Acts 7:53
in Acts 7you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
ye who received the law as it was ordained by angels, and kept it not.
KJV
Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
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This verse in Acts 7
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Who have received the law - The Law of Moses, given on Mount Sinai. By the disposition of angels - There has been much diversity of opinion in regard to this phrase, εἰς διαταγὰς ἀγγέλων eis diatagas angelōn. The word translated “disposition” does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It properly means the “constituting” or “arranging” of an army; disposing it into ranks and proper divisions. Hence, it has been supposed to mean that the Law was given “amidst” the various ranks of angels, being present to witness its promulgation.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
For this is, "certain of you have received the law as commands of angels." And some also say this, that the one who was ordered by angels and entrusted through an angel to Moses, the one who appeared to him in the bush. "As regulations," …
How, "By the disposition of Angels?" Some say (The Law), disposed by Angels; or, put into his hand by the Angel Who appeared to him in the bush; for was He man? No wonder that He who wrought those works, should also have wrought these. "Ye slew them who preached of Him." much more Himself. He shows them disobedient both to God, and to Angels, and the Prophets, and the Spirit, and to all: as also Scripture saith elsewhere: "Lord, they have slain Thy Prophets, and thrown down Thine altars."
They, then, stand up for the Law, and say, "He blasphemeth against Moses:" he shows, therefore, that it is they who blaspheme, and that (their blasphemy is not only against Moses, but) against God; shows that "they" from the very beginning have been doing this: that "they" have themselves destroyed their "customs," that there is no need of these: that while accusing him, and saying that he opposed Moses, they themselves were opposing the Spirit: and not merely opposing, but with murder added to it: and that they had their enmity all along from the very beginning. Seest thou, that he shows them to be acting in opposition both to Moses and to all others, and not keeping the Law? And yet Moses had said, "A Prophet shall the Lord raise up unto you: and the rest also told of this (Christ) that He would come: and the prophet again said, "What house will ye build Me?" and again, "Did ye offer to Me slain beasts and sacrifices" those "forty years?"
For he, too, says that the world was originated by those angels; and sets forth Christ as born of the seed of Joseph, contending that He was merely human, without divinity; affirming also that the Law was given by angels; representing the God of the Jews as not the Lord, but an angel.
The Medieval Church1 voice
You who received the law as ordained by angels. The law is indeed ordained by angels, in the hand of a mediator.
4 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
For he says: "You have now become betrayers and murderers… you who received the law through the ministry of Angels and did not keep it," that is, arranged by Angels and delivered by the One who appeared in the bush. He shows that they did …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Who have received the law, by the disposition of angels,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Who have received the law by the disposition--"at the appointment" or "ordination," that is, by the ministry. of angels, and have not kept it--This closing word is designed to shut up those idolizers of the law under the guilt of high disobedience to it, aggravated by the august manner in which they had received it.
By the disposition of angels - Εις διαταγας αγγελων. After all that has been said on this difficult passage, perhaps the simple meaning is, that there were ranks, διαταγαι, of angels attending on the Divine Majesty when he gave the law: a circumstance which must have added greatly to the grandeur and solemnity of the occasion; and to this Psa 68:17 seems to me most evidently to allude: The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even many thousands of angels: the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place. It was not then by the mouths nor by the hands of angels, as prime agents, that Moses, and through him the people, received the law; but God himself gave it, accompanied with many thousands of those glorious beings. As it is probable they might be assisting in this most glorious solemnity, therefore St. Paul might say, Gal 3:19, that it was ordained by angels, διαταγεις δι’ αγγελων, in the hand of a Mediator. And as they were the only persons that could appear, for no man hath seen God at any time, therefore the apostle might say farther, (if indeed he refers to the same transaction, see the note there), the word spoken by angels was steadfast, Heb 2:2. But the circumstances of this case are not sufficiently plain to lead to the knowledge of what was done by the angels in this most wonderful transaction; only we learn, from the use made of this circumstance by St. Stephen, that it added much to the enormity of their transgression, that they did not keep a law, in dispensing of which the ministry of angels had been employed. Some think Moses, Aaron, and Joshua are the angels here intended; and others think that the fire, light, darkness, cloud and thick darkness were the angels which Jehovah used on this occasion, and to which St. Stephen refers; but neither of these senses appears sufficiently natural, and particularly the latter.
The words behind it
10 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| οἵτινες | oitines | who | G3748 → | 144 times |
| ἐλάβετε | elabete | received | G2983 → | 257 times |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| νόμον | nomon | law | G3551 → | 192 times |
| εἰς | eis | by | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| διαταγὰς | diatagas | [the] ordination | G1296 → | |
| ἀγγέλων | angelon | of angels | G32 → | 175 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἐφυλάξατε.¶ | ephulaxate | kept [it]. | G5442 → | 31 times |
οἵτινεςwho
oitinesG3748 →144 times
ἐλάβετεreceived
elabeteG2983 →257 times
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
νόμονlaw
nomonG3551 →192 times
εἰςby
eisG1519 →1755 times
διαταγὰς[the] ordination
diatagasG1296 →
ἀγγέλωνof angels
angelonG32 →175 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἐφυλάξατε.¶kept [it].
ephulaxateG5442 →31 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 7:19Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”
it leads to
- John 1:17
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 1:17
Through
Galatians 3:19Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.
it leads to
- Hebrews 2:2
For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,
- Romans 7:7–13
What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting…
- Galatians 3:16
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.
- Hebrews 2:2
Through
Hebrews 2:2For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,
it leads to
- Galatians 3:19
Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.
- Galatians 3:19
Through
Deuteronomy 33:2He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
it leads to
- Habakkuk 3:3
God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His glory covered the heavens, and His praise filled the earth.
- Jude 1:14
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones
- Revelation 5:11
Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels and living creatures and elders encircling the throne, and their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.
- Habakkuk 3:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies38
- Abraham
- Brit milah: circumcision on the eighth day
- Chaldea
- Circumcision of the Heart
- Egypt's Famine Years and the Land of Pharaoh
- Father, Forgive Them
Show the next 6 titles
Show the next 6 titles
- Types of Christ: Joseph and Joshua
- Joseph and the Tale of Two Brothers
- Joshua son of Nun
- Amos and the Courts at the Gate
- Love Your Enemies
- Mesopotamia
Show the next 6 titles
- Moses in the Bulrushes
- Mourning and Burial in Israel
- Outside the Camp
- Paul
- Prophet, Priest and King: The Threefold Office of Christ
- Scribes and the Sanhedrin
Show the next 6 titles
About Acts
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Acts; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 17; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts; Tertullian, Pseudo-Tertullian Against All Heresies and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts.