would this gospel make sense to gentiles?
Acts 7:51-53 NIV
“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.
You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?
They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.
And now you have betrayed and murdered him—
53 you who have received the law that was given through angels
but have not obeyed it.”
I love Acts 7, but this is NOT the gospel. This is Stephen's μαρτύριον (martyr) - the testimony for which his life's blood was spilled.
For the Jews, this is the
opposite of "good news." This is INCREDIBLY BAD NEWS for the Jews. Stephen accuses them of killing their Messiah. Their hope is lost, they are cut off.
Not only that, but he recaps ALL OF JEWISH HISTORY, and (re?)frames the Jews as the villains. That they stoned the prophets (in the verses you quoted) is the LEAST startling accusation he brings.
Stephen tells the Jews that the sacrifices
(the ones they're relying on to cover their sins) were actually offered to pagan gods, and God NEVER wanted or accepted them (v.42-43). That's hard to even reconcile to the OT.
Stephen tells the Jews that Solomon, their greatest king, was a pagan who erected a temple that God did NOT want and did NOT accept (v.44-49). The whole temple system is a FRAUD, according to Stephen.
Stephen tells the Jews that the covenent of Moses failed at the base of Mt. Sinai... before it even started... when they offered sacrifice to the
golden calf. He says that God gave up on Israel right then and there and destined them to worship the starry host (v.37-42).
I bet that isn't the interpretation of the Old Testament they taught you in Sunday School. I see why they stoned him to death.