A COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS II

 *30/01/2022*

*ANOINTING HEALING AND COMMUNION SERVICE*

TOPIC:

*A COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS II*

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"

*Psalms 133:1*

Text:

Acts 2:42-47

Acts 4:23-37

It should not be interpreted as if the new believers formed some kind of monastic group or commune, isolated from the world, in which no one owned anything and all possessions belonged to the community. What we have is not a community of goods, but *a community of believers who were so devoted to one another that they were willing to share everything so that none of them lacked anything according to Acts 2:44*

To understand why some of them may have been in want, we need to return to the circumstances of their conversion. Luke described the crowd listening to Peter as having come from all over the known world Acts 2:5. Many of them would have traveled to Jerusalem for Passover and would have been planning to return home after the Feast of Pentecost. The Ethiopian eunuch may be an example of someone who had this schedule Acts 8:27-28.

These people might also have had a lot in common even before their conversion. They had traveled far to come to Jerusalem and during their long stay there they would have met others from their own nations with whom they might have shared meals and accommodation. They might already have lived in a sort of community in which they pooled the resources they had bought, which they would have expected to last for about fifty days. Some might have brought goods to sell so that they could buy food or animals for sacrifice in the temple.

Now that they had been saved and added into the community of believers, they probably delayed their plans to return home and it was only natural to continue in the same fellowship.

*Why should it be strange for them to have everything in common?*

The original small group of some 120 disciples (Acts 1:15) was swamped by the new arrivals. When the group had been small, individual families could cater to it, but this was no longer possible. There was a need to identity those with possessions and goods and to encourage them to sell these and give to the needy in proportion to their particular needs (Acts 2:45). This type of arrangement recurs repeatedly throughout the book of Acts.

Acts 4:32-35; 6:1-7; 9:36-41; 11:27-30; 20:34-35; 24:17)

Two other points can be made in support of the position that this was not a community in which everything belonged to everyone. One is that the verbs for 'selling' and 'giving' are both in the imperfect tense, which suggests that the selling and giving took place from time to time, and not on one occasion. Another is the statement that goods were distributed to anyone as he had need. If everything had been held in common, there would be no mention of some as owning possessions and goods and others as having needs.

*The description of the group as being together should not be taken to mean that they were in one place all the time, but rather that they met together for a purpose according to Acts 2:46* They spent much time in the temple because they didn't have other things to do, having left their homes to come and worship, and so they may well have met there everyday to listen to the apostles. This practice was quite different from that of the Qumran community, who withdraw from contact with all those who were not part of the group and took up residence in the desert.

*There is no indication that the apostles encouraged the forming of an exclusive community* Peter's advice to the people to save themselves from this corrupt generation (Acts 2:40) does not imply a need to form a community away from the world. In fact, the reference to the believers as enjoying the favour of all people (Acts 2:47a) makes it clean that they were not isolated.

*What we have is a new community of believers where all the believers were together and yet remained within the wider society*

*The unity and mutual helpfulness of the believers was a living out of what was considered an ideal model of friendship in the Greek world*

The new community was growing rapidly (Acts 2:47b). The community was also obviously inclusive; once the basic requirement of repentance and baptism had been met, any new believer was automatically accepted. No wonder the number of believers increases rapidly from 120 to more than 3000 to about 5000.

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