Acts 6:10

10 But they were unable to stand up against the wisdom and the Spirit by whom he spoke.

Acts 6:10 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 6:10

And they were not able to resist the wisdom
In Beza's most ancient copy, and in another manuscript it is added, "which was in him"; that divine wisdom, which the Spirit of wisdom gave him; they were not a match for him with respect to the knowledge of divine things; they could not answer the wise arguments he made use of, fetched out of the Scriptures of truth, in which he was well versed, and had a large knowledge of:

and the Spirit by which he spake;
that is, the Holy Spirit, as the above exemplars of Beza, and the Ethiopic version read; the meaning is, they could not resist the Holy Spirit, by which Stephen spake, so as to overcome him, or put Stephen to silence, or confute him; otherwise they did resist him, or oppose themselves to him, but in vain, and without success; for they always resisted the Holy Ghost in Christ and in his apostles, as their fathers before them resisted him in the prophets, as Stephen observes to them, ( Acts 7:51 ) hereby was fulfilled what our Lord promised to his disciples, ( Matthew 10:19 Matthew 10:20 ) ( Luke 21:15 ) .

Acts 6:10 In-Context

8 Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

9 Then some from what is called the Freedmen's Synagogue, composed of both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and disputed with Stephen.

10 But they were unable to stand up against the wisdom and the Spirit by whom he spoke.

11 Then they induced men to say, "We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God!"

12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came up, dragged him off, and took him to the Sanhedrin.