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Acts 7 Bible study: I see the heavens opened

Stephen's first words are of "The God of glory" (7:2), and at the end he "saw the glory of God" (7:55): in Acts's Greek, one noun. All through his story he says "our fathers", until "As your fathers did, so you do" (7:51).

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“and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!””
Acts 7:56 · World English Bible

Easily missed

The name, at the end

In the WEB, the name Jesus isn't in Stephen's speech (7:2-53). He speaks of "the coming of the Righteous One" (7:52). The chapter first gives the name when it tells what Stephen saw: "Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (7:55). In Stephen's own words the name comes only at the very end (7:59).

Acts 7:52 · Acts 7:55 · Acts 7:59

What's really going on

From the God of glory to the glory of God

In the text

"The high priest said, “Are these things so?”" (7:1). Stephen begins, "Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham" (7:2) (tap glory). His words run from there to the end of 7:53, as the WEB's quotation marks show. They tell of Abraham (7:2-8), of Joseph (7:9-16), of the people in Egypt and of Moses (7:17-43), and of the tabernacle, David and the house Solomon built (7:44-50), and then they turn to those hearing him (7:51-53). Here is what almost everyone misses: the word glory in the first words of his story comes again in what he sees at the end. "But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (7:55). In Acts's Greek, glory in "The God of glory" (7:2) and in "the glory of God" (7:55) is one noun, and Acts has it only twice more (12:23, 22:11; counted in RP2018).

Where the Old Testament leads here

Moved with jealousy

Interpretation

Genesis 37:11leads toActs 7:51-52

Joseph's brothers "envied him" (37:11). Stephen retells it, "The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him" (Acts 7:9), and near the end of his speech says, "As your fathers did, so you do" (Acts 7:51), telling his hearers they had become "betrayers and murderers" of "the Righteous One" (Acts 7:52). Stephen doesn't call Joseph a picture of Jesus: some read his speech as setting the rejected Joseph beside the rejected Jesus; others read it as a history of how the fathers resisted those God sent, without making Joseph a picture of him.

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Acts 7

That was a taste

The rest of Acts 7 is waiting in Favor

  • Our fathers, your fathers
  • This Moses
  • I see the heavens opened
  • Stephen's story, beside Genesis to Solomon
  • "As it is written"
  • A young man named Saul
  • 18 questions as you read
  • 11 more Greek words
  • A short check at the end
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The Greek word behind it

δόξαdoxasay DOX-ah

Strong's: "glory (as very apparent), in a wide application (literal or figurative, objective or subjective)". Stephen begins, "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham" (7:2). At the end of the chapter, he "looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God" (7:55): the same noun. Acts's Greek has it four times (counted in RP2018): these two, 12:23 and 22:11. Favor's John 1 studies the word too.

For your group

Acts 7 Bible study questions

  1. 1Stephen tells God's story from Abraham to Solomon (7:2-47). If you told the story of what God has done in your life, where would you begin?
  2. 2Stephen "looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God" (7:55). What helps you look up to God when things around you are hard?
  3. 3At the very end Stephen called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" (7:59). What does it mean to you that he spoke to Jesus by name then?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Acts 7 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Last reviewed October 7, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home