Concept
Acts 6 is the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the ordination of the first seven deacons and the work of one of them, Stephen. The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke. The original text was written in Koine Greek and is divided into 15 verses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Codex Vaticanus (AD 325–350) Codex Sinaiticus (330–360) Papyrus 8 (4th century; extant verses 1–6, 8–15) Codex Bezae (~400) Codex Alexandrinus (400–440) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; lacunae: verse 8) Codex Laudianus (~550) In this part Luke provides 'a brief glimpse into the inner workings of the church', bracketed with 'two summary verses' (; ). The candidates to perform the care functions in the community are marked out as 'full of the Spirit' (verses 3, 5), and 'the transmission of authority from the apostles' is 'very deliberately assured through prayer and the laying on of hands' (verse 6). And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, All the selected seven men have Greek names (verse 5) suggesting a 'diaspora connection', although many Palestinian Jews at the time also spoke Greek. One of the seven, Stephen, soon gets into dispute, not with the temple hierarchy, but with members of a group of diaspora synagogues in Jerusalem (6:9). Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. "Synagogue of the Freedmen" (KJV: "synagogue of the Libertines"): A particular synagogue in Jerusalem which is attended by former slaves, or "freemen", and may include their descendants.
