Acts 6:8

8 Stephen, a man richly blessed by God and full of power, performed great miracles and wonders among the people.

Acts 6:8 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 6:8

And Stephen, full of faith and power
The historian proceeds to give a narrative of Stephen particularly, the first of the seven deacons; of his faith and miracles, of his elocution and wisdom, of his courage and intrepidity, of his constancy, and of his suffering martyrdom. He is said to be full of faith, as before, ( Acts 6:5 ) the Alexandrian copy, and four of Beza's copies read, "full of grace"; and so do the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions; the Ethiopic version reads, "full of the grace of God": he had an uncommon share of it; it was exceeding abundant in him; he had a sufficiency of it for the service and sufferings he was called to: and he was full of power to preach the Gospel, and teach it the people, which he did with authority; to defend it, and oppose the adversaries of it; to bear reproach and indignities for it, and even death itself; and to do miraculous works for the confirmation of it, as follows:

did great wonders and miracles among the people;
openly before them, such as speaking with divers tongues, healing diseases, casting out devils

Acts 6:8 In-Context

6 The group presented them to the apostles, who prayed and placed their hands on them.
7 And so the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew larger and larger, and a great number of priests accepted the faith.
8 Stephen, a man richly blessed by God and full of power, performed great miracles and wonders among the people.
9 But he was opposed by some men who were members of the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), which had Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria. They and other Jews from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia started arguing with Stephen.
10 But the Spirit gave Stephen such wisdom that when he spoke, they could not refute him.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.