Acts 6:10

10 But they were no match for his wisdom and spirit when 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, brimming with God's grace and energy, was doing wonderful things among the people, unmistakable signs that God was among them.
9 But then some men from the meeting place whose membership was made up of freed slaves, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and some others from Cilicia and Asia, went up against him trying to argue him down.
10 But they were no match for his wisdom and spirit when he spoke.
11 So in secret they bribed men to lie: "We heard him cursing Moses and God."
12 That stirred up the people, the religious leaders, and religion scholars. They grabbed Stephen and took him before the High Council
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.