No Worse Sinners

Acts 7:2 KJV

And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

Acts 7:51 KJV

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

Acts 7:60 KJV

And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

I am interested in the relationship Stephen represents himself having with his detractors here:

He begins by associating himself as one of them

Men brethren and fathers...

As the message progresses (his answer to their question is to declare to them the message that he had been accused of preaching) he identifies himself as, like they, the children of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. He refers to the great names in Jewish history as "our fathers".

But then a serious change takes place in verse fifty one

"Ye stiffnecked...as your fathers did..."

Here he separates himself from them. Their fathers were no longer his fathers. They had aligned themselves with those who had killed the prophets and he would no longer claim them. 

It was at this point they grew so angry as to stone him.

When Stephen saw Jesus, he began to pray for his persecutors. 

...Lord, lay not this sin to their charge...

No longer was he identified with them as Jews but he did identify with them as sinners. They were about to kill him but he could hold no animosity against them. They were, after all, no more in need of a Saviour than he had been.