Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Acts 7:53 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 53. 53Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Charges failure to keep the law received through angelic ordering.
Read It With
- Acts 7:51–7:53
Acts 7:53 charges failure to keep the law received through angelic ordering; within Acts 7:51–7:53, the controlling movement is that Stephen calls his hearers resistant, locates them within a history of persecuting prophets, charges them with betraying and killing the Righteous One, and says they did not keep the law they received.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Charges failure to keep the law received through angelic ordering. This precise contribution belongs inside “Stephen turns the prophetic charge on the council” because Stephen calls his hearers resistant, locates them within a history of persecuting prophets, charges them with betraying and killing the Righteous One, and says they did not keep the law they received.
What Remains True
Because Acts 7:53 charges failure to keep the law received through angelic ordering, faithful witness must preserve the verse's speaker, narrated setting, people affected, and the full movement of Acts 7:51–7:53 before drawing an enduring claim.
How It Can Shape Life
- For Acts 7:53, first identify this verse role—charges failure to keep the law received through angelic ordering; then explain the contextual meaning in Acts 7:51–7:53; preserve the proportionate truth about accountable witness; finally apply this boundary: The accusation does not authorize antisemitism, inherited Jewish guilt, Christian triumphalism, or verbal abuse of religious opponents.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Acts 7:51–7:53 — Stephen turns the prophetic charge on the councilSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 7:51–7:53, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 7:51-7:53
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 7:51-7:53
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 7:51–7:53
Open source ↗