John Calvin Commentary Acts 7:60

"And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." — Acts 7:60 (ASV)

Kneeling down, he cried. This is the other part of his prayer, in which he joins the love of men with faith in Christ. Surely, if we desire to be gathered to Christ for our salvation, we must put on this affection. In that Stephen prays for his enemies, and those his deadliest, even at the very moment when their cruelty might provoke him to a desire for revenge, he sufficiently declares what affection he bears toward all other people.

And we know that we are all commanded to do what Stephen did. But because there is nothing harder than to forgive injuries to such an extent that we wish well to those who seek our ruin (Matthew 5:43–44); therefore we must always keep Stephen before our eyes as an example.

He cries indeed with a loud voice, but he makes no outward display before men of anything that was not spoken sincerely and from the heart, as God Himself witnesses. Yet he cries aloud, so that he might omit nothing that could serve to assuage the cruelty of the enemies. The fruit did not appear immediately, yet undoubtedly he did not pray in vain; and Paul is a sufficient testimony for us that this sin was not laid to the charge of all of them.

I will not say, as Augustine did, that unless Stephen had prayed, the Church would not have had Paul; for this is somewhat difficult to assert. I only say this: that since God pardoned Paul, it appears from this that Stephen’s prayer was not in vain.

Here a question arises as to how Stephen can pray for those whom he recently said resisted the Holy Spirit; but is this not the sin against the Spirit that will never be forgiven? We may easily answer that what is pronounced generally of all pertains to many everywhere. Therefore, he did not call the entire body of the people rebellious in such a way as to exempt no one. Again, I have declared before what kind of resisting he condemned in that place, for it does not immediately follow that those who resist Him for a time sin against the Holy Spirit. When he prays that God will not lay the sin to their charge, his meaning is that the guilt may not remain in them.

And when he had said thus, he fell on sleep. This was added so that we may know that these words were uttered even when he was ready to give up his spirit, which is a sign of wonderful steadfastness. Also, this word “sleep” denotes a gentle kind of death.

Now, because he made this prayer when he was at the point of death, his great care to appease his enemies was not motivated by any hope of obtaining pardon for himself, but only by the desire that they might repent. When this word “sleep” is used in Scripture to mean “to die,” it must be understood as referring to the body, lest anyone foolishly imagine, along with unlearned people, that souls also sleep.

In this history:

1. We may first see the state of the godly in this world, namely, that they are like sheep appointed to be slain, as it is in the Psalm (Psalms 44:22); and especially when the Lord gives free rein to His enemies, so that they may carry out the cruelty they have conceived in their minds.
2. Secondly, the outcome of persecutions is described here, namely, that far from halting the course of the gospel, they are instead made means to advance it through the wonderful plan of God. Just as it was an evident miracle that the scattering abroad, mentioned by Luke, gathered many to the unity of faith who were previously estranged from God.

Now, let us consider each point in order.