6:13 {10} And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
(10) An example of frivolous objectors or false accusers, who gather false conclusions from things that are well uttered and spoken.
6:13 Set up false witnesses. False, in that they perverted what he said, so as to give it a meaning not meant.
Against this holy place. The temple. He may have said that it would be destroyed. See Mt 24:2.
And the law. He probably said what Paul so often said. See Ga 3:24,25.
6:8-15 When they could not answer Stephen's arguments as a disputant, they prosecuted him as a criminal, and brought false witnesses against him. And it is next to a miracle of providence, that no greater number of religious persons have been murdered in the world, by the way of perjury and pretence of law, when so many thousands hate them, who make no conscience of false oaths. Wisdom and holiness make a man's face to shine, yet will not secure men from being treated badly. What shall we say of man, a rational being, yet attempting to uphold a religious system by false witness and murder! And this has been done in numberless instances. But the blame rests not so much upon the understanding, as upon the heart of a fallen creature, which is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Yet the servant of the Lord, possessing a clear conscience, cheerful hope, and Divine consolations, may smile in the midst of danger and death.
