 rock size until greater stones completed the crushing of Stephen’s body. Therefore, that statement by Luke that Saul watched over their coats is indeed meant so that we may understand not only Saul’s complicity but his very leadership of the execution.
Just a few verses later at the beginning of chapter 8, Luke strikes a noteworthy contrast. Sandwiched between two statements about the immediate rise of persecution to the church (8:1 and 8:3) is the comment that devout men buried Stephen and lamented over him. Notice that Luke doesn’t say the apostles buried him or the church found his body and buried him. The vague “devout men” is not meant to turn our thinking to the church. These devout men are simply Jews—maybe some leaders—but nevertheless just Jews, not Christians. The Christians weren’t all standing around watching Saul execute Stephen and then when he and his band left, came forward to retrieve Stephen’s body. No, the apostles and others may not even have known Stephen was being stoned.
Remember that the people in general looked favorably on the Christians. The apostles were healing people, and their message was being met with interest in the temple. The point Luke makes is that this general good will of the Jews didn’t suddenly change because the rulers became irritated in a private trial. As was custom, people were buried immediately at death. So devout Jews, from the city’s population that still did look favorably on the Christians, came forward to bury him and did indeed mourn his death. But Luke contrasts this mourning and favor by the general community by immediately switching back (in verse 3) to the cause of the persecution: “But Saul was ravaging the church.” It was not a hatred by the Jews in general. It was not an organized attack by Caiaphas and the council. It was Saul as instigator and leader who conducted this persecution.
Finally, the definitive contrast Luke presents to provide certainty that Saul instigated and led this persecution on his own is between statements in 8:1 and 9:31. In 8:1 we learn that “there arose on that day a great persecution against the church.” In 9:31 we read, “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.” These are directly opposing circumstances. What changed between 8:1 and 9:31? The one change we read of is that Saul is converted. When Saul converts to Christianity and stops his persecution of the church, we find out that all persecution of the church ends.
Acts is a book of transition. The old covenant ended in practice with the coming of Christ. But its influence would continue until AD 70 and the destruction of the temple. The New Covenant began with Christ’s death and resurrection. Therefore, that period between the resurrection and AD 70—that which we call the apostolic age—is a sort of overlap of the covenant ages showing the transition from old to new. This is the age whose history is recorded for us in Acts. Within this book of transition is a section of more intense transition. Chapters 7 through 13 show a transition of focus from a Christian church of Jews to a Christian focus on the world. Prior to chapter 7 we see predominantly Jews involved in the beginning and building of the church. In chapter 7 concentration moves to Hellenist Jews—still Jews, but perhaps pushing at the edges since these are Jews of predominantly Greek culture. By the end of chapter 13 focus is turned away from the Jews to the world. Paul even states as much in verse 46, telling the Jews, “Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles” (13:46).
In this section of focus transition, three central conversions are recorded. This series begins with the Ethiopian eunuch (a Gentile), ends with Cornelius (a Gentile), and emphasizes through its centrality the conversion of Paul (apostle to the Gentiles). If we recall Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27, seventy weeks or 490 years were determined for the Jews. A “week” (or, literally, a period of seven) counted as a period of seven ye