Stephen and Philip Bible Story (Acts 6:8-8:5; 8:26-40)

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Logic

A Bible narrative from Acts 6:8-8:5 and 8:26-40 recounts Stephen’s trusted leadership in the early church and his Spirit-filled wisdom as he performs miracles and argues persuasively for belief in Jesus. False accusations lead to his arrest, questioning, and confrontation with the high priest, followed by a violent execution. As persecution spreads and believers scatter, Saul approves the killing, while Philip continues God’s work—carrying the message of Jesus onward to new places.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time29 min

Stephen’s Ministry and Accusations

Arrest, Trial, and Martyrdom

Persecution and the Ongoing Message

45. Stephen and Philip A Bible story from Acts 6:8-8:5; 8:26-40 English Spiritual 45. Stephen and Philip Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community. Illustrations are © Sweet Publishing. English Copyright © 2015, unfolding Word | Open Bible Stories [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work, but you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. This work is a derivative of "Creative Commons Open Bible Stories" attributed to [unfoldingWord.org](unfoldingWord.org) used under CC BY SA 4.0. All included images originate from “Bible Images from Sweet Publishing” attributed to Sweet Publishing used under CC BY SA 3.0. One of the leaders in the early Church was a man named Stephen . He had a good reputation and was full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom . Stephen did many miracles and reasoned persuasively that people should believe in Jesus . One day, when Stephen was teaching about Jesus, some Jews who did not believe in Jesus began to argue with Stephen . They became very angry and lied about Stephen to the religious leaders . They said,“We heard him speak evil things about Moses and God!” So the religious leaders arrested Stephen and brought him to the high priest and the other leaders of the Jews, where more false witnesses lied about Stephen The high priest asked Stephen,“Are these things true?” Stephen replied by reminding them of many of the great things God had done from the time of Abraham to the time of Jesus, and how God’s people continually disobeyed him . Then he said,“You stubborn and rebellious people always reject the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors always rejected God and killed his prophets . But you did something worse than they did! When the religious leaders heard this, they were so angry that they covered their ears and yelled loudly. They dragged Stephen out of the city and threw stones at him in order to kill him . As Stephen was dying, he cried out,“Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell to his knees and cried out again,“Master, do not count this sin against them .” Then he died. A young man named Saul agreed with the people who killed Stephen and guarded their robes while they threw stones at him . That day, many people in Jerusalem started persecuting the followers of Jesus, so the believers fled to other places . But in spite of this, they preached about Jesus everywhere they went.

FAQs

Who was Stephen and what qualities did he have?

Stephen was a leader in the early church, known for a good reputation and for being full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.

Why did Stephen get arrested?

Some Jews argued with him, became angry, and lied about him to religious leaders, accusing him of speaking evil against Moses and God.

What happened to the believers after Stephen’s death?

Persecution began in Jerusalem, followers of Jesus fled to other places, and believers continued preaching about Jesus wherever they went.

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Logic