Yes — the religious leaders of Israel were self-righteous, law-breaking betrayers who killed the Messiah while claiming to represent God.
Les Feldick points to Acts 7:52, where Stephen calls the religious leaders the 'betrayers and murderers' of the Just One. He also explains from Romans 10 that they were ignorant of God's righteousness and tried to establish their own righteousness by works, leaving faith out. Their profession of godliness was directly contradicted by their rejection of the Messiah.
Acts 7:52 — This verse directly names the religious leaders of Israel as the betrayers and murderers of the Just One, the Messiah.
Romans 10:3 — This verse exposes their self-righteousness: they did not submit to God's righteousness and instead tried to establish their own.
Romans 2:21-23 — This passage reveals the hypocrisy of the religious man who boasts in the law but breaks it.
The prophet Stephen confronted the religious leaders of Israel directly: "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers" (Acts 7:52). Paul similarly exposed the religious man in Romans 2. He rested in the law, boasted in God, and was confident that he was "a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness." Yet Paul asked: "Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?" Through breaking the law they dishonoured God, so that "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles" (Romans 2:21-24).
Les emphasizes that the third group Paul prosecutes in Romans 2 is the religious person. He says religion is man's attempt to please God, while Christianity is God reaching down in mercy and grace to a lost human race. Then, from Acts 7:52, Les stresses that Stephen was speaking to the religious leaders, especially in Israel, and that they were guilty of betraying and murdering their Messiah. He also uses Romans 10:3 to show that Israel's religious leaders were ignorant of God's righteousness and tried to establish their own righteousness. Les points out that they were doing it with their own works and leaving faith out of the picture.
Les reads Acts 7:52 where Stephen says the religious leaders were the betrayers and murderers of the Just One. Les notes that Stephen was talking to the religious leaders, especially in Israel, and that this was what Israel was guilty of — they had killed their Messiah.
In Romans 10:3, Paul says they were ignorant of God's righteousness and went about to establish their own righteousness, not submitting to God's righteousness. Les explains that they were trying to do it with their own works, leaving faith out of the picture, just like many religious people today.
Les introduces the religious person as the third segment of humanity in Romans 2. He says religion prompts hatred, precipitates war, and takes people down the dark path of legalism. Religion is always man's attempt to please God, whereas Christianity is God reaching down in mercy and grace to a lost human race.
Romans 2: The Religious Person
Les identifies the third group Paul prosecutes in Romans 2 as the religious person, and contrasts religion — man's attempt to please God — with Christianity, where God reaches down in grace.
Why Israel Rejected God as King — 1 Samuel 8 Explained
And they could just stop and worship. Verse 11. There they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before, and they wrought wicked things. Now, always remember, I've said it over and over and over. It wasn't just that they bowed their knee to an idol. That in itself was bad enough. But whenever you go into idolatry, you go into abject immorality as well.
Why Israel Rejected God as King — 1 Samuel 8 Explained
For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and they had feared of the God. And they walked in the statutes of whom? The heathen. Imagine. They became just exactly like those heathen Canaanites all around them.
Israel’s Title Deed: Understanding God's Covenant in Genesis 15
But ere they crossed the River Jordan, God gave explicit instructions to the nation of Israel, don't leave a single Canaanite alive. Unfair? Unjust? No. Because they've had 400 years to clean up their act. But instead of cleaning up their act, they degenerated down, down, down, until finally God, in justice, could tell Israel, don't spare a one.
The First Lie: How Satan Deceived Eve (Genesis 3 Bible Study)
And even though Israel is there tonight in unbelief, she is no different spiritually than any other secular government on earth. Just because they're God's covenant people, don't expect them to be righteous in all their dealings. They are there in unbelief.
Acts 7: Betrayers and Murderers
Les shows that Stephen's accusation in Acts 7:52 was aimed at the religious leaders of Israel, calling them the betrayers and murderers of the Just One — the Messiah.
The Truth About Grace, Faith & Abraham — Romans 4:13-25
That's what it says, ridiculous to the extreme, but nevertheless, not only did they make the golden calf, but what was their behavior around it? Abject immorality, as wHere they were in their stark nakedness, abject immorality, and of course God judged them for it, a few thousand died because of it.
Romans 10: Self-Righteousness
Les explains that Israel's religious leaders were ignorant of God's righteousness and tried to establish their own righteousness through works, leaving faith out.
Acts 7:52: Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Stephen directly indicts the religious leaders for rejecting God's messengers and killing the Messiah.
Romans 2:21-23: Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
These verses expose the hypocrisy of those who claimed to know God's will but broke the very law they taught.
Romans 10:3: For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
This verse summarizes the self-righteousness of Israel's religious leaders in rejecting God's way of salvation.
Les Feldick teaches from Acts 7:52 that Stephen directly called them 'betrayers and murderers' of the Just One. Les says Stephen was talking to the religious leaders, especially in Israel, and that they had killed their Messiah.
They were self-righteous. They were ignorant of God's righteousness and tried to establish their own righteousness instead of submitting to God's righteousness. Les says they did this with their own works, leaving faith out of the picture.
No. Les says religion is man's attempt to please God, while Christianity is God reaching down in mercy and grace to a lost human race. The religious leaders of Israel were religious, yet they rejected their Messiah.
Watch the Teaching: Why Even "Good People" Can't Escape God's Judgment — Romans 2