Acts 7:53
Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
Acts 7:53 in other translations
| BSB | you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.” |
|---|---|
| WEB | You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!” |
| ASV | ye who received the law as it was ordained by angels, and kept it not. |
| YLT | who received the law by arrangement of messengers, and did not keep it.' |
| DARBY | who have received the law as ordained by the ministry of angels, and have not kept it. |
| BBE | You, to whom the law was given as it was ordered by angels, and who have not kept it. |
| Webster | Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. |
What does Acts 7:53 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 7:51-53
51-53. Ye stiffnecked ... ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, &c.--It has been thought that symptoms of impatience and irritation in the audience induced Stephen to cut short his historical sketch. But as little farther light could have been thrown upon Israel's obstinacy from subsequent periods of the national history on the testimony of their own Scriptures, we should view this as the summing up, the brief import…
Barnes' Notes
By the disposition of angels. There has been much diversity of opinion in regard to this phrase, ειςδιαταγαςαγγελων. The word translated disposition does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. It properly means the constituting or arranging of an army; disposing it into ranks and proper divisions. Hence it has been supposed to mean that the law was given amidst the various ranks of angels, being present to witness its promulgation. Others suppose that the angels were employed as agents or instruments to communicate the law. All that the expression fairly implies is the former; that the law was given amidst the attending ranks of angels, as if they were summoned to witness the pomp and ceremony of giving law to an entire people, and through them to an entire world. It should be added, moreover, that the Jews applied the word angels to any of the messengers of God; to fire, and tempest, and wind, etc. And all that Stephen means here may be to express the common Jewish opinion, that God was attended on this occasion by the heavenly hosts; and by the symbols of his presence, the fire, and smoke, and tempest. Comp. Ps 104:4, 68:17. Other places declare that the law was spoken by an angel, one eminent above all attending angels, the peculiar messenger of God. Acts 7:38. It is plain that Stephen spoke only the common sentiment of the Jews, Thus Herod is introduced by Josephus, (Antiq. b. xv. chap. v. & 3,) as saying, "We have learned from God the most excellent of our doctrines, and the most holy part of our law by angels," etc. In the eyes of the Jews, it justly gave increased majesty and solemnity to the law, that it had been given in so grand and imposing circumstances. And it greatly aggravated their guilt, that, notwithstanding this, they had not kept it.
(e) "law by the disposition of angels" Gal 3:19
Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Acts 7:51-53
Stephen was going on, it seems, to show that the temple and the temple service must come to an end, and it would be the glory of both to give way to the worship of the Father in spirit and in truth; but he perceived they would not bear it. Therefore he broke off, and by the Spirit of wisdom, courage, and power, sharply rebuked his persecutors. When plain arguments and truths provoke the opposers of the gospel, they…
Acts 7:53 in the original Greek
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Cross references for Acts 7:53
- Hebrews 2:2
For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
- Galatians 3:19
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
- Acts 7:38
This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
- John 7:19
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
- Deuteronomy 33:2
And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
- Galatians 6:13
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
- Romans 2:23-25
Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
- Ezekiel 20:18-21
But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
- Psalms 68:17
The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
- Exodus 19:1-20
In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. …
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Ex 19:1-20:26; De 33:2; Ps 68:17; Ga 3:19; Heb 2:2
and have.
Eze 20:18-21; Joh 7:19; Ro 2:23-25; Ga 6:13
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain
Context
- Acts 7:52
Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
- Acts 7:53
Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
- Acts 7:54
When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Acts 7:53 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | Que recibisteis la ley por disposición de ángeles, y no la guardasteis. |
|---|---|
| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | vous qui avez reçu la loi par la disposition des anges, et qui ne l’avez point gardée… |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | die ihr das Gesetz durch Anordnung von Engeln empfangen und nicht beobachtet habt. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | qui accepistis legem in dispositione angelorum, et non custodistis. |