Introduction
      The persecution of the apostles, and particularly of Stephen, leads to the expansion of the church, 6:1-9:31. This outward thrust of the gospel from Jerusalem was mainly the work of the Hellenistic Jews. Before relating the martyrdom of Stephen, Luke tells us something of this group and their status in the Jerusalem church, v1-7.

The passage
      v1. The Jewish world was divided between Aramaic speaking Jews from Palestine (Hebrews), and Greek speaking Jews from outside Palestine (Hellenists). The Hellenists were either emigrants from Palestine or descendents from the dispersion. This "racial" tension (often focused on religious purity) existed in the church and showed itself in a dispute over the care of widows. The Hellenists claimed their widows were not getting a fair share of the church's welfare budget.
      v2-4. The apostles see their main function as administering the worship of the church ("give our attention to prayer") and the preaching and teaching of the Word of God ("ministry of the Word"). They don't want to be sidetracked into administrative roles. They therefore choose seven "wise", capable and intelligent men, able to perform the task. They must, of course, be "full of the Spirit". In simple terms, they must be believers. As Paul puts it, "if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ", Rom.8:9. When Luke uses the phrase "full of the Spirit", "filled with the Spirit", he often has in mind the outward expressions of Christian ministry, especially that of preaching, eg. "Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said.....", Ac.4:8, cf. Lk:21:14. So these men must exhibit ministry gifts.
      v5. The seven have Greek names, which may indicate they were all Hellenists. One wasn't even a Jew, but rather a proselyte. Stephen heads the list and is described as "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit." He is a gifted person, that is, he has spiritual abilities that enable him to minister in the church. His appointment recognizes this fact.
      v6. The church (the assembly of believers) select the seven, while the apostles appoint them to their office. The laying on of hands may serve to either express a prayer for blessing or a commissioning for service. It does not serve to impart spiritual power, as they were already "full of the Spirit". The ministry function of "deacon" comes from this passage and is derived from the Gk. diakonos diakonos - servant, minister. A special class of ministry is certainly not being established here. These people are simply being set apart to serve the church community.
      v7. Luke now pops in a brief report on the state of the church. There is an increasing communication of the gospel in Jerusalem and beyond. Luke is most likely thinking of the gospel message in particular when he uses the phrase "Word of God." As a result, the number of believers increase. This includes converts who are priests - an unlikely source of believers. The phrase "obedient to the faith" seems to imply commitment to a set of objective truths, a creed, the faith. Luke does not use "faith" this way, so maybe he is saying they became obedient to God, in the sense of justified, by faith.

The spread of the Word of God
      Acts serves to illustrate the truth that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to those who believe, for the Jew first and then the Gentile. It records the gathering of the lost and the building of the people of God through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, beginning at Jerusalem and spreading outward to the ends of the earth (for Luke that means Rome). At this point in his narrative, Luke records the central place the Hellenists had in this outward thrust of the gospel.
      In an age when believers are overly focused on the need to secure the survival of the institutional church through presentation (relevance of style), marketing (selling), management (directive leadership)..., it is good for us to see again the big picture. Christ builds his church on the confession of a true faith such that the powers of hell shall not stand against it. "The Word of God spreads", or as we would put it, the good news of Jesus was increasingly made known to the wider society, as believers were equipped with an understanding of the message, and the spiritual wherewithal to make it known. The clear communication of the gospel was the means by which "disciples.... increased rapidly."
      The equipping of the people of God for gospel ministry takes place in the gathering of believers. The apostles did not want their prayer and Word ministry diverted by the management of the church's meals-on-wheels programme. Their task was to lead the church in prayer, praise, thanksgiving, confession.... and above all, in the exposition of the Word of God. In this way a diversity of gifted members would emerge to minister, in this case in social care, but also in evangelism beyond the church.
      May our gathering together Sunday by Sunday be a time of spiritual renewal, a strengthening through the indwelling Spirit of Christ, and may we grow in an understanding of his Word. May we then be equipped to spread the Word of God.