9. Stephen and the Gifts of Faith and Power
Stephen was one of the seven Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jews who were selected as deacons to help ensure a proper distribution of charitable aid to the Greek-speaking widows in the early church at Jerusalem (Acts 6:1-6). But Stephen's works evidently went well beyond physical service. We are told that he was "full of faith" and "performed great wonders and signs," and he is the first person named outside of the Twelve Apostles said to have had this power.
Luke actually gives two summaries of Stephen's traits and God-given abilities, as we see above – saying that he was "a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 6:5) and "a man full of God's grace [many manuscripts read "faith"] and power" (Acts 6:8). Putting the verses together, it is clear that Stephen was full of faith and power.
Now notice an important fact. In telling the disciples to select the seven deacons, Peter stressed "choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom" (Acts 6:3). All these godly men were chosen because they had the gift of the Holy Spirit in abundance ("full of"), but among the seven only Stephen was said to be also granted the "power" to do great deeds.
There may be an important lesson in this. How many times have you wondered why we as Christians do not do the miracles and great things of the early Church? We tend to answer the question theologically, with the argument that it is not now God's will, or that miracles were commonly given then to "establish" Christianity, or some such. But whatever our theological reasoning may tell us, we may experience doubt that if we only had enough faith and enough of God's Spirit – the same amount of faith and Spirit as Stephen and some of the leaders of the early Church – perhaps we, too, could do great works of healing and help.
What this chain of reasoning omits is that the Book of Acts itself tells us that all the chosen deacons had the Spirit of God in large measure, and doubtless all of them had faith, but even at a time when miracles were being done, only Stephen among the seven had both faith and power at work within him, and both appear to be necessary for great works.
We should remember that Abraham and many others throughout the Bible had great faith but did not accomplish healings or similar "great works." God develops the faith of all his children through his Spirit, if we let him (Galatians 5:22), and also gives us a measure of power in the same way (Ephesians 3:16), but he gives the power to do great things only where and when he elects to do so (1 Corinthians 12:9-10).
Stephen's life reminds us that we can live godly lives and do good works based on the Spirit's action in us without having to somehow work up more faith in order for God to do great works such as "wonders and signs" through us. Such works require great power, and great power is something God gives only when he desires to do so for specific circumstances – as an addition to the faith we all must have.