Acts 6


Acts 6 is the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the ordination of the first seven deacons and the work of one of them, Stephen. The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek and is divided into 15 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
In this part Luke provides 'a brief glimpse into the inner workings of the church', bracketed with 'two summary verses'. The candidates to perform the care functions in the community are marked out as 'full of the Spirit', and 'the transmission of authority from the apostles' is 'very deliberately assured through prayer and the laying on of hands'.

Verse 5

All the selected seven men have Greek names suggesting a 'diaspora connection', although many Palestinian Jews at the time also spoke Greek.

Stephen on Trial (6:8–7:1)

One of the seven, Stephen, soon gets into dispute, not with the temple hierarchy, but with members of a group of diaspora synagogues in Jerusalem.

Verse 9