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