Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
All Commentaries on Acts 6:3 Go To Acts 6
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Look ye out among you seven men, and men of a good repute and character, full of the Holy Spirit. (Witham)
Diverse circumstances prove, that they were chosen to be about the altar also. They were to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom: they received the imposition of the apostles' hands, and in them St. Paul requireth, in a manner, the same conditions as in bishops; all which would not have been necessary for any secular stewardship. See Acts xiii. 3. Immediately after their ordination, they preached, baptized, disputed, as we see in St. Stephen Hence St. Ignatius: "it is ours to please by all means the deacons, who are for the ministry of Jesus Christ; for they are not servitors of meat and drink, but ministers of the Church of God. For what are deacons but imitators or followers of Christ, ministering to bishops, as Christ to his Father, and working unto him a clean and immaculate work, even as St. Stephen to St. James? (Ep. ad Tral.)
