John Calvin Commentary Acts 6:9

"But there arose certain of them that were of the synagogue called [the synagogue] of the Libertines, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen." — Acts 6:9 (ASV)

And there arose certain. This was the beginning of persecution, because the wicked, after they have attempted in vain to set themselves against Christ by disputing, when they saw that former attempt had no effect, resort to slanders, caviling, and tumults, and eventually they break out into violence and murder.

Therefore, Luke means by the word rise, that those of whom he speaks assaulted the gospel with their tongue, and did not immediately bring Stephen before the judgment seat, but first attacked him by disputing against him. Furthermore, he indicates that they were foreigners who lived in Judea either to engage in trade or to acquire learning. Therefore, he says that some of them were Cyrenians, some from Alexandria, some from Cilicia, and some from Asia. He says that they were all of the synagogue of the Libertines. It is thought that the freedmen, Roman citizens, had a synagogue built at their own expense, so that it might be specifically for the Jews who gathered from the provinces.

Therefore, those who were brought there by the grace of God, and who should have embraced Christ all the more willingly, assault him first and inflame the fury of others, as if with a trumpet. Also, Luke will in many other places afterward declare that the Jews who were scattered throughout the provinces were the deadliest enemies of sound doctrine and most venomous in stirring up tumults.

He lists many, so that the victory of the truth might be more renowned, while many, gathered from diverse countries, depart, defeated by one man; and it is not to be doubted that they were forced to hold their peace in shame. Stephen had already won great favor and gained great dignity by miracles.

He answers the disputers now in such a way that he decisively gains the upper hand. He does not present that wisdom and spirit, which he says his adversaries could not withstand, as different things. Therefore, understand these words as follows: They could not resist the wisdom which the Spirit of God gave him.

For Luke meant to express that they were not fighting merely as men on both sides; but that the enemies of the gospel were therefore discouraged and overcome because they were striving against the Spirit of God, who spoke by the mouth of Stephen. And since Christ has promised the same Spirit to all His servants, let us only faithfully defend the truth, and let us ask Him for a mouth and wisdom, and we shall be sufficiently equipped to speak, so that neither the wit nor the babbling of our adversaries will be able to make us ashamed. So the Spirit was as effective in our own time in the mouth of the martyrs who were burned, and it expresses similar power daily even now, so that even though they were uneducated men (never trained in any schools), they made the chief theologians who maintained Popery no less astonished by their voice alone than if it had thundered and flashed lightning.