Libertines in the Bible — Hidden Meaning & Symbolism

freed men. Libertines was a term that was applied by the Jews to persons who had not been born into the Jewish faith but had taken it up by adoption. The Libertines mentioned in Acts 6:9 are thought to have been Jews who had been made slaves by the Romans and, upon being set free afterward, returned to Jerusalem. In the Bible text they were cited among those who disputed with Stephen and stirred up the people against him, thus being instrumental in causing him to be stoned to death. Meta. Fixed states of thought in the realm of sense, that rise up and oppose the progress of spiritual ideas.