3“Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. 4But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. 6And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them. 7The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
The plan laid out was straightforward. The apostles would give priority to prayer and the teaching of the Word (Acts 6:2, 4), but the tangible service of solving and organizing the benevolence problem was to be assigned to “men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom.” Many have seen this division of ministry as a forerunner to the roles and work of elders and deacons. An elder is to be “holding fast the faithful Word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict” (Titus 1:9). The role of deacons is somewhat debatable, as Scripture remains imprecise about their specific work. Some would suggest deacons are simply assistants to the elders. Others lean on our passage in Acts 6:1–7 as giving us an early example of deacons’ work attending to the practical or operational side of the ministry.
The apostles did not directly select the men but put it to the “brethren,” which we take as the congregation of believers, particularly those who were complaining about the situation: the Hellenistic Jews. In fact, all the men chosen had Greek or Roman names, not Hebrew names. We may conclude the principle that those who see the problem and are most affected by it should help solve it.
The apostles did not abdicate responsibility but sought congregational input. They set criteria for the kind of men to be chosen: those of high spiritual and moral character. After the congregation made the choice, they presented the men to the apostles, who appointed them through the symbolic laying on of hands. Ultimate accountability was the apostles’ responsibility. Problem solved!
Luke began the report of the church’s growth in verse 1, and now after the internal dissention was resolved, Luke concludes, “The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase . . .” God’s Word kept spreading because internal difficulties were being addressed well.
Lord, help my church deal well with internal problems so that the influence of Your Word would not be hindered.
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