Acts 7:39-60
…and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. (Acts 6:13-14) Stephen had been debating/preaching about Jesus in the Synagogue of the Freedmen when “people and elders and scribes” brought him before the Council. They had no serious charge against him except that some false witnesses had said that he spoke against the Temple and the Law and about Jesus destroying the Temple. So the Council (the high priest) asked to hear him and he basically recounted Jewish history until he got to the point where he did, in fact, speak out against the Temple: Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says… (v. 48), going on to quote Isaiah 66:1-2. But even then there was no crime for which they could charge him – he was simply quoting one of their own prophets. Then in Acts 7:51-53 he speaks out against them personally and makes them angry. Yes, he charged them with murder, but again he was simply leveling a charge against them, not committing any crime against their Law or their traditions. It’s only in verse 56 that he commits blasphemy: And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Had he continued to speak out only about the charges leveled against him (the first 50 verses) the Council would have had no basis for punishing him. But he took the opportunity to preach Jesus and he was executed for his faith.
Stephen’s witness provides a model for us. In any conversation in which we are engaged (think, your server at a restaurant), whereas Stephen was talking about the Temple, it’s not difficult for us to bring up the topic of church, as in “Are you part of a local church?” You never know where the conversation might go…!
See also: January 28 / Acts 7:37-43; January 29 / Acts 7:44-53; January 30 / Acts 7:54-60
Just to clarify… Stephen did not commit blasphemy in verse 56. Those who murdered him may have considered his statements to be blasphemous, but his words were not, in fact, blasphemous. He spoke the truth, and while the truth is dangerous and can get you killed, it is not blasphemy.