If the Jews couldn't put Jesus to death, how were they able to stone Stephen?
The question presumes that
the Jewish religious legalists
didn't try to put Jesus to death.
They did, try.
When He, coming to Nazareth, read
from the book of Isaiah, and told
them things that indicated that He
was the Messiah while standing
before them in the synagogue, the
Jewish religious leaders tried to
kill Him. The Scripture says:
"And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were
filled with wrath, and rose up, and
thrust him out of the city, and led
him unto the brow of the hill
whereon their city was built, that
they might cast him down headlong.
But he passing through the midst of
them went his way..." (Luke. 4:28-30).
They couldn't kill Jesus. It was
impossible for anyone or anything to
take His life. It wasn't yet His
time to die, and when the time came,
Jesus chose His time of
death. He laid down His life on the
cross at Calvary, so that the lost
could be saved from sin.
Stephen's death was just as
illegal as Christ's would have been,
had the Jewish leaders had their way
after Jesus taught in the synagogue.
Roman law had to be complied with in
order to execute people during the
era when both Jesus and Steven
walked the land of Israel.