Acts 4:32

New Testament

31 When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God courageously. 32 The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common. 33 With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on them all. 34 For there was no one needy among them because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds from the sales 35 and placing them at the apostles’ feet. The proceeds were distributed to each, as anyone had need.

Iamblichus Life of Pythagoras 30

Classical

With respect to justice, however, we shall learn in the best manner, how he cultivated and delivered it to mankind, if we survey it from its first principle, and from what first causes it germinates, and also direct our attention to the first cause of injustice. For thus we shall discover how he avoided the latter, and what methods he adopted in order that the former might be properly ingenerated in the soul. The principle of justice therefore, is the common and the equal, through which, in a way most nearly approximating to one body and one soul, all men may be co-passive, and may call the same thing mine and thine; as is also testified by Plato, who learnt this from the Pythagoreans. This therefore, Pythagoras effected in the best manner, exterminating every thing private in manners, but increasing that which is common as far as to ultimate possessions, which are the causes of sedition and tumult. For all things [with his disciples] were common and the same to all, and no one possessed any thing private.

 Notes and References

"... One basic element of the Acts description of the believers or the church is unanimity and unity. Throughout Acts 1–7, the Lukan narrator typically and explicitly describes the believers as united, as having agreement or unanimity among themselves, and as together. Prior to the Pentecost event, the believers obey Jesus’ instructions and return to Jerusalem, where “these all were constantly devoted together to prayer” (1:14) and were gathered together when the extraordinary phenomena occurred (2:1-4). Following the Pentecost event, the Lukan narrator explicitly summarizes about the believers’ typical activities by, among other things, alluding to images associated previously with togetherness, unity, and God’s activity. After the initial opposition by Jewish religious leaders, Peter and John gathered together with the believers and prayed to God (4:23-31), with the result that “they all were filled with the Holy Spirit and continually spoke the word of God with boldness” (4:31). Even the summary section of Acts 4:32-37, contrasted with the subsequent scene involving Ananias and Sapphira (5:1-11), presents the believers as having “one heart and soul” (4:32) (The latter part of that expression referring to “one soul” borrows imagery from Greco-Roman friendship traditions to express explicitly the communal relationship that united these believers. See Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 9.8.2; Plutarch, On Brotherly Love 478c; and Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras 168; compare Plato, Republic 5.462c) and as having “great grace upon them all” (4:33). Thus, what one finds in the Lukan description of the church is that element of togetherness and unity which is directly linked to God’s divine presence and activity through the Holy Spirit ..."

Thompson, Richard P. "Where the Spirit of the Lord Is": God and the Church in the Book of Acts (pp. 57-72) Wesleyan Theological Journal, Vol. 36 No. 1, 2001

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