Stephen's indictment works from the inside out. The Jews are stiff-necked, unwilling to bow to authority (compare Ex 33:3, 5; 34:9, in the context of the idolatrous worship of the golden calf; Acts 7:39-41). Their resistance is not to human beings but to God the Holy Spirit (Is 63:9-10). They have never truly come into a saving covenant relationship with God, for though outwardly circumcised and proud of their ethnic-religious heritage, they are uncircumcised in their hearts (Lev 26:41; Jer 9:26). In their disposition toward God they do not differ from pagans, who refuse the sign of the covenant. They have ears that spiritually do not hear. It is as though they were covered with uncircumcised foreskin (Jer 6:10). This unrepentant, unregenerate condition is the same as that of their fathers (compare Acts 7:39).

Their ancestors' rebellion issued in persecution of God's messengers, the prophets (2 Chron 36:16; Lk 6:23; 11:49; 13:34). They even killed those who proclaimed the coming of the Righteous One, the Messiah (see Acts 3:14). And this generation has proceeded further. They have betrayed and murdered the Messiah himself (Lk 9:44; 18:32; 22:4, 6; 24:7; Acts 3:14). Thus they stood condemned of the very charges they level against Stephen. By doing away with the Lord's anointed, God's one provision of salvation, they have shown themselves to be truly against him and his presence. They are also against Moses' law, altering its authority through selective obedience (Ex 20:13, 16). In fact, they leave their man-made traditions, "customs handed over by Moses," intact, even if it means violating the plain command of the law (Mt 15:3-6). Yes, they received the law at the direction of angels (probably a circumlocution for God; see Acts 7:38), yet they have not kept this divinely given standard.

Religious performance fueled by fear or pride is an obstacle to the true knowledge of God's provision of salvation. But more, it sets itself in competition with worship of the one true God by raising up idols. In the end it will wage war on true worship. What dangers do the religious find themselves in, far from God's covenant provisions for a saving relationship through the only mediator, Messiah Jesus! And by and large they are blind to it.