It records the address of Stephen before the Sanhedrin and his execution outside [1] Jerusalem, and introduces Saul (who later became Paul the Apostle).

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: On the surface, Stephen's speech seemingly had little connection with the charges against him, that he spoke "blasphemous words against Moses and God",[4] but the recorded words apparently are a part of a "larger polemical discourse, building on and developing the arguments already put forward in the sermons and trial speeches of the apostles".

Exodus 33:18—23), but now extends to the open heaven (verse 56) with the figure of Jesus himself positioned 'at the right hand of God' (verse 55) denoting the highest place of honor and confirming Stephen's claim that the rejected savior is in fact God's 'Righteous One'.

[13] The Pulpit Commentary notes Stephen's words in Acts 7:59 as a 'striking acknowledgment of the divinity of Christ: only he who gave the spirit could receive it back again'.

[19] Alexander Maclaren has noted that this verse contains "the only narrative in the New Testament of a Christian martyrdom or death".