In Acts 4:32-5:16 we have a description of the early community of believers in Jerusalem. A text such as this provides a good opportunity to stop and think about how we ought to apply the book of Acts today.
Sometimes this group is described as living as communists since they “live in common” and seem to have re-distributed wealth. Many traditional dispensationalists have therefore concluded that the future Kingdom will be some sort of socialist paradise with no private property, etc. Try as I might, I cannot find this elsewhere in scripture nor am I communist so that I need to find biblical support for by economic theory! Virtually everyone who treats this text finds some way to avoid the “living in common” aspect of Acts 4.
In Trites article there is no call to sell our possessions and live “in common.” The application is therefore rather general. But people like Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution) would argue (passionately) that the earliest community of believers were putting into practice the ethics of Jesus (including economic ethics) by living as simply as possible. They did not build enormous churches and expensive structures – they simply met the needs of people.
Frequently this text is invoked as a model for the church to follow today, with varying degrees of specific application. For example, Allison A. Trites includes this text in her article on church growth (“Church Growth in the Book of Acts” Bibliotheca Sacra 145 [Apr 88]). The reason the apostolic church grew was because the church cared for the needs of the poor and treated hypocrisy as a serious offense (5:1-11). The point is well made – the growing church cares about the needs of people as well as the preaching of the gospel. But does this point really come from Acts 4:32-35?
There is no question that the early church sought to meet the needs of their community and the needs of the larger society as well. Even in the days of Justin Martyr Christians were interested in sharing possessions for the common good: “We who valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions, now bring what we have to a common stock, and communicate to every one in need” (Apology 1.14:2-3).
The big question is therefore: How do we apply the descriptions of the earliest Christian communities to the present Christian church? Or perhaps, should we try to apply these things to our church? Perhaps there is more going on here than Luke giving us a model for all churches at all times. I really am impressed with the recent emphasis on simplicity and I am by no means interested in any kind of “health and wealth” gospel – but I am also concerned with drawing ethical implications from this text.
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January 28, 2013 at 12:36 pm
Nick Van Loo
When I read this text/blog post, I had a hard time not thinking of Hippies. I am not calling the early church free loaders, drug frequenters, or smelly. However, “Sharing possessions for the common good” sounds a lot like “no one should be able to own anything, because everything is everyone’s (That is what I imagine Hippies think)”.
I like how you mentioned the ethical implications of this because I know the thought of not being to own any of my own things does not sound appealing to me. However, I do think that if I value my own possessions so much that I cannot give up them to help the community, we are provided of a Biblical example of the extreme opposite end of the spectrum. This is a gut-check passage for me that people can live simply, live happy, and fufill God’s purpose for their lives. All the stress I put myself through at my internship or with other areas of my life, God can always say, “The early church did it this way and I was happy with them”. Maybe this passage is not a call to live in Hippie communes, but it might be call to simplify on the small things that we think are so important.
January 28, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Hilary Rolff
As we have talked about previously, these early Christians thought that the second coming of Christ was soon and that the end times were beginning. Selling possessions and giving the money to the poor would be easier knowing the end of the temporal was near; but this is not so for the church today. Indeed, we must not put much stock in the temporal, for it will pass away, but we must plan for the more immediate future. I do not believe that Scripture, as a whole, displays that “living in community” is how we are to live today. “The right to private property is best grounded in a theological understanding of work, personal and familial responsibility, and human freedom” (Kingdom Ethics, 420).
I believe the application we can take from the earliest Christian churches and use for today is not as much the mandatory all possessions “in common” as much as an attitude of eternal rather than temporal. We can look to the passage of the rich young ruler in the Gospels. The young ruler asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus replies and tells him to sell what he owns and give the money to the poor. From this passage, we can understand that Jesus is not saying that people with considerable amounts of possessions “cannot enter the kingdom.” However, these people should “take careful heed of the state of their souls as evidence by their practices” (having the wrong priorities) (Kingdom ethics, 417). With the wrong attitude towards wealth, one can become consumed with the temporal (money) and consequently kill growth in discipleship and their spiritual relationship.
But wealth can be used to further the gospel. From Acts, we can see that some believers had personal possessions, but they used them for God’s glory. “People still had personal possessions, because they still met in ‘their homes’“ (Acts 2:46 ESV notes). And I believe this is the example we can apply from the early churches. We need to make our focus be on eternal priorities rather than consuming temporal desires and greed.
January 28, 2013 at 4:58 pm
Zac_Schutte
I really like the point that Hilary makes in her arguements about having, “an attitdue of eternal rather than temporal.” For me, two particular descriptions in this passage stick out the most. The first is in 4:32, which states, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” What this verse brings to mind is the teaching in both Isaiah 40:8 and 1 Peter 1:24-25. Both these verses state the teachings found in Acts 4:32, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” In the post, Professor Long talked about how support for “communal” living is not found elsewhere in the Bible. However, this teaching of God and His word as the only thing eternal is found both in the Old and New Testament.
Another part of the passage that caught my interest was 4:34-35. In this section, it is stated that, “there were no needy persons among them,” and that believers would bring earnings from property sales to apostles for distribution among the needy. This does not seem as equal division of property, but rather one believer using earnings as an offering to God for His blessings, which can be used to bless others. This is the basic idea behind the nation of Israel, “blessed to be a blessing.” Not only do believers recognize that material wealth was of little value, but this attitude allowed believers who were blessed to give abundantly. In reading these two passages, I would be more lead to say that believers were living in a generous and eternal based community rather than one that focuses on material wealth and communal living.
January 28, 2013 at 6:56 pm
cbefus
From the few last verses of Acts 4 there is an incredible example of a working community that have one goal in mind (Acts 4:32-35). To the point where “There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, bought the money…and put it at the apostles feet…” (4:35). The whole situation of everyone sharing everything and not claiming anything as their own seems kind of extreme to me but that might be because of the mindset of the world today to get all you can. But what baffles me is not only the thought of this being possible but the results! There was no one in need around them (4:35) and there numbers where multiplying greatly (4:4). This unity and way of life clearly brought about success to the early church and from then on out the church only grew despite persecution. I look now at the USA, a nation once thriving for the Lord that now has banned His name from schools, government, and a way of life. Christians are looked down upon by most, because of their failure to live a life after Jesus Christ who they claim as their savior. I think that in the USA it is not so much the problem of material giving but the giving of one’s time and dedication to the Lord. To stop worrying about the American dream we all want and just serve others by example. Live a simpler life that puts Jesus as our focus and not the material world.
January 28, 2013 at 10:29 pm
lvinton
This section of Acts is very applicable to modern churches and the way we Christians should be continuing to act towards others. When reading Acts 4:32-5:16, I really liked the example of the communal living. I know that today that would not happen – or at least be likely to happen. I liked that his disciples chose to practice the ethics of Jesus, and in the same way, living as simply as possible. In Acts 4:32 it said that they “were of one heart and soul.” How amazing that would be for Christians today! The early believers truly were acting as witnesses. The Church cared for the needs of the poor, and hypocrisy was treated seriously. I think that modern day we want to say that times are different now and easily harden our hearts to living like Christians of old. In Acts 5:5 God takes Ananias’ betrayal seriously; God strikes him and his wife dead. Although we might not be struck dead, I am sure that God sees and knows how we are treating one another and what we do with out money. However, I think that true transformation could begin when people of the Church begin to ask God to soften our hearts and have compassion on fellow Christians as well as the poor and needy.
January 28, 2013 at 11:04 pm
scottspooner64
I have also wondered if it was my responsibility as a Christian live in a community sharing everything. I think that the church of today does meet the needs of others, in a Christ like manner. I don’t think that the point of the way the early Christians were living was that we need to live together, but that we need to be there for each other. The act of giving to a fellow believer who is in need is a beautiful thing that needs to be done. I have seen examples of this in my church, as families have had their homes burn down and the church has helped them to rebuild them. The way that the early Christian displayed love for one another was to share possessions and help one another, I don’t believe that call is lessened today but it may be brought about in a different way.
January 29, 2013 at 4:38 am
Living a life of simplicity, wealth sharing and community ~ Shane Claiborne « The Mystery of Christ
[...] Acts 4:32-5:16 – What Kind of Community Was This? (readingacts.wordpress.com) [...]
January 29, 2013 at 4:30 pm
cameronlowe5
“The big question is therefore: How do we apply the descriptions of the earliest Christian communities to the present Christian church? Or perhaps, should we try to apply these things to our church?”
I think that we should be applying these things to the church in the present age, how can we not? The how is the tricky part, how do we apply these things and not be socialists or any form there of? I think that it all comes down to how we act this out, it needs to be done in love with love being the central idea for this “distribution.” When we think about the word distribution I think that we take it all wrong. We need to understand that it was not a “we don’t own our own things” it is more of a “we give to those who need out of what we have.” It is one of the most simple ways to show love to someone, it is a command that we have and one that we should be putting into practice. I think of Take Hold Church in downtown GR and I see a church that is striving for this goal, the church collects donations from member and other people in the community and they distribute it out to the homeless community that is right around them. They also do food drives and other things for the community. They are basically saying “what’s ours is yours. I think that we can learn a lot from their example of humbly serving and loving and applying the teachings from Acts to their church life. So the answer is a simple one, give to those who need, love those who are broken and be the light where there is none. We must be the hands and feet of God, we must be living out our duty to serve and love and to enact the things that Luke was trying to get the readers of his letter to understand. Serve with everything you have, hold nothing back, be set apart and LOVE.