
Not works.
Not religion.
But mercy.
There is no bitterness in heaven—only grace.
There is no boasting in heaven—only Christ.
Stephen and Paul stand there together, both saved by the same blood, both clothed in the same righteousness, both praising the same Savior forever.
And that is the glory of the gospel.
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