Psalms 31:5
Psalms 31:55Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth.
Jehovah's Witnesses recognise as a prayer of David directed exclusively to Jehovah: "Into your hand I entrust my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Jehovah the God of truth." They use this verse to reinforce the principle that entrusting one's spirit at death is an act of worship that belongs to God alone. When confronted with Stephen's parallel prayer to Jesus in , JWs typically argue that Stephen was merely making a request to an exalted king, not offering divine worship. They do not address the verbal echo between the two passages or its theological implications.
Protestants highlight the deliberate verbal parallel between and . David prays to Jehovah: "Into your hand I entrust my spirit." Stephen, at the point of death, prays to Jesus: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." The echo is unmistakable — Stephen consciously redirects a Jehovah-prayer to Jesus. This is not casual language; entrusting one's spirit at death is the most solemn act of faith a person can make. If Jesus is merely a created angel, Stephen committed idolatry with his dying breath — and Luke recorded it approvingly without correction. The parallel demonstrates that the earliest Christians placed Jesus in the role of Jehovah as the one who receives the spirit at death. This forms part of the broader "calling on the name" pattern (1 Cor 1:2, , Rom 10:13) where Old Testament Jehovah-language is applied to Jesus.