Acts 8:2

And devout men buried Stephen, and made great lamentation over him.

Devout men buried Stephen ... Johnson expressed the view that these men were "not disciples, but pious Jews, deeply impressed by the gospel, but not yet brought to conversion"; but, despite the fact that many commentators have taken the same position, we simply cannot concur in such a view. The allegation that true Christians would not have made the lamentations mentioned in the next verse, or that Luke would have called the men who buried Stephen "brethren" if they had been Christians, is not sustained by the record. Why would Luke not have called the noble Christians who braved the wrath of the Sanhedrin to bury the first martyr, "devout"? The very word means "earnestly religious"; and there is nothing to forbid the word's application to Christians. Furthermore, the loud lamentation that accompanied the burial may not be construed as sorrowing "without hope." Strong agreement is felt with Orin Root who said, "The brethren honored their first martyr, although in so doing they made themselves targets of the continuing persecution."[4]

It is true, of course, that the term "devout" is used only four times in the New Testament;[5] and this, more than anything else, has supported the opinion that these were not "brethren." However, the Jewish law required that:

One who had been stoned for blasphemy would have had no funeral honors, and would have been buried with the burial of an ass (Jeremiah 22:19).[6]

No lamentation or other sign of mourning was permitted on behalf of one who suffered execution, the Jewish rule on this being derived from God's command that Aaron should not mourn for Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:6). Thus, the understanding of the devout men who buried Stephen as friendly Jews, not Christians, imposes a burden upon our credulity, not only in the matter of such Jews being willing to contradict the Sanhedrin's views on such matters, but also in the supposition that the Christians, through fear, or from whatever motives, would not have been active in burying their champion and their brother. We confess, as Boles said, that "We do not know whether or not they were Christians";[7] but the guess preferred here is that they were!

[4] Orin Root, Acts (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1966), p. 55.

[5] H. Leo Boles, Commentary on the Acts (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1953), p. 122.

[6] E. H. Plumptre, Ellicott's Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 47.

[7] H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 122.