Acts 7 Footnotes

7:56 “Son of Man,” Jesus’s favorite self-designation, interestingly drops from usage in the rest of the NT (suggesting an earlier dating for this book). Jesus considered himself to be the “son of man” found in Dn 7:13-14. Stephen’s claim to see him alongside God in heaven implied Jesus’s divine status and equality with God. It provoked the mob to violence, prematurely ending the trial.

7:58 Saul, whose name was Jewish, did not go by Paul, a Roman name, until 13:9. He supported Stephen’s death and may have been a member of the Sanhedrin—or simply a young, zealous rabbinic student. Roman citizens (22:28) had three names: Paul (Paulus) would have been his last name; his first two are unknown.