Читать книгу The Literature and History of New Testament Times - J. Gresham Machen - Страница 63

The word "martyr" is simply the Greek word for "witness." That is the word which is translated "witness" in Acts 1:8. "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." There, of course, there is no special reference to dying for the sake of Christ. It is primarily the ordinary verbal testimony which is meant. The special meaning "martyr" is not often attached to the Greek word in the New Testament. Probably even in Acts 22:20, where the word is applied to Stephen, it is to be translated "witness" rather than "martyr."

Martyrdom, then, is only one kind of witnessing. But it is a very important kind. Men will not die for what they do not believe. When Stephen sank beneath the stones of his enemies he was preaching a powerful sermon. The very fact of his death was a witness to Christ. The manner of it was still more significant. Stephen, crying in the hour of death, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," Stephen dying with words of forgiveness on his lips, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," was a witness indeed.

The Church can never do without that kind of witnessing. True, it may not now often appear as actual martyrdom. But bravery is needed as much as ever—bravery in business, men who will not say, "Business is business," but will do what is right even in the face of failure; bravery in politics, men to whom righteousness is more than a pose; bravery in social life, men and women who will sacrifice convention every time to principle, who, for example, will maintain the Christian Sabbath in the face of ridicule. Modern life affords plenty of opportunities for cowardice, plenty of opportunities for denying the faith through fear of men. It also affords opportunities for bravery. You can still show whether you are of the stuff that Stephen was made of—above all, you can show whether you are possessed by the same Spirit and are a servant of the same Lord.