EXEGESIS on ACTS chapter six verses one through six Research Paper

EXEGESIS on ACTS chapter sixer verses one through six - Research Paper ExampleWhat they said pleased the whole residential district, and they chose Stephen, a man full of religious belief and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.6. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. (NRSV)Acts 61-6 touches on two important issues on the development of the early Church the beginning of the fundament of a church hierarchy and bureaucracy (regardless of whether this text can be related to the appearance of deacons in the second century) and the various social roles of the early Church as both a religious community centered on ritual and as an alternative social network. It also touches on the earliest sectarist division in the Church, between Hellenists and Hebrews. Finally, it introduces the character of Stephen, soon to become the focus of the next two chapters of Acts a nd the initiative martyr.Acts 61-6 was taken by the Patristic tradition as the establishment of the deaconate (suggested by Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, 14, and overtly stated by Bede, Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, 6.3, both quoted at Martin 70). However unreflective of the Church presidential term of the mid- prototypic century date that interpretation is likely to be, this pericope does establish the laying on of hands as an element of the ritual of ordination. The passage, however, is more likely to reveal traces of two other historical events is considerable importance. The first is the tell between Hellenists and Hebrew that lies just under the surface layer of the text, in its record of the establishment of divide Church leaders for the Hellenist community. This is the first clear indication of division entering into the originally unitary delivery boy movement as geographical, sociological, and perhaps even doctrinal differences led to the development of separate communities. It is also the first instance of