“This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.”
'However, the Most High does not live in houses built by human hands. As it is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah: 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be?' - Stephen quotes Isaiah 66:1-2, the definitive statement: God does not dwell in human-made temples. 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool' establishes cosmic transcendence; God cannot be contained in a building. The rhetorical question 'What kind of house will you build for me?' deconstructs the entire temple theology. The 'Most High' (ho Hypsistos) emphasizes God's transcendence beyond institutional religion.
Church Fathers on Acts 7:35
This is very suitable to the matter in hand. This Moses, he says. This, the man who had been in danger of losing his life; the man who had been set at naught by them; this the man whom they had declined: this same, God having raised up, sent unto them. Whom they refused, saying, Who made you a ruler? just as they themselves (the hearers) said, We have no king, but Cæsar. John 19:15 He here shows also, that what was then done, was done by Christ. The same did God send by the…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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