Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.
Parallel Translations
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Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.
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In those dayes as the nombre of the disciples grewe ther arose a grudge amonge the Grekes agaynst the Ebrues because their wyddowes were despysed in the dayly mynystracion.
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And in those dayes, as the nomber of ye disciples grewe, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians towards ye Hebrewes, because their widowes were neglected in the dayly ministring.
Cross-references (33)
Passages linked to Acts 6:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
- Acts 4:35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet, and distribution was made to each, according as anyone had need.
- Acts 2:47 praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.
- Acts 6:7 The word of God increased and the number of the disciples greatly multiplied in Jerusalem. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
- Acts 9:39 Peter got up and went with them. When he had come, they brought him into the upper room. All the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.
- James 5:9 Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.
- Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly love continue.
- Matthew 23:13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
- Acts 2:45 They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.
- Acts 4:4 But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
- Acts 5:14 More believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.
- Acts 9:41 He gave her his hand, and raised her up. Calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.
- Acts 11:20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.
- Philippians 3:5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
- Psalms 72:16 Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
- Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”
- Isaiah 27:6 In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit.
- Jeremiah 30:19 Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small.
- Acts 9:29 preaching boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus. He spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him.
- 2 Corinthians 11:22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the offspring of Abraham? So am I.
- Deuteronomy 24:19-21 When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When you harvest your vineyard, you shall not glean it after yourselves. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
- Deuteronomy 26:12 When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates and be filled.
- Job 29:13 the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
- Job 31:16 “If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
- Psalms 110:3 Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy array. Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth.
- Ezekiel 22:7 In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.
- Malachi 3:5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Acts 5:28 saying, “Didn’t we strictly command you not to teach in this name? Behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man’s blood on us.”
- 1 Corinthians 10:10 Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.
- 1 Timothy 5:4-5 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety toward their own family and to repay their parents, for this is acceptable in the sight of God. Now she who is a widow indeed and desolate, has her hope set on God, and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.
- 1 Timothy 5:9 Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,
- James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
- James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. Luke declareth here upon what occasion, and to…
1. Luke declareth here upon what occasion, and to what end, and also with what rite, deacons were first made. He saith, When there arose a murmuring amongst the disciples, it was appeased by this remedy, as it is said in the common proverb, Good laws have taken their beginning of evil manners. And it may seem to be a strange thing, seeing that this is a function so excellent and so necessary in the Church, why it came not into the apostles’ minds at the first, (before there was any such occasion ministered,) to appoint deacons, and why the Spirit of God did not give them such counsel which they take now, being, as it were, enforced thereunto. But that which happened was both better then, and is also more profitable for us at this day, to be unto us an example. If the apostles had spoken of choosing deacons before any necessity did require the same, they should not have had the people so ready; they should have seemed to avoid labor and trouble; many would not have offered so liberally into the hands of other men. Therefore, it was requisite that the faithful should be convict [convinced] by experience that they might choose deacons willingly, whom they saw they could not want; and that through their own fault.
We learn in this history that the Church cannot be so framed by and by, but that there remain somewhat to be amended; neither can so great a building be so finished in one day, that there may not something be added to make the same perfect. Furthermore, we learn that there is no ordinance of God so holy and laudable, which is not either corrupt or made unprofitable through the fault of men. We wonder that things are never so well ordered in the world, but that there is always some evil mixed with the good; but it is the wickedness and corruption of our nature which causeth this. That was, indeed, a godly order, whereof Luke made mention before, when the goods of all men being consecrated to God, were distributed to every man as he had need; when as the apostles, being, as it were, the stewards of God and the poor, had the chief government of the alms. But shortly after there ariseth a murmuring which troubleth this order. Here appeareth that corruption of men whereof I have spoken, which doth not suffer us to use our good things. We must also mark the subtilty of Satan, who, to the end he may take from us the use of the gifts of God, goeth about this continually, that it may not remain pure and sound; but that, being mixed with other discommodities, it may, first, be suspected, secondly, loathed, and, lastly, quite taken away. But the apostles have taught us, by their example, that we must not yield unto such engines (and policies) of Satan. For they do not think it meet (being offended with the murmuring) to take away that ministry which they know pleaseth God; but rather invent a remedy whereby the offense may be taken away, and that may be retained which is God’s. Thus must we do. For what offenses soever Satan raise, we must take good heed that he take not from us those ordinances which are otherwise wholesome.
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The number increasing. We ought to wish for nothing more than that God would increase his Church, and gather together many on every side unto his people; but the corruption of our nature hindereth us from having any thing happy in all points. For there arise many discommodities also, even of the increasings of the Church. For it is a hard matter to keep many hypocrites from creeping into the multitude, whose wickedness is not by and by discovered, until such time as they have infected some part of the flock with their infection. Moreover, many wicked, froward, and dissolute persons do insinuate themselves under a false color of repentance. And that I may pass over innumerable things, there is never such agreement amongst many, but that, according to the diversity of their manners, their opinions are also diverse, so that one thing cannot please all alike. This offense causeth many to be desirous to choose a few for a Church; it causeth them to loathe or else to hate a multitude. But no trouble, no irksomeness, ought so much to prevail, but that we must always be desirous to have the Church increased; but that we must study to enlarge the same; but that we must cherish so much as in us lieth unity with the whole body.
A murmuring of the Greeks. Hereby it appeareth that they were not fully regenerate by the Spirit of God, to whom the diversity of nation and country ministereth occasion of disagreement. For in Christ there is neither Jew nor Grecian, (Galatians 3:28.) Therefore, this indignation smelleth of the flesh and the world. Wherefore we must take good heed that the like fault be not found in us. There is another fault in that they declare their indignation by murmuring. Furthermore it is uncertain whether the complaint were true or no. For when Luke saith that the Greeks murmured, because their widows were not honored, he showeth not what was done in deed, but what they thought was done. And it may be that forasmuch as the apostles did prefer the Jews, because they were better known, the Greeks did think (though falsely) that their widows were despised as strangers. And this seemeth to be more like to be true. Furthermore the word ministering may be expounded two manner of ways, actively or passively. For we know that at the first there were widows chosen unto the ministration. Notwithstanding, I do rather think that the Greeks did complain, because their widows were not so liberally relieved as they wished. So that the ministration shall be that daily distribution which was wont to be made.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain When Satan has assailed the Church without, and that…
When Satan has assailed the Church without, and that to small purpose and in vain, he assaileth it within, with civil dissension and strife betwixt themselves: but the Apostles take occasion thereby to set order in the Church.
In the bestowing of alms according to their necessity.
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Of their parts which of Grecians became religious Jews.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1 And in those days, when the number of…
1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
Ver. 1. Of the Grecians] Ελληνισται, Graecists; such (say some) as were by birth and religion Hebrews, but dispersed among the Gentiles; those to whom James and Peter wrote their Epistles. Others think they were Greek proselytes, that were circumcised, and read the Septuagint.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Grecians; these were not such as are elsewhere called…
Grecians; these were not such as are elsewhere called Greeks, either as being of that nation, or more generally taken for all Gentiles at large; but they were (as to their authority) Jews, and descended from such of them who, in several national calamities, were forced (or chose) to leave their country, and fly to Alexandria, and divers other places; yet kept themselves unmixed with other nations, retaining the knowledge of God, and coming to worship upon the solemn feasts; only, disusing the Hebrew language, they were more acquainted with the Greek tongue, (then commonly spoken every where), and used the Holy Scripture translated into that language, which made them the rather called Hellenists or Grecians.
Their widows were neglected in the daily ministration; they were not taken, as others, into the college, or number of widows, who in that time had some care of the poor; or rather, because they were not so largely allowed, or carefully looked after; for those that sold their goods, being Hebrews, they might not be so tender over the Hellenists, whose estates laying farther off, could not so readily be sold for the relief of themselves or others.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Here observe, 1. How the number of Christians increased…
Here observe, 1. How the number of Christians increased upon the foregoing persecution: as the Jewish church in Egypt, the more it was oppressed, the more it multiplied; so the Christian church here got ground by opposition; In those days the number of the disciples was multiplied Act 6:1.
Observe, 2. How the number of believers increasing, there arose (as it too often happens among a multitude) a murmuring among them: The Grecians, that is, such Jews as were dispersed abroad among the Greeks, complaining that their widows were neglected, and received less than the widows of the Hebrews in the daily distribution of the church’s money for charitable uses.
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Thence learn, That neglect of the poor, particularly of the godly poor, is a sin in all, but especially in the churches of Christ.
Observe, 3. How the apostles desiring to have the poor well provided for, and not having leisure themselves personally to take care of them, advise the church to chuse seven persons out of the hundred and twenty, mentioned chapter the first, to be stewards and dispensers of the church’s stock, to distribute the same with equity and indifference to all proper objects of charity without exception.
Thence learn, That a general concern for the poor, and a tender regard to their necessities and wants, is a duty that well becomes the ministers and ambassadors of God: God’s poor are his treasure, his jewels, the signet upon his arm; they are always in his eye, and upon his heart: how well then doth it become the ministers of God to take care of them who are so dear to him?
Observe, 4. How the apostles resolve to perform their duty to God and their people, with such zeal and application, as became persons of their holy character and profession. We will give ourselves continually unto prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
Where note, 1. That such as are called by God to the work of the ministry, ought to give themselves wholly to it: We will give ourselves continually thereunto.
2. That a minister’s giving himself unto prayer, is as great, if not a greater duty than giving himself to the preaching of the word: We will give ourselves continually unto prayer, and to the ministry of the word: To the one as the end, to the other as the mean; it is God that sets the word on work, but it is prayer that sets God on work: That minister that is not fervent in prayer cannot expect to be successful in preaching. Pray for us, says the apostle to the Thessalonians, that the word may run and be glorified; he that begged prayer of others, did not neglect it himself, but prayed without ceasing.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Having seen the church's struggles with her enemies, and…
Having seen the church's struggles with her enemies, and triumphed with her in her victories, we now come to take a view of the administration of her affairs at home; and here we have,
I. An unhappy disagreement among some of the church-members, which might have been of ill consequence, but was prudently accommodated and taken up in time (Act 6:1): When the number of the disciples (for so Christians were at first called, learners of Christ) was multiplied to many thousands in Jerusalem, there arose a murmuring.
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1. It does our hearts good to find that the number of the disciples is multiplied, as, no doubt, it vexed the priests and Sadducees to the heart to see it. The opposition that the preaching of the gospel met with, instead of checking its progress, contributed to the success of it; and this infant Christian church, like the infant Jewish church in Egypt, the more it was afflicted, the more it multiplied. The preachers were beaten, threatened, and abused, and yet the people received their doctrine, invited, no doubt, thereto by their wonderful patience and cheerfulness under their trials, which convinced men that they were borne up and carried on by a better spirit than their own.
2. Yet it casts a damp upon us to find that the multiplying of the disciples proves an occasion of discord. Hitherto they were all with one accord. This had been often taken notice of to their honour; but now that they were multiplied, they began to murmur; as in the old world, when men began to multiply, they corrupted themselves. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased their joy, Isa 9:3. When Abraham and Lot increased their families, there was a strife between their herdsmen; so it was here: There arose a murmuring, not an open falling out, but a secret heart-burning.
(1.) The complainants were the Grecians, or Hellenists, against the Hebrews - the Jews that were scattered in Greece, and other parts, who ordinarily spoke the Greek tongue, and read the Old Testament in the Greek version, and not the original Hebrew, many of whom being at Jerusalem at the feast embraced the faith of Christ, and were added to the church, and so continued there. These complained against the Hebrews, the native Jews, that used the original Hebrew of the Old Testament. Some of each of these became Christians, and, it seems, their joint-embracing of the faith of Christ did not prevail, as it ought to have done, to extinguish the little jealousies they had one of another before their conversion, but they retained somewhat of that old leaven; not understanding, or not remembering, that in Christ Jesus there is neither Greek nor Jew, no distinction of Hebrew and Hellenist, but all are alike welcome to Christ, and should be, for his sake, dear to one another.
(2.) The complaint of these Grecians was that their widows were neglected in the daily administration, that is in the distribution of the public charity, and the Hebrew widows had more care taken of them. Observe, The first contention in the Christian church was about a money-matter; but it is a pity that the little things of this world should be makebates among those that profess to be taken up with the great things of another world. A great deal of money was gathered for the relief of the poor, but, as often happens in such cases, it was impossible to please every body in the laying of it out. The apostles, at whose feet it was laid, did their best to dispose of it so as to answer the intentions of the donors, and no doubt designed to do it with the utmost impartiality, and were far from respecting the Hebrews more than the Grecians; and yet here they are complained to, and tacitly complained of, that the Grecian widows were neglected; though they were as real objects of charity, yet they had not so much allowed them, or not to so many, or not so duly paid them, as the Hebrews. Now, [1.] Perhaps this complaint was groundless and unjust, and there was no cause for it; but those who, upon any account, lie under disadvantages (as the Grecian Jews did, in comparison with those that were Hebrews of the Hebrews) are apt to be jealous that they are slighted when really they are not so; and it is the common fault of poor people that, instead of being thankful for what is given them, they are querulous and clamorous, and apt to find fault that more is not given them, or that more is given to others than to them; and there are envy and covetousness, those roots of bitterness, to be found among the poor as well as among the rich, notwithstanding the humbling providences they are under, and should accommodate themselves to. But, [2.] We will suppose there might be some occasion for their complaint. First, Some suggest that though their other poor were well provided for, yet their widows were neglected, because the managers governed themselves by an ancient rule which the Hebrews observed, that a widow was to be maintained by her husband's children. See Ti1 5:4. But, Secondly, I take it that the widows are here put for all the poor, because many of those that were in the church-book, and received alms, were widows, who were well provided for by the industry of their husbands while they lived, but were reduced to straits when they were gone. As those that have the administration of public justice ought in a particular manner to protect widows from injury (Isa 1:17; Luk 18:3); so those that have the administration of public charity ought in a particular manner to provide for widows what is necessary. See Ti1 5:3. And observe, The widows here, and the other poor, had a daily ministration; perhaps they wanted forecast, and could not save for hereafter, and therefore the managers of the fund, in kindness to them, gave them day by day their daily bread; they lived from hand to mouth. Now, it seems, the Grecian widows were, comparatively, neglected. Perhaps those that disposed of the money considered that there was more brought into the fund by the rich Hebrews than by the rich Grecians, who had not estates to sell, as the Hebrews had, and therefore the poor Grecians should have less out of the fund; this, though there was some tolerant reason for it, they thought hard and unfair. Note, In the best-ordered church in the world there will be something amiss, some mal - administration or other, some grievances, or at least some complaints; those are the best that have the least and the fewest.
II. The happy accommodating of this matter, and the expedient pitched upon for the taking away of the cause of this murmuring. The apostles had hitherto the directing of the matter. Applications were made to them, and appeals in cases of grievances. They were obliged to employ persons under them, who did not take all the care they might have taken, nor were so well fortified as they should have been against temptations to partiality; and therefore some persons must be chosen to manage this matter who have more leisure to attend to it than the apostles had, and were better qualified for the trust than those whom the apostles employed were. Now observe,
1. How the method was proposed by the apostles: They called the multitude of the disciples unto them, the heads of the congregations of Christians in Jerusalem, the principal leading men. The twelve themselves would not determine any thing without them, for in multitude of counsellors there is safety; and in an affair of this nature those might be best able to advise who were more conversant in the affairs of this life than the apostles were.
(1.) The apostles urge that they could by no means admit so great a diversion, as this would be, from their great work (Act 6:2): It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. The receiving and paying of money was serving tables, too like the tables of the money-changers in the temple. This was foreign to the business which the apostles were called to. They were to preach the word of God; and though they had not such occasion to study for what they preached as we have (it being given in that same hour what they should speak), yet they thought that was work enough for a whole man, and to employ all their thoughts, and cares, and time, though one man of them was more than ten of us, than ten thousand. If they serve tables, they must, in some measure, leave the word of God; they could not attend their preaching work so closely as they ought. Pectora nostra duas non admittentia curas - These minds of ours admit not of two distinct anxious employments. Though this serving of tables was for pious uses, and serving the charity of rich Christians and the necessity of poor Christians, and in both serving Christ, yet the apostles would not take so much time from their preaching as this would require. They will no more be drawn from their preaching by the money laid at their feet than they will be driven from it by the stripes laid on their backs. While the number of the disciples was small, the apostles might manage this matter without making it any considerable interruption to their main business; but, now that their number was increased, they could not do it. It is not reason, ouk areston estin - it is not fit, or commendable, that we should neglect the business of feeding souls with the bread of life, to attend the business of relieving the bodies of the poor. Note, Preaching the gospel is the best work, and the most proper and needful that a minister can be employed in, and that which he must give himself wholly to (Ti1 4:15), which that he may do, he must not entangle himself in the affairs of this life (Ti2 2:4), no, not in the outward business of the house of God, Neh 11:16.
(2.) They therefore desire that seven men might be chosen, well qualified for the purpose, whose business it should be to serve tables, diakonein trapezais - to be deacons to the tables, Act 6:2. The business must be minded, must be better minded than it had been, and than the apostles could mind it; and therefore proper persons must be occasionally employed in the word, and prayer, were not so entirely devoted to it as the apostles were; and these must take care of the church's stock - must review, and pay, and keep accounts - must buy those things which they had need of against the feast (Joh 13:29), and attend to all those things which are necessary in ordine ad spiritualia - in order to spiritual exercises, that every thing might be done decently and in order, and no person nor thing neglected. Now,
[1.] The persons must be duly qualified. The people are to choose, and the apostles to ordain; but the people have no authority to choose, nor the apostles to ordain, men utterly unfit for the office: Look out seven men; so many they thought might suffice for the present, more might be added afterwards if there were occasion. These must be, First, Of honest report, men free from scandal, that were looked upon by their neighbours as men of integrity, and faithful men, well attested, as men that might be trusted, not under a blemish for any vice, but, on the contrary, well spoken of for every thing that is virtuous and praiseworthy; marturoumenous - men that can produce good testimonials concerning their conversation. Note, Those that are employed in any office in the church ought to be men of honest report, of a blameless, nay, of an admirable character, which is requisite not only to the credit of their office, but to the due discharge of it. Secondly, They must be full of the Holy Ghost, must be filled with those gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost which were necessary to the right management of this trust. They must not only be honest men, but they must be men of ability and men of courage; such as were to be made judges in Israel (Exo 18:21), able men, fearing God; men of truth, and hating covetousness; and hereby appearing to be full of the Holy Ghost. Thirdly, They must be full of wisdom. It was not enough that they were honest, good men, but they must be discreet, judicious men, that could not be imposed upon, and would order things for the best, and with consideration: full of the Holy Ghost, and wisdom, that is, of the Holy Ghost as a Spirit of wisdom. We find the word of wisdom given by the Spirit, as distinct form the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, Co1 12:8. Those must be full of wisdom who are entrusted with public money, that it may be disposed of, not only with fidelity, but with frugality.
[2.] The people must nominate the persons: "Look you out among yourselves seven men; consider among yourselves who are the fittest for such a trust, and whom you can with the most satisfaction confide in." They might be presumed to know better, or at least were fitter to enquire, what character men had, than the apostles; and therefore they are entrusted with the choice.
[3.] They apostles will ordain them to the service, will give them their charge, that they may know what they have to do and make conscience of doing it, and give them their authority, that the persons concerned may know whom they are to apply to, and submit to, in affairs of that nature: Men, whom we may appoint. In many editions of our English Bibles there has been an error of the press here; for they have read it, whom ye may appoint, as if the power were in the people; whereas it was certainly in the apostles: whom we may appoint over this business, to take care of it, and to see that there be neither waste nor want.
(3.) The apostles engage to addict themselves wholly to their work as ministers, and the more closely if they can but get fairly quit of this troublesome office (Act 6:4): We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. See here, [1.] What are the two great gospel ordinances - the word, and prayer; by these two communion between God and his people is kept up and maintained; by the word he speaks to them, and by prayer they speak to him; and these have a mutual reference to each other. By these two the kingdom of Christ must be advanced, and additions made to it; we must prophesy upon the dry bones, and then pray for a spirit of life from God to enter into them. By the word and prayer other ordinances are sanctified to us, and sacraments have their efficacy. [2.] What is the great business of gospel ministers - to give themselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word; they must still be either fitting and furnishing themselves for those services, or employing themselves in them; either publicly or privately; in the stated times, or out of them. They must be God's mouth to the people in the ministry of the word, and the people's mouth to God in prayer. In order to the conviction and conversion of sinners, and the edification and consolation of saints, we must not only offer up our prayers for them, but we must minister the word to them, seconding our prayers with our endeavours, in the use of appointed means. Nor must we only minister the word to them, but we must pray for them, that it may be effectual; for God's grace can do all without our preaching, but our preaching can do nothing without God's grace. The apostles were endued with extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, tongues and miracles; and yet that to which they gave themselves continually was preaching and praying, by which they might edify the church: and those ministers, without doubt, are the successors of the apostles (not in the plenitude of the apostolical power - those are daring usurpers who pretend to this, but in the best and most excellent of the apostolical works) who give themselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word; and such Christ will always be with, even to the end of the world.
2. How this proposal was agreed to, and presently put in execution, by the disciples. It was not imposed upon them by an absolute power, though they might have been bold in Christ to do this (Plm 1:8), but proposed, as that which was highly convenient, and then the saying pleased the whole multitude, Act 6:5. It pleased them to see the apostles so willing to have themselves discharged from intermeddling in secular affairs, and to transmit them to others; it pleased them to hear that they would give themselves to the word and prayer; and therefore they neither disputed the matter nor deferred the execution of it.
(1.) They pitched upon the persons. It is not probable that they all cast their eye upon the same men. Everyone had his friend, whom he thought well of. But the majority of votes fell upon the persons here named; and the rest both of the candidates and the electors acquiesced, and made no disturbance, as the members of societies in such cases ought to do. An apostle, who was an extraordinary officer, was chosen by lot, which is more immediately the act of God; but the overseers of the poor were chosen by the suffrage of the people, in which yet a regard is to be had to the providence of God, who has all men's hearts and tongues in his hand. We have a list of the persons chosen. Some think they were such as were before of the seventy disciples; but this is not likely, for they were ordained by Christ himself, long since, to preach the gospel; and there was not more reason that they should leave the word of God to serve tables than that the apostles should. It is therefore more probable that they were of those that were converted since the pouring out of the Spirit; for it was promised to all that would be baptized that they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; and the gift, according to that promise, is that fulness of the Holy Ghost which was required in those that were to be chosen to this service. We may further conjecture, concerning these seven, [1.] That they were such as had sold their estates, and brought the money into the common stock; for caeteris paribus - other things being equal, those were fittest to be entrusted with the distribution of it who had been most generous in the contribution to it. [2.] That these seven were all of the Grecian or Hellenist Jews, for they have all Greek names, and this would be most likely to silence the murmurings of the Grecians (which occasioned this institution), to have the trust lodged in those that were foreigners, like themselves, who would be sure not to neglect them. Nicolas, it is plain, was one of them, for he was a proselyte of Antioch; and some think the manner of expression intimates that they were all proselytes of Jerusalem, as he was of Antioch. The first named is Stephen, the glory of these septemviri, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost; he had a strong faith in the doctrine of Christ, and was full of it above most; full of fidelity, full of courage (so some), for he was full of the Holy Ghost, of his gifts and graces. He was an extraordinary man, and excelled in every thing that was good; his name signifies a crown. Phillip is put next, because he, having used this office of a deacon well, thereby obtained a good degree, and was afterwards ordained to the office of an evangelist, a companion and assistant to the apostles, for so he is expressly called, Act 21:8. Compare Eph 4:11. And his preaching and baptizing (which we read of Act 8:12) were certainly not as a deacon (for it is plain that that office was serving tables, in opposition to the ministry of the word), but as an evangelist; and, when he was preferred to that office, we have reason to think he quitted this office, as incompatible with that. As for Stephen, nothing we find done by him proves him to be a preacher of the gospel; for he only disputes in the schools, and pleads for his life at the bar, Act 6:9, and Act 7:2. The last named is Nicolas, who, some say, afterwards degenerated (as the Judas among these seven) and was the founder of the sect of the Nicolaitans which we read of (Rev 2:6, Rev 2:15), and which Christ there says, once and again, was a thing he hated. But some of the ancients clear him from this charge, and tell us that, though that vile impure sect denominated themselves from him, yet it was unjustly, and because he only insisted much upon it that those that had wives should be as though they had none, thence they wickedly inferred that those that had wives should have them in common, which therefore Tertullian, when he speaks of the community of goods, particularly excepts: Omnia indiscreta apud nos, praeter uxores - All things are common among us, except our wives. - Apol. cap, 39.
(2.) The apostles appointed them to this work of serving tables for the present, Act 6:6. The people presented them to the apostles, who approved their choice, and ordained them. [1.] They prayed with them, and for them, that God would give them more and more of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom - that he would qualify them for the service to which they were called, and own them in it, and make them thereby a blessing to the church, and particularly to the poor of the flock. All that are employed in the service of the church ought to be committed to the conduct of the divine grace by the prayers of the church. [2.] They laid their hands on them, that is, they blessed them in the name of the Lord, for laying on hands was used in blessing; so Jacob blessed both the sons of Joseph; and, without controversy, the less is blessed of the greater (Heb 7:7); the deacons are blessed by the apostles, and the overseers of the poor by the pastors of the congregation. Having by prayer implored a blessing upon them, they did by the laying on of hands assure them that the blessing was conferred in answer to the prayer; and this was giving them authority to execute that office, and laying an obligation upon the people to be observant of them therein.
III. The advancement of the church hereupon. When things were thus put into good order in the church (grievances were redressed and discontents silenced) then religion got ground, Act 6:7. 1. The word of God increased. Now that the apostles resolved to stick more closely than ever to their preaching, it spread the gospel further, and brought it home with the more power. Ministers disentangling themselves from secular employments, and addicting themselves entirely and vigorously to their work, will contribute very much, as a means, to the success of the gospel. The word of God is said to increase as the seed sown increases when it comes up again thirty, sixty, a hundred fold. 2. Christians became numerous: The number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. When Christ was upon earth, his ministry had least success in Jerusalem; yet now that city affords most converts. God has his remnant even in the worst of places. 3. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. Then is the word and grace of God greatly magnified when those are wrought upon by it that were least likely, as the priests here, who either had opposed it, or at least were linked in with those that had. The priests, whose preferments arose from the law of Moses, were yet willing to let them go for the gospel of Christ; and, it should seem, they came in a body; many of them agreed together, for the keeping up of one another's credit, and the strengthening of one another's hands, to join at once in giving up their names to Christ: polis ochlos - a great crowd of priests were, by the grace of God helped over their prejudices, and were obedient to the faith, so their conversion is described. (1.) They embraced the doctrine of the gospel; their understandings were captivated to the power of the truths of Christ, and every opposing objecting thought brought into obedience to him, Co2 10:4, Co2 10:5. The gospel is said to be made known for the obedience of faith, Rom 16:26. Faith is an act of obedience, for this is God's commandment, that we believe, Jo1 3:23. (2.) They envinced the sincerity of their believing the gospel of Christ by a cheerful compliance with all the rules and precepts of the gospel. The design of the gospel is to refine and reform our hearts and lives; faith gives law to us, and we must be obedient to it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain There arose a murmuring - Here was the first…
There arose a murmuring - Here was the first breach made on those who were before of one heart and of one soul. Partiality crept in unawares on some; and murmuring on others. Ah Lord! how short a time did pure, genuine, undefiled Christianity remain in the world! O the depth! How unsearchable are thy counsels! marvelous are thy ways, O King of saints! The Hellenists were Jews born out of Palestine. They were so called, because they used the Greek as their other tongue. In this partiality of the Hebrews, and murmuring of the Hellenists, were the needs of a general persecution sown. Did God ever, in any age or country, withdraw his restraining providence, and let loose the world upon the Christians, till there was a cause among themselves? Is not an open, general persecution, always both penal and medicinal? A punishment of those that will not accept of milder reproofs, as well as a medicine to heal their sickness? And at the same time a means both of purifying and strengthening those whose heart is still right with God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The Hellenistic Jews complain against the Hebrews, that their
CHAPTER VI.
The Hellenistic Jews complain against the Hebrews, that their
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widows were neglected in the daily ministration, 1.
To remedy the evil complained of, the apostles appoint seven
deacons to superintend the temporal affairs of the Church, 2-6.
The progress of the word of God in Jerusalem, 7.
Stephen, one of the deacons, becomes very eminent, and confounds
various Jews of the synagogues of the Libertines, c., 8-10.
They suborn false witnesses against him, to get him put to
death, 11-14.
He appears before the council with an angelic countenance, 15.
NOTES ON CHAP. VI.
Verse 1. A murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews] Those who are here termed Grecians, ελληνισται, or Hellenists, were Jews who sojourned now at Jerusalem, but lived in countries where the Greek language was spoken, and probably in general knew no other. They are distinguished here from those called Hebrews, by which we are to understand native Jews, who spoke what was then termed the Hebrew language, a sort of Chaldaio-Syriac.
It has been remarked that Greek words ending in ιστης imply inferiority. ελληνες, Hellenes, was distinguished from ελληνισται: the former implies pure Greeks, native Greeks, who spoke the Greek tongue in its purity and the latter, Jews or others sojourning among the Greeks, but who spoke the Greek language according to the Hebrew idiom. Pythagoras divided his disciples into two classes; those who were capable of entering into the spirit and mystery of his doctrine he called πυθαγορειοι, Pythagoreans; those who were of a different cast he termed πυθαγορισται, Pythagorists: the former were eminent and worthy of their master; the latter only so so. The same distinction is made between those called αττικοι and αττικισται, Attics and Atticists, the pure and less pure Greeks, as between those called ελληνες and ελληνισται, Hellenes and Hellenists, pure Greeks and Graecising Jews. See Jamblicus, De Vit. Pyth. cap. 18, and Schoettgen on this place.
The cause of the murmuring mentioned here seems to have been this: When all the disciples had put their property into a common stock, it was intended that out of it each should have his quantum of supply. The foreign or Hellenistic Jews began to be jealous, that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration, that they either had not the proportion, or were not duly served; the Palestine Jews being partial to those of their own country. This shows that the community of goods could never have been designed to become general. Indeed, it was no ordinance of God; and, in any state of society, must be in general impracticable. The apostles, hearing of this murmuring, came to the resolution mentioned below.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Act 6:1. In those days — Some time after…
Act 6:1. In those days — Some time after the fact last recorded had taken place; when the number of the disciples was multiplied — For it appears their number increased continually and rapidly, notwithstanding the opposition made by the priests and rulers to the preaching of the gospel: indeed that opposition, instead of checking the progress of Christianity, contributed to it: there arose a murmuring — The historian’s manner of speaking, πληθυνοντων των μαθητων εγενετο γογγυσμος, the disciples multiplying, there arose a murmuring, seems to imply, that the murmuring was partly, at least, the consequence of the great increase of the disciples. And certainly, 1st, In proportion as the number of Christians increased, the scandal of the cross would be diminished, and many would be inclined to unite themselves to them, who were influenced by motives not perfectly pure, and were not truly converted to God, and made new creatures in Christ. 2d, The accession of a great number of converts to the church, perhaps chiefly from the poor, would render it more difficult than it was before, to afford all the necessitous a proper supply. But, whatever was the cause of the murmuring here spoken of, it was the first breach made on those who were before of one heart and of one soul. Partiality crept in unawares on some, and murmuring on others. Ah, Lord! how short a time did pure, genuine, undefiled Christianity remain in the world! How soon was its glory, at least in some measure, eclipsed! Of the Grecians — Greek, of the Hellenists, that is, the Jews born out of Judea, so called, because they used the Greek as their native language. These were descendants of such Jews as, in several national calamities, had been forced to flee to Alexandria, and other Gentile countries, or, on account of trade and commerce, had chosen to settle there, and yet kept themselves unmixed with the Gentiles; and, retaining the knowledge of the true God, were wont to come occasionally, especially on the solemn feasts, to worship at Jerusalem. Against the Hebrews — Who were natives of Judea, and therefore used a dialect of the Hebrew, or Syro-Chaldaic tongue; because their widows were neglected — In some degree, as they supposed; in the daily ministration — Of the charities that were distributed to the poor members of the church. It is justly observed here by Mr. Scott, that “as the greatest part of the public stock must have been contributed by the Hebrews, perhaps they, who acted under the apostles in this business, thought it right to show more favour to the poor widows of that description than the others.” It is very probable, however, that the Hellenists suspected more partiality than there really was. Be this as it may, by this real or supposed partiality of the Hebrews, and the murmuring of the Hellenists, there is reason to think the Spirit of God was grieved, and the seeds of a general persecution were sown. For, did God ever, in any age or country, withdraw his restraining providence, and let loose the world upon the Christians, till there was a cause for it among themselves? Is not an open, general persecution, always both penal and medicinal? a punishment of those that will not accept of milder reproofs as well as a medicine to heal their sickness? and at the same time a means of purifying and strengthening those whose hearts are still right with God?
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain In those days ... - The first part of…
In those days ... - The first part of this chapter contains an account of the appointment of “deacons.” It may be asked, perhaps, why the apostles did not appoint these officers at the first organization of the church? To this, question we may reply, that it was better to defer the appointment until an occasion should occur when it would appear to be manifestly necessary and proper. When the church was small, its alms could be distributed by the apostles themselves without difficulty But when it was greatly increased when its charities were multiplied; and when the distribution might give rise to contentions, it was necessary that this matter should be entrusted to the hands of “laymen,” and that the “ministry” should be freed from all embarrassment, and all suspicions of dishonesty and unfairness in regard to pecuniary matters. It has never been found to be wise that the temporal affairs of the church should be entrusted in any considerable degree to the clergy, and they should be freed from such sources of difficulty and embarrassment.
Was multiplied - By the accession of the three thousand on the day of Pentecost, and of those who were subsequently added, Act 4:4; Act 5:14.
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A murmuring - A complaint - as if there had been partiality in the distribution.
Of the Grecians - There has been much diversity of opinion in regard to these persons, whether they were “Jews” who had lived among the Gentiles, and who spoke the Greek language, or whether they were proselytes from the Gentiles. The former is probably the correct opinion. The word used here is not what is commonly employed to designate the inhabitants of Greece, but it properly denotes those who “imitate” the customs and habits of the Greeks, who use the Greek language, etc. In the time when the gospel was first preached, there were two classes of Jews - those who remained in Palestine, who used the Hebrew language, and who were appropriately called “Hebrews”; and those who were scattered among the Gentiles, who spoke the Greek language, and who used in their synagogues the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint. These were called “Hellenists,” or, as it is in our translation, “Grecians.” See the notes on Joh 7:35. These were doubtless the persons mentioned here - not those who were proselyted from Gentiles, but those of Jewish origin who were not natives of Judea, who had come up to Jerusalem to attend the great festivals. See Act 2:5, Act 2:9-11. Dissensions would be very likely to arise between these two classes of persons. The Jews of Palestine would pride themselves much on the fact that they dwelt in the land of the patriarchs and the land of promise; that they used the language which their fathers spoke, and in which the oracles of God were given; and that they were constantly near the temple, and regularly engaged in its solemnities. On the other hand, the Jews from other parts of the world would be suspicious, jealous, and envious of their brethren, and would be likely to charge them with partiality, or of taking advantage in their contact with them. These occasions of strife would not be destroyed by their conversion to Christianity, and one of them is furnished on this occasion.
Because their widows ... - The property which had been contributed, or thrown into common stock, was understood to be designed for the equal benefit of “all” the poor, and particularly, it would seem, for the poor widows. The distribution before this seems to have been made by the apostles themselves - or possibly, as Mosheim conjectures (Commentary de rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum, pp. 139, 118), the apostles committed the distribution of these funds to the Hebrews, and hence, the Grecians are represented as complaining against them, and not against the apostles.
In the daily ministration - In the daily distribution which was made for their needs. Compare Act 4:35. The property was contributed doubtless with an understanding that it should be “equally” distributed to all classes of Christians that had need. It is clear from the Epistles that “widows” were objects of special attention in the primitive church, and that the first Christians regarded it as a matter of indispensable obligation to provide for their needs, 1Ti 5:3, 1Ti 5:9-10, 1Ti 5:16; Jam 1:27.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Græcorum, Greek: elleniston, not Greek: ellenon. See also Acts…
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
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Græcorum, Greek: elleniston, not Greek: ellenon. See also Acts ix. 29. and xi. ver. 20. See Legh Critica Sacra.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain Acts Chapter 6
Acts Chapter 6
Other evils, unhappily, assail the church (chap. 6). The flesh begins to shew itself, in the midst of the power of the Holy Ghost, the trouble arising from the different circumstances of the disciples, and in those things in which grace had been especially manifested, on the side on which they were connected with the flesh. The Hellenists (Jews born in Grecian or heathen countries) murmur against the Hebrews (natives of Judea), because the widows of the latter were favoured, as they imagined, in the distribution of the goods bestowed on the assembly by its wealthier members. But here the wisdom given by the Spirit meets the difficulty, profiting by the occasion to give development to the work, according to the necessities that were growing up; and seven persons are named to undertake this business, for which the apostles would not forsake their own work. We also find, in the case of Philip and Stephen, the truth of what Paul says: “Those who have used the office of a deacon well, purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
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Observe here, that the apostles put prayer before preaching in their work, their conflict with the power of evil being more especially carried on in it, as well as their realisation of the power of God for the strength and wisdom they needed; and, in order that they might act directly on God’s part, it was necessary that grace and unction should be maintained in their hearts.
Observe also the grace that discovers itself under the influence of the Spirit of God in this matter: all the names, as far as we can judge, are those of Hellenists.
The influence of the word extended, and many priests were obedient to the faith. Thus, until now, the opposition from without, and the evil within, did but minister occasion to the progress of the work of God, by the manifestation of His presence in the midst of the church. Take especial notice of this fact. It is not only that the Spirit does good by His testimony, but, although evil is there without and within, yet where power displays itself, that evil does but bear witness to the efficacy of His presence. There was evil, but there was power to meet it. Still it shewed there was leaven even in the Pentecostal cake.
The energy of the Spirit manifests itself especially in Stephen, who is full of grace and power. The Hellenist Jews oppose him; and, not being able to answer him, they accuse him before the council, and in particular of having announced in the name of Jesus the destruction of the temple and of the city, and the change of the customs of their law. Here, observe, we see the free power of the Holy Ghost, without any sending by any other to the work, as in the apostles appointed by Christ Himself. It is not authority in the apostles, it is not in the Jews of Palestine. He distributes to whom He will. It is the godly and devoted Hellenist who renders the last testimony to the heads of the nation. If priests believe on the one side, Jews from without Judea bear testimony on the other, and prepare the way for a still more extended testimony; but at the same time for the definitive rejection, morally, of the Jews as the basis and centre of the testimony, and of the work of gathering together. For as yet Jerusalem was the centre of testimony and gathering. Peter had testified of a glorious Christ promising His return on their repentance, and they had stopped His testimony. Now judgment is pronounced on them by the Holy Ghost through the mouth of Stephen, in whom they shew themselves open adversaries to this testimony. It is not the apostles who, by official authority, break off with Jerusalem. The free action of the Holy Ghost anticipates a breach, which did not take place so as to form a part of the scripture narrative. The thing is done by the power of God; and the taking up to heaven of the witness raised up by the Spirit to denounce the Jews as adversaries, and to declare their fallen condition, placed the centre of gathering in heaven according to the Spirit-that heaven to which the faithful witness, who was filled with the Spirit, had gone up. Already, while on earth, he had the appearance of an angel to the eyes of the council who judged him; but the hardness of their hearts would not let them stop in the path of hostility towards the testimony rendered to Christ-a testimony which comes out here in a special way as the testimony of the Holy Ghost.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain
SECTION IV
THE COMPLAINT OF THE HELLENISTS THAT THEIR WIDOWS WERE NEGLECTED WHEN RELIEF WAS GIVEN TO THE POOR, INDUCES THE APOSTLES TO DIRECT THAT SEVEN MEN SHOULD BE CHOSEN AND APPOINTED FOR THIS SERVICE. THE CONTINUED GROWTH OF THE CHURCH.
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Act_6:1-7
1And [But] in those [these] days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied [when the disciples increased in number], there arose a murmuring of the Grecians [Grecian Jews] against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected [overlooked]in the daily ministration.2Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them [disciples together], and said, It is not reason [not pleasing (to us)] that we should leavethe word of God, and serve [the] tables.3Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report [men having good witness], full of the Holy Ghost1 [of theSpirit] and wisdom, whom we may [will] appoint2 over this business. 4But we will give ourselves continually to [will persevere in] prayer, and to [in] the ministry of theword. 5And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon,and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch;6Whom they set before theapostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 7And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied [became very great] in Jerusalem greatly [om. greatly]; and a great company of the priests3 were [became] obedient to the faith.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Act_6:1. a. But in those days.—An evil of considerable magnitude suddenly manifested itself precisely at this period, when the faith of the apostles revealed its power by enabling them to suffer shame for Christ’s sake, and to preach the Gospel with boldness, notwithstanding the threats of the magistrates; the word, moreover, was received by increasing numbers, so that the Church was making rapid progress. This evil was the more alarming, as it originated in the bosom of the Church itself. The threats which external foes uttered, created less apprehension than an internal danger: the former proceeded from avowed enemies; the latter arose among the members themselves. The facility with which impure elements could become associated in the Church with the pure, was proportioned to its numerical increase. And when the provision which was made for the poor became more and more ample, this circumstance itself may have attracted many needy persons; if these united with the Church from selfish considerations and with hopes that were too eager, a serious disappointment naturally awaited them.
b. There arose a murmuring.—The discontent, which was at first indistinctly manifested, but was at length loudly expressed, prevailed among the “Hellenists,” and was occasioned by the “Hebrews” (πρὸς τ. Ἑβρ.). It was here that a certain distinction revealed itself among the members of the Church, which threatened to assume the character of a direct opposition, and to terminate in a rupture. One part consisted of Hebrews, that is, of Christians who were originally Palestinian Jews, residents of the Holy Land, and who spoke the Hebrew, i.e., the Aramæan [Syro-Chaldaic] language. The other part consisted of Christians who were not natives of Palestine, but came from other countries, e. g., Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, etc., and whose native language was the Greek; these men were termed Hellenists. The great majority of the latter were, without doubt, also Jews by birth; it is, however, quite possible that there may have been some individuals among them, who were Gentiles by birth, but who had been previously incorporated as proselytes with the people of Israel. Such was Nicolas of Antioch, who is expressly described in Act_6:5 as a προςήλυτος. The Jews who were natives of Palestine, and who, without doubt, composed the great majority of the Christians, were led by their education and general mode of life, to retain the peculiar features of Judaism with more purity and strictness than the Hellenists. The latter, the descendants of foreign Jews, and the inhabitants of pagan countries, adopted not only the Greek language, but also, unconsciously, foreign usages, and specially, Greek customs, which they combined with the forms of Judaism.
c. Because their widows, etc.—The immediate cause which led to the discontent and jealousy with which the Hellenists regarded the Palestinian Judæo-Christians, was connected with the daily ministration [distribution of food, and, possibly, also of alms, (de Wette; Hack.)—Tr.]; the widows of the Hellenistic Judæo-Christians were overlooked at such times, and this evil appears to have prevailed during a considerable period (imperf. παρεθεωροῦντο.) [For the N. T. usage of the Imperf., to denote continued, repeated, or customary action, see Winer: Gram. N. T., § 40. 3.—Tr.]. The widows are not here mentioned as representatives of all the poor (Olsh.); we may, on the contrary, easily imagine that widows would be more readily overlooked than entire families, since the Hellenistic father of a family would support his claims with comparatively greater vigor, and it was possibly this very circumstance which caused such treatment of lonely females to be felt the more acutely.—The causes which led to this neglect of the Hellenistic widows, can only be conjectured. We have no reason to ascribe it to any arrogant spirit on the part of the Palestinian Jews, nor to any actual ill feeling; it is more probable that the want of a sufficient personal acquaintance with the foreign widows, and with their private circumstances, may have occasioned the neglect of which complaint was made.
Act_6:2. a. Then the twelve called, etc.—When the apostles were informed of these complaints, they immediately adopted measures for arresting the further progress of any feeling of discontent, and for removing, at the earliest moment, any cause which might weaken the union and brotherly love of the Christians. They introduced, at the same time, a division of labor, which the wants of the Church required, and which freed the apostolic office from tasks of inferior moment, that were inappropriate and that also occasioned a large expenditure of time. But they do not proceed to action in an independent manner. They agree among themselves that a change is needed, and that a certain distinctly defined course ought to be adopted, and then communicate the result of their deliberations to the Church. But they do not undertake to nominate the particular individuals who are to be invested with the new office; they ask the Church to select and propose suitable persons, to whom they, the apostles, might assign that office. They accordingly called unto them (Mid. προςκαλεσάμενοι) not simply a committee of the Church, nor even the original nucleus, the one hundred and twenty mentioned in Act_1:15 (Lightfoot), but the whole multitude of the disciples, that is to say, all the male members. The circumstance that seven men were chosen, has led some writers (Mosheim; Kuinoel) to suppose that the Church of Jerusalem consisted already of seven sectional congregations [classes, (Meyer); “familias,” (Kuin.)], each of which assembled in a different locality, and chose one of the seven men; this opinion is entirely without a historical foundation. [“The number, seven, was most probably selected because of its sacred associations.” (J. A. Alexander.)—Tr.]
Act_6:2 b. It is not reason, etc.—The apostles unreservedly state to the church, (a) what they do not desire, (b) what they do desire. When they state the former, they employ the figure of speech called Litotes: οὐκ ἀρεστόν ἐστιν. The word ἀρεστόν, according to its ordinary usage, is not simply equivalent to æquum or bonum. The course which the apostles mention in Act_6:2, unquestionably displeased them only because their conscience condemned it, since they would not be justified in the presence of God in adopting it. They did not believe that it was right to abandon the word of God (καταλείψαντας), that is, the preaching of the Gospel, or to assign a subordinate position to the ministry of the word. They did not think that they were authorized to serve tables (namely, to attend personally to the arrangements, and to distribute food to the poor and the widows), if such service compelled them to neglect the great work of their lives, which the Redeemer himself had allotted to them as their first duty (ἔσεσθέ μοι μάρτυρες, Act_1:8; Act_2:32; Act_4:19-20, and comp. Luk_24:47-48). It was not the act itself of serving, that seemed to the apostles to be degrading and inconsistent with their position, for they expressly term the sacred office itself a διακονία, ver 4. But they cannot reconcile it with their sense of duty to serve tables—to offer food for the body instead of affording nourishment to the souls of men—to neglect the spiritual charge of souls, in order to gain time and strength for supplying the wants of the poor. It was this course, which, when they considered their first and highest duty, naturally did not please them. They tacitly assume that the method which had hitherto been adopted in providing for the poor, can no longer be observed. The right and the duty to perform this work, had been hitherto restricted to the apostles; charitable gifts were laid at their feet (Act_4:35; Act_5:2), and were distributed or applied according to their judgment, Act_4:35. When the number of the members rapidly increased, and the apostles could no longer personally attend to every case of want, they no doubt availed themselves of the aid of other members of the church, without, however, introducing any definite system, form, or official representation. When this informal method was found to be productive of unfavorable results, and to lead to discontent and unpleasant feeling, it became necessary to apply a remedy. Nevertheless, the apostles could not consent to dedicate their time and strength to this business, in order to satisfy every claim; such a course would have been equivalent to a complete withdrawal from their appropriate sphere of duty. They desire, on the contrary, to persevere in prayer and the ministry of the word. The latter, διακονία τοῦ λόγου, constitutes an antithesis to διακονεῖν τραπέζαις; they declare that they wish to dedicate themselves permanently, and with all their strength, to the ministry of the word, the preaching of the Gospel, but primarily, to prayer.
Act_6:3-5 a. Wherefore, brethren.—The apostles desire to place the entire charge of the church, as far as its external affairs are concerned, in other hands, in order that they may themselves be unimpeded in discharging their appropriate and sacred duties; they propose that an office should be created, bearing a distinct and independent character, or one to which specific duties should be assigned: this plan was adopted, Act_6:6. They transfer to others a part of the duties and the rights which had previously been confined to them personally, and establish another office in addition to the apostolate, which had hitherto been the sole ecclesiastical office; so that here they commence the work of supplying wants in the organic structure of the church of Christ, and securing its completeness. They entertained no apprehension that, by adopting this course, they would seem to distrust the Holy Ghost who guided the church of Christ, but proceeded, without hesitation, to complete its defective organization as a society, by creating a new office; comp. Baumgarten: Apgsch. I. 115 f.
b. And the saying pleased, etc.—The apostles, however, do not actually accomplish their design without the concurrent action of the church. They might have acted on their own authority alone, and have been sustained by the consciousness that they contemplated, not their personal interests, but those of the church. They might have even alleged that the difficulty which had arisen, was a symptom of a morbid feeling existing in the church, and that, consequently, a tender regard for the latter advised that the members should not be consulted. They might have entertained the delusive thought, that their duty to the Lord himself and to their own office required them to act solely on their own authority, and in a perfectly independent manner, in reference to “those below them.” But they neither entertained such views, nor adopted such a course. They believed that the church had reached the period of maturity, presented a statement of the circumstances, and proposed a remedy, which at once received the sanction of the whole church, Act_6:5. The members selected seven men, in accordance with the request of the apostles, and presented them to the latter as individuals in whom they placed confidence.
c. The apostles had previously specified certain important qualifications to which the members were to give heed in effecting a choice. The Seven must be (a) μαρτυρούμενοι, i.e., men of acknowledged integrity of character and purity of life—men of good repute. In addition to this qualification, which referred in general to their moral character, the Seven must be (b) πλήρεις πνεύματος καὶ σοφιάς, i.e., men who had received the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son, together with all the powers and gifts of wisdom and knowledge which the Spirit imparted. Why are such prominent personal gifts and qualifications demanded? Not simply because the administration of the property of the church was to be intrusted to these officers, but, undoubtedly, also for the following reason: their duties were not to be restricted to the supply of physical wants and the direction of purely temporal interests; they would be specially required to provide likewise for the spiritual wants of the poor, and, generally, to promote the spiritual interests of the church. The apostles desire to occupy a position which will enable them to fulfil their official duties with entire freedom, and to dedicate themselves wholly to prayer and the ministry of the word; but they certainly do not intend to free themselves entirely from the care of temporal affairs. The seven men, on their part, are, primarily, to take charge of the poor, as well as of the temporal affairs of the church in general; but it is certainly not intended that they should be excluded from all participation in the spiritual labors of the apostles.
d. The names of the seven men chosen by the church, are given in full. The most prominent of the number is Stephen, who is described as “a man full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost”, and to his history Luke devotes the second part of the present chapter, and the whole of the next. It is in the highest degree improbable that πίστις should here mean simply fidelity and conscientiousness (Kuinoel); the term rather denotes Stephen’s positive religious and Christian life of faith. It was doubtless this fully developed spiritual character that attracted general notice, and induced the church to nominate him as the first of the seven.—It is admitted by all that Philip is the same individual, who, after the death of Stephen, preached the Gospel in Samaria (Act_8:5 ff.), and, at a certain point between Jerusalem and Gaza, baptized a man of Meroe, an officer at the court of Candace (Act_8:26 ff.). He is again mentioned in Act_21:8 f., as an “evangelist”, and expressly described as “one of the seven.” We are entirely unacquainted with the history of the other five persons. The legendary accounts which have been preserved (e. g., that this or that one had belonged to the company of the seventy disciples of Jesus, or had, at a later period, been invested with the office of a bishop in a certain place), are entitled to no consideration. The statement that Nicolas was a proselyte of Antioch, is remarkable. It is possible that the one or the other of the rest was a Pagan by birth, and had been incorporated with the people of Israel (after being circumcised and offering sacrifices), before he received the Christian faith; but Nicolas alone is distinctly stated to have been a proselyte. It is a mere conjecture, supported by no evidence, (although expressed as early as the age of Irenæus [adv. Hær. II., 27]), and suggested only by a combination of Rev_2:15 with the present text, that he became the head of a sect at a later period, and was the founder of that of the Nicolaitans.—The circumstance that the seven names are all Greek, has led to various conclusions, e. g., that the seven men were not Jews who had been born in Palestine, but Hellenists. Those writers who assume that all the seven were Hellenists, differ in their ultimate conclusions. Some regard the fact as a proof of the impartiality or magnanimity of the Hebrews, who wished to remove every cause of complaint on the part of the Hellenists by selecting the seven from the whole number of the latter. (Rothe). Others suppose that these seven were chosen exclusively for the service of the Hellenistic portion of the church, and that διάκονοι [which title, however, does not once occur in the whole Book of the Acts (J. A. Alex.)—Tr.] had been already appointed for the Hebrews, at an earlier period (Vitringa, Mosheim). Neither of these conjectures is supported by historical evidence, and, indeed, Greek names were, at that time, quite common among the Hebrews [e. g., one or more of the apostles. (de Wette).—Tr.]. It is probable that some of the Seven were Hebrews, and the rest, Hellenists.
Act_6:6. Whom they set, etc.—The men that had been chosen by the church, were now presented to the apostles, who conferred the new office upon them, and solemnly installed them with prayer and the imposition of hands. They first offered prayer, in conjunction with the church, in behalf of the men, entreating that the grace and the gifts of God in Christ, might be imparted to the latter; for the call to serve the disciples and especially the poor, was in truth a call to serve God in the persons of the the latter [Mat_25:40], and from Him alone, the endowments and fitness, the blessing and the increase could come. Then the apostles laid their hands on the men, by which act they consecrated and blessed them, and transferred an office with which they had themselves been hitherto invested.
Act_6:7. And the word of God increased.—The internal danger of the church, which had threatened to terminate in a rupture, was, no doubt, happily averted by the adoption of the measure already described. The remedy appears to have been adequate; it was successfully employed, in consequence both of the appeal which the apostles had made to the religious principles of the members of the church, and of the vigorous aid which they received from the Seven. These men, whose labors were attended with the divine blessing, were powerfully sustained by the consciousness that they were rightfully engaged and walking in the path of duty. It is true that Luke does not distinctly state these facts, but they are implied by another and still more striking result which he records. The more successfully the unity of the Spirit was kept in the bond of peace [Eph_4:3], the more rapidly the word of God increased; that unity produced a powerful effect on the minds and hearts of others, and many individuals, as a consequence, received the truth in faith; the number of Christians in Jerusalem rapidly increased, and a great company even of the priests ὑπήκουον τῇ πίστει. This expression describes their conversion as an act of obedience to the gracious will of God in Christ; its introduction here is the more appropriate, as it was precisely in the case of priests that a firm resolution, or a positive determination of the will, was most of all needed, in surmounting the prejudices peculiar to their order, and in offering worship to the Crucified One, the sole Mediator and Priest. It was only a very deep conviction, expressed in the words; “It is the will of God!”, and a very sincere purpose to obey God, that could have produced such a result.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
I. The difficulty which occurred in the bosom of the church, between the Hellenists and the Hebrews, assumes a typical character. The first internal danger originated in the hypocrisy and selfishness of a certain man and his wife, Act_5:1 ff. The present danger proceeded from the association of two companies, each of which was compacted by identity of language and of national customs and manners; hence the spirit of party, roused by conflicting interests, threatened to assume a distinctly defined shape. Such a carnal bond of union may be formed, even in a community professedly established on faith in Christ and love to him, when the natural man attempts to give precedence to his temporal interests, to money or to honor. The regeneration and renewal of the individual and of the human race, is arrested, checked, or, at least, threatened, by the “old man” [Eph_4:22] who revives his claims. The church of Christ is polluted and desecrated by the world, in the midst of which it exists, and by which it is influenced. If even the primitive or apostolical church exhibited no unblemished ideal, the church in any succeeding age cannot be more successful.—It is remarkable that both of the “spots or wrinkles” [Eph_5:27] which are described in Act_5:1 ff. and Act_6:1 ff., are found precisely in that feature of the primitive church which was the most glorious and beautiful—brotherly love, reciprocal and self-sacrificing aid and support, the community of goods. It was the most precious and perfect fruit of the vigorous life of faith at which the hidden worm began to gnaw. The great Adversary manifests his presence in a spot where it had been least of all expected, and it is but too true, that “when God erects a church, the devil builds a chapel at its side.”
2. How admirably the present occurrence illustrates and demonstrates the truth, that the word of God, and the word alone, is the remedy and instrumentality which the Church of Christ should always employ. Even when the occasion imperatively demanded that every cause of complaint should be removed, the apostles firmly resist the tempation to engage in labors and business that would have absorbed all their time and attention. On the contrary, they secure more time, and greater facilities for attending to the ministry of the word, which was, indeed, their great vocation. It was their first duty to give themselves to the διακονία τῆς καταλλαγῆς [2Co_5:18]. The word alone, as it is the word of God, and is “spirit and life” [Joh_6:63], can render effectual aid and confer a divine blessing; and fidelity in its service never fails to receive manifold evidences of the favor of God. The apostolical church assumes the character of a church of the word—the character which every church must bear, that claims to be apostolical. The church recedes from the true position which it should occupy, in the same proportion in which the word of God is overshadowed by the word of man, by ceremonies, by the traditions of men, by the administration of ecclesiastical affairs, or by any mere mechanical service.
3. It is instructive to study the development of the church of Christ, as illustrated on the present occasion. Even as the Redeemer himself was true man and “increased in wisdom, and stature, and in favor with God and man” [Luk_2:52], so, too, his church is a truly human community. It not only increases externally in age, in numbers and in influence, but it is also appointed by the will of its Founder and Lord, to grow internally. This process may be thus described:—The organization which the church adopts, and its visible forms of life, are gradually developed from within, proceeding from its own centre of life and punctum saliens, that is, its pulsating heart of faith. It is obvious that when the Redeemer established his church on earth, he did not immediately endow it with a full and complete apparatus of offices, orders and forms of government; on the contrary, he bestowed on it only a single office—one that was exceedingly simple in its character, and yet indispensable—when he appointed the apostles to be his witnesses. He designed that other and fuller forms should be developed from within, by the self-determination of the church, and in correspondence to the exigencies of the times; and the primitive office, the apostolate, was so constituted as to expand like a tree, sending forth successively, as its branches, new offices and orders, adapted to new times and circumstances. Christ is not Moses; “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Joh_1:17. Christ did not appoint bishops, or presbyters or deacons, either in a direct manner, or by a verbal command; but the Spirit of the Lord, observing the rule of his word, and regarding the times and circumstances, has furnished such institutions, as each special occasion demonstrated to be appropriate, useful, and necessary. Thus the office of the Seven was introduced at the present time in the most peaceful manner. It is, no doubt, also true, that the apostles ascribed less importance to the office than to the character of the men: “Wherefore, look ye out seven men, full of the Holy Ghost, etc.,” Act_6:3. The latter, as we cannot doubt, received no other name or official title than that of “The Seven”, and no other is given to them in the Acts; comp. Act_21:8. But this administrative office continued to exist ever afterwards, and was introduced into congregations in other places. The act of inducting the men into office with prayer and the imposition of hands, like the general proposition to select them, was voluntary on the part of the apostles, in imitation of models furnished by the Old Testament, but was, nevertheless, subject to the guidance of the Spirit which was in them.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Act_6:1. When the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring.—When numbers increase in the church, its moral strength and purity diminish in the same proportion. (Quesn.).—The church on earth always suffers tribulation: when external persecution ceases, internal disturbances, of a still more alarming character, succeed. (Starke).—Because their widows were neglected.—To overlook, is human; to correct and improve, apostolical and Christian. (id.).—Even when devout men, like the apostles, faithfully perform the duties of their office, they cannot always prevent unfavorable remarks from being made; 1Co_4:3. (id.).
Act_6:2. It is not reason that, etc.—It sometimes occurs that disorders suggest wise measures, and evil practices lead to the establishment of wholesome laws. (Quesn.).—The duty of the Christian to observe proper limits in his course of action. (Lisco).
Act_6:3. Of honest report, etc.—In this case suitable persons are appointed as almoners; the apostles do not select men who can simply write, cast accounts, and transact business, but who are, besides, full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom. (Starke).—Spiritual matters must be administered in a spiritual manner; God will examine the accounts. (K. H. Rieger).
Act_6:4. We will give ourselves, etc.—The whole life of a pastor is here described in two words: Praying, and Preaching; through the former, he receives from God; through the latter, he imparts to others that which he has himself received from above. (Gossner).—Prayer occupies the first place, as it prepares the way for the ministry of the word; it imparts a spirit and a mouth to the preacher, and an ear and a heart to the hearers.
Act_6:7. And the word of God increased.—This welcome fact is another rose blooming among thorns. (K. H. Rieger).
ON THE WHOLE SECTION.
The right mode of effecting improvements in the temporal affairs of the Christian Church: I. What are the legitimate causes that lead to changes? Obvious imperfections and defects. II. From what sentiments and course of action may improvements be reasonably expected? When it is the common object of all to remove every cause of offence, and to promote a spirit of union. In the case before us, no close investigation of the past was attempted, but all were resolved to maintain the established order, according to which the direction of affairs belonged to the apostles. Peter, who addressed the church in the name of the Twelve, did not withdraw his own aid and that of the other apostles, nor abandon the members, when a difficult point connected with their affairs demanded attention. Neither did he disregard the grievances or the rights of those who complained; he himself proposed and introduced a new arrangement in a legitimate manner, and in the name of the other apostles. This arrangement assigned a proper position to those who had complained, and enabled them to combine their efforts with those of others in effecting a salutary change. It was a gentle, self-denying, and kind spirit which animated all alike, and conducted the whole discussion to a satisfactory issue; and it is that spirit, which, in all analogous cases, will always receive the blessing of God. (Schleiermacher).
The first instance of conflicting views and feelings in the apostolical church: I. The occasion which led to it; II. The mode in which the difficulty was removed; III. The blessing which followed. (Langbein).
The appointment of the Deacons: I. The cause which led to it, Act_6:1; II. The manner in which it was effected, Act_6:2-6; III. The blessing which followed it, Act_6:7. (Leonh. and Sp.).
The appointment of the Deacons, an illustration of the good understanding and prompt coöperation which should characterize the action of pastors and their people: I. The guidance of the congregation is intrusted to the apostles; but they listen with fraternal sentiments to the voice of rebuke and complaint; II. The office of the word, to which the apostles had been divinely called, remains in its integrity in their hands; but, for the sake of the common good, they cheerfully resign a part of the power which they had exercised in the temporal affairs of the church; III. The congregation selects from its own number certain men, who are worthy of confidence, and to whom the care of the poor is intrusted; but the apostles consecrate these men, and impart their blessing.
The church, the mother of the poor: I. Her maternal duty: it proceeds, in part, from the distress existing in this evil world, in which she dwells as a daughter of heaven; in part, from that spirit of love and pity, which her Lord and King, the divine friend of the poor, has infused into her; II. Her maternal care: it embraces both the temporal, and also the moral and spiritual wants of the poor; III. Her maternal joy: on earth, to rescue souls from bodily and spiritual pollution; in heaven, to stand before Him who said: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least, etc.” Mat_25:40.
The poor are the wealth of the church: I. They call her spiritual gifts into action; II. Invigorate the spirit of love; III. Constitute her ornaments in the eyes of the world; IV. Add to the treasures which she lays up in heaven.
Compare the tradition of Laurentius the martyr [during the persecution under Valerian, A. D. 258]; when his persecutors commanded him to surrender the treasures of the church, he gathered together the poor members, presented them to the Roman magistrate, and said: “These are the true treasures of the church.”
The primeval bond connecting poverty and Christianity, a blessing to both: I. To poverty: it was not till He who became poor that we might be rich [2Co_8:9] had established Christianity on earth, that (a) the divine right of the poor was recognized, and that (b) the Holy Spirit inspired men with a sincere concern for the poor; II. To Christianity: the care of the poor (a) led to the development, (from the earliest times), of its divine virtues
love and pity, patience and self-denial, the contempt of death, and confidence in God; (b) it also demonstrated in the presence of the world that Christianity had a right to exist, and possessed the power to accomplish the redemption of the world; (illustrative facts to be selected, and applied to the present times).
The Christian mode of caring for the poor: I. It derives its life and vigor from love to Christ; II. Its object is to alleviate and remove spiritual and temporal distress; III. Its glory consists in rendering services to the church in an humble spirit. (Leonh. and Sp.).
The office of a guardian of the poor, an office of dignity: in view, I. Of its ancient origin; it is the oldest ecclesiastical office, next to that of the apostles, by whom it was instituted and consecrated; II. Of its exalted purpose; it is designed to provide for the body and the soul; III. Of the numerous qualifications which it demands: honest report, the Holy Ghost, wisdom, Act_6:3; IV. Of the divine blessing which it imparts and receives.
Act_6:4. Under what circumstances can an evangelical pastor discharge the duties of his office with joy and success? I. When his strength is derived from prayer; II. When his authority is derived from the word of God; III. When his labors are not his own personal efforts, but, in truth, a work of God. (Harless).
Footnotes:
[1]Act_6:3. a. ἁγίου after πνεύματος seems to be an interpolation, for it is wanting in B. D. [and Cod. Sin.], as well as in several ancient versions and fathers; the Syriac version substitutes κυρίου for ἁγ. [ἁγ. inserted in A. C. E. H.; Vulg.; omitted by Lach. and Tisch.; Alford regards it as a “doubtful point,” and inserts it in the text, but in brackets.—Cod. Sin. originally omitted also καὶ before σοφίας. but a later hand (C) inserted it.—Tr.]
[2]Act_6:3. b. καταστήσομεν, which the authorities support, is unquestionably to be preferred to the Subj.—σωμεν [of the text. rec. and Vulg. (constituamus) which follow B (e sil). and H. The Indic. in A. C. D. E. and Cod. Sin., is adopted by recent editors.—Tr.]
[3]Act_6:7. Instead of τῶν ἰερέων, some manuscripts [minuscules, together with] the Syr. vers. and Theophylact, read τῶν Ἰουδαίων, which is to be rejected as a later alteration. [The text. rec. is retained by Lach., Tisch , Alf., etc. The conjectural emendation of Casaubon, who inserts καὶ after ὄχλος, and, as in Act_21:16 (Winer: Gram. N. T. § 64. 4) supplies τινες after ἰερέων, although approved by Beza and Valck., has not found favor with later critics.—Cod. Sin. originally read τ. Ἰουδαίων, for which a later hand (C) substituted τ. ἰερέων.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain Choice of the Seven, 1-8.
VI. PENTECOSTAL CHURCH FORMING ITS ECONOMY.
Choice of the Seven, 1-8.
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1. In those days—A Hebrew phrase used in Act_1:15, to mark a period of a few days, and in Mat_3:1, to imply an indefinite number of years. As thus far Luke has given but few dates, the reader may suppose that we are advanced but a few months from the Ascension. But according to the best chronology the events of this chapter take place in the year thirty-six. (See note on Act_9:24.) Assuming the crucifixion to have occurred in the year 30, we must either overleap a few years, or, more properly, distribute the events thus far as we best can over a period of six years. During this period the management of the affairs of the Church, as limited to Jerusalem alone, rests upon the apostles. Yet the real power lies in the body of the Church. The apostles, though divinely appointed, are the personal representatives and executives of that power.
Their authority is undefined by any exact limits. With them as its heads, the whole body moves with spontaneous harmony and freedom. The hierarchy in form is a democracy in spirit.
Meanwhile they are now beginning to find that, like Moses, (Exo_18:13-26,) their task is too large for their hands. The instrumentalities they are obliged to use, especially in the charitable distributions, are too irresponsible, and negligences and partialities give rise to murmurs. Baumgarten entitles this section “The first dissension,” but he might as well define it the first official deficiency; for that the administration was defective is proved by the prompt thoroughness with which the radical correction was made.
A murmuring—The Greek word γογγυσμος is an imitative word expressing a low buzz of discontent gradually reaching the apostolic ears.
Grecians… Hebrews—Three classes of persons are to be carefully distinguished in this earliest Christian history—the Hebrews, the Proselytes, and the Grecians or Hellenists. The FIRST were claimants of the real Hebrew blood, more or less pure, speaking mainly the vernacular Hebrew of the day, (the Aramaic or Syro-Chaldaic,) inclined to reside in or connect themselves with Palestine, and especially Jerusalem, and standard zealots for Moses and the law. The SECOND were Gentiles who, tired of idolatry and polytheism, were glad to learn from Judaism the doctrine of one true and holy God. One class went only so far as to accept the Monotheism and the so-called moral precepts of Noah, without undergoing circumcision and the ritual of Moses; and, because thus stopping at the threshold, (or rather, perhaps, because they were strangers “within thy gates,” Exo_20:10,) they were significantly named Proselytes of the Gate, while the receivers of the whole law were proudly styled Proselyres of Righteousness. The Grecians, Grecising Jews, or Hellenists, (see note on Act_9:29,) were Jews by birth and circumcision, who, born in a foreign land, spake a foreign language, especially the Greek, and were held by the pure Jews to be tinctured with Gentilism, and so defective in the perfectness of their Judaism. They were inclined to liberalism, except when prompted by emulation to become more Jewish than the Jews themselves.
It was among the two latter classes that Christianity found most ready acceptance. The Gentile inclined to Monotheism was glad of a religion teaching holiness, salvation, and God, without circumcision and the burdens of ritual Mosaicism. The liberal Greek-speaking Jew or Hellenist glided easily into a resignation of the ceremonial law for a more spiritual piety. But the rigid, proud, intense Jew, most inflexible of all, was disposed to reject Christianity with a flout, or to accept it by the half, and to carry into his Christianity fragments of old Judaism with a conscious superiority over his Christian brethren often intolerant and fanatical. It was from this class of Jews and Jewish Christians that Paul, though by blood a pure “Hebrew of the Hebrews,” suffered through his whole apostolic career.
The extremest of these became the Ebionites of later, but very early, Church history. It must therefore be acknowledged that this murmur, if not the first buzz of a long quarrel, did indicate a division of classes from which subsequent permanent quarrel would arise.
Widows—A turbulent and bloody age throws large numbers of widows upon the benevolence of the Church.
Daily ministration—The daily distribution of food to the home of each widow.
Ministration—Greek, διακονια diaconia, from which deacon and diaconate or deaconship are derived. Its composition from δια, through, and κονις, dust, if correct, implies a service through drudgery of a very humble sort. But Scripture nowhere applies the official title deacon to these men, and Luke seems even to avoid so doing (Act_21:8) in calling Philip one of the seven. This is not parallel to calling the apostles the twelve, for that was their divinely limited and permanently fixed number. Luke’s phrase indeed apparently implies that “the seven” was a unique and memorable, though discontinued, class of men. The application to their office of the generic term diaconia, ministry, or the verb form of the word, is no proof of specific deaconship. The generic term is rendered ministry in Act_6:4, serve, Act_6:2, Luk_10:40, Luk_12:37, Luk_22:26-27.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. And in those days] Better, these. The narrative…
1. And in those days] Better, these. The narrative which follows is closely connected with Act_5:14, where it is said, “believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.”
when the number of the disciples was multiplied] Better, was multiplying. The participle is in the present tense, and its meaning should be fully expressed. It was at the time when this sudden increase was in progress that the difficulty arose which led to the murmuring. The numbers of the society increased so rapidly that the superintendence of the relief of the needy claimed the full devotion of the Apostles, and proved in the end more than they could discharge.
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there arose a murmuring] By the readiness with which the Apostles took measures to remedy what was complained of, we may infer that there had been shewn sufficient cause for complaint. This may easily have come to pass without any fault on the part of the twelve, simply from the sudden growth of the number of Christians.
of the Grecians against the Hebrews] The first-named, who are called in the original Hellenistæ, were either Jews who had been born in countries where Greek was the vernacular, and so did not speak Hebrew, nor join in the Hebrew services of the Jews of the Holy Land, but had synagogues of their own in Jerusalem, or else they were proselytes. In either case they had embraced Christianity as Jews, for as yet the Gospel had been preached to Jews only. That provision was made for a Greek service for the foreign Jews, we may see from T. Jerus. Sotah vii. 1 (Gemara), “Rabbi Levi, the son of Hithah, went to Cæsarea, and heard the voice of the people saying the Shema (the name given to the Hebrew confession ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, Jehovah is one,’ from its first word) in Hellenistic. He desired to prevent them. Rabbi Jose heard of it and was angry, and said, Thus I say, that whosoever does not know how to read it correctly in Hebrew shall not read it at all [in that language], but does his duty [by reading it] in any language which he knows how to speak.”
the Hebrews] These were the born Jews who lived in the Holy Land and spoke the language which the New Testament calls Hebrew.
because their widows were neglected] The very persons who, speaking a foreign language and being desolate, would be likely to be overlooked amid the increased number of applications for help.
in the daily ministration] The original word is the same as that which in Act_11:29 is rendered relief, and from the class of persons on whose behalf the complaint was made it is clear that it bears the same sense here. This word diakonia has, however, caused the name of deacons to be attached to these officers, whose appointment was at first made that they might have care of and distribute the funds contributed by the rich members for the relief of the needy. We can nevertheless see from St Stephen’s work that the labours of the seven were not confined to these duties alone, for he is a mighty preacher and endued with gifts of the Holy Ghost in the same way as the Apostles. It is deserving of notice that, before we find any special arrangements made for what we now understand by “divine service,” the regulation of the relief of those in need had become so engrossing a part of the duty of the twelve as to have thrust aside in some degree the prayers and ministration of the word, which were especially their charge. In these early days they appear to have acted according to St James’ teaching (Jas_1:27), “Pure religion (θρησκεία) and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
Act_6:1-7. Murmuring about the distribution of the common fund. Measures for allaying it
By the confession of the high-priest himself (Act_5:28) Jerusalem was now filled with the teaching of the Christians, and thus the first step was accomplished in the course which Christ had ordained (Act_1:8) for the publication of the Gospel. Now, therefore, the historian of the Church’s progress turns to deal with other events and different persons, because he has to tell of a persecution which caused Christian missionaries to go forth for the next stage of the work, the spread of the faith through Judæa and Samaria (Act_8:1). The means which God employed for this end are not such as an inventor in the second century would have been likely to hit upon, nor such as any writer who merely desired to magnify the Apostles would have adopted. A system for the more effectual relief of the widows among the congregation is devised, and an outburst of popular rage, causing the death of one of the dispensers of the relief-funds, also disperses the greater part of the Church of Jerusalem. A person who was free to choose (as an inventor would have been) would scarcely have selected one of the seven deacons for the first Christian martyr, and have left the Apostles out of sight, while giving the history of Stephen. The choice of such a writer would have surely fallen upon one of the twelve to be the first to die for the faith.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) And in those days, when the number of…
VI.
(1) And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied.—Better, were being multiplied, as by an almost daily increase. The length of the interval between this and the previous chapter is left uncertain. The death of Stephen is fixed by most writers in A.D. 38.
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The Grecians.—The English version always carefully uses this word, and not Greeks, for the Hellenistæ or Greek-speaking Jews. These were known also as “the dispersion among the Gentiles” (Joh_7:35), or generally as “the dispersion,” the “sojourners of the dispersion,” those that were “scattered abroad” (Jas_1:1; 1Pe_1:1). Many of the converts of the Day of Pentecost must have belonged to this body; so, probably, did Barnabas and the others named in the Note on Act_4:37. Now they were becoming a prominent section of the Church, perhaps more numerous than the Hebrews, or Jews of Palestine. They, as their name implies, spoke Greek habitually, and as a rule did not read the older Hebrew or speak the current Aramaic. They read the Septuagint (LXX.) version of the Old Testament. They were commonly more zealous, with the zeal of pilgrims, for the sanctity of the holy places than the Jews of Jerusalem itself, who had been familiar with them from infancy (Act_21:27).
Because their widows were neglected.—The words imply something like an organised administration of the common fund: widows and their children being the chief objects of relief. The rules of 1Ti_5:3-16, were probably the growth of a more mature experience; and here we have to think of a clamorous crowd of applicants besieging the house at which the Apostles held their meeting at the times appointed for giving relief in money, or, as seems more probable, in kind. The Twelve—singly, or in groups—sat at the table, and gave as they were able. It was like the dole of alms at the gate of a convent. Under such circumstances, jealousies and complaints were all but in- evitable. The Twelve were all of them Galileans, and were suspected of favouring the widows of Palestine rather than those of the Dispersion. It was the first sign that the new society was outgrowing its primitive organisation.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Now in these for and in those, A.V. (it…
Now in these for and in those, A.V. (it is not ejkeinaiv, answering to but tautaiv); multiplying for multiplied, A.V.; Grecian Jews for Grecians, A.V. The Grecian Jews; the Hellenists, for this is the appellation of them in the Greek; it means properly those who spoke Greek or otherwise followed Greek usages, applied to foreigners, here of course to Jews. Of a similar form and meaning is the word "to Judaize," translated "to live as do the Jews", (A.V. Gal_2:14) and the forms "to Demosthenize," "to Platonize," "to Atticize," etc. The Hellenists were those Jews of the dispersion who lived in countries where Greek was spoken, and who themselves spoke Greek. It was for the sake of such that the Alexandrine Version of the Scriptures, commonly called the LXX, was made. Hebrews; Palestinian and other Jews, who spoke Aramean (2Co_11:21; Php_3:5; Act_21:40) as opposed to the Hellenists. Their widows. We learn incidentally by this phrase that one of the earliest Christian institutions was an order of widows, who were maintained at the common cost. We find them in the Church of Joppa, (Act_9:41) and in the Church of Ephesus. (1Ti_5:3, 1Ti_5:9, 1Ti_5:10, 1Ti_5:11, 1Ti_5:16) They gave themselves to prayer and to works of mercy. Daily; kaqhmerinov only occurs here in the New Testament, and rarely in Greek writers; ejfhmerinov, of a daily fever, is used by Hippocrates, and may possibly have suggested the use of this rare word to Luke the physician.
Vers. 1-8. Wise counsels.
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The prosperity of the Church was great. The first hypocrisy had been plucked up by the roots and burnt, so to speak in the presence of the whole congregation. A holy awe had mingled with faith and love to give intense reality to the religion of the disciples. The Spirit of God had borne active witness to the word of the apostles by signs and wonders; and the healing of many sick had conciliated multitudes and attached them to the Church. The apostles had been strengthened and encouraged by the supernatural ministration of an angel bringing them forth from prison, and bidding them preach afresh in spite of their enemies; and at length their very enemies were silenced, and one of the chief of them had advised his fellows, "Leave these men alone." With a fresh burst of zeal, the preaching of Christ had been carried on, and the number of the disciples was greatly multiplied. But now a new danger arose. One of the first institutions of the growing body had been to supply the wants of the most desolate class the widows and to gladden their hearts by a daily ministration of food out of the common fund. But, in the rapid increase of numbers, the steps taken at first to secure abundance and fairness in the distribution had proved insufficient. The apostles, who hitherto had been the sole rulers and officers of the Church, had greater things to attend to than even the distribution of Church charities, and in their absence abuses had arisen. While the widows of the Hebrew converts, so called, were well cared for, the Hellenist widows, through some partiality on the part of those who had the management of the tables, were neglected. They were put off with worse places and scantier fare than their Hebrew sisters, or, maybe, found no place at all provided for them. Naturally their friends felt aggrieved, and murmured at such inconsiderate treatment. And the Christian body, before so closely united in the bonds of love in Jesus Christ, showed signs of being split into two bodies, Hebrews and Hellenists. What was to be done? Was the danger to be despised, and were the complaints to be slighted because they only related to the meat that perisheth? Were the widows and their friends to be told that they ought to be occupied only about that meat which endureth unto eternal life, which the Son of man would give them freely and impartially, and their grievances to remain unredressed? Or, taking a juster and graver view of the matter, should the apostles diminish their spiritual labors, and give up their time and strength to the organization of the public charities and the distribution of the daily bread? They did neither. But with conspicuous wisdom they at once founded a new order of men, whose special business it should be to attend to the daily ministration, and see that none were favored and none left out. And, to conciliate confidence in the thorough impartiality of the distribution, they invited the whole Church to elect seven men of approved wisdom and piety, to whom this important trust should be committed. The plan seems to have been eminently successful, as we hear no more of murmurs and complaints. The practical lessons to be learnt are these.
1. Never despise other people"s grievances or make light of them because they do not affect you. Especially let no pastor of a flock underrate the temporal and personal vexations of any parishioner who may lay them before him. To poor people even small losses seem very serious things. And if to the sense of loss there is added a sense of injustice or unfairness, the murmurs are very real, and represent deep-seated wounds. They must be kindly and judicially attended to.
2. Again, all, and especially the clergy, should feel the full importance of impartiality in dealing with their people. Favoritism in dispensing charity or even pastoral care must be resolutely eschewed, nobody must be "neglected" because others are preferred. Murmurs are not always loud; but be sure that any unfair or supercilious treatment will rankle in the breast; that, if extended to classes, it will make a serious crack in the unity of the Church; and that it effectually prevents those who think themselves unfairly treated from reaping any profit from the ministrations of those by whom they think themselves so treated.
3. Lastly, the example of the apostles in this matter teaches those in authority not to attempt to do everything with their own hands, and not to be jealous of having able coadjutors to do the work thoroughly which they themselves of necessity can only do imperfectly. In leaving the choice of the new deacons to the congregation at large, instead of selecting them themselves, they showed a thoroughly liberal and wise spirit, and have left a lesson to the Church in all ages to trust the laity with all fitting power, and to evoke the latent energies of the body, by giving to every capable person some work to do for the glory of God and the welfare of his people.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON. Vers. 1-7. Prosperity and peace within the Church.
These opening verses prove to us that a condition of exceptional virtue may abruptly pass into one of common infirmity. From the height of holy enthusiasm the Church falls down, by steep and quick descent, into the depth of unlovely wrangling. From all the verses of the text we gather
I THAT PROSPERITY BRINGS DANGER TO A CHRISTIAN CHURCH AS WELL AS TO INDIVIDUAL SOULS. "When the number of the disciples was multiplied there arose a murmuring" (ver. 1). Enlargement often brings with it pride, or false confidence, or sloth, or worldliness. It is a "slippery place," where there is great danger of falling. It is frequently the condition of disagreement and even serious discord. When the number is small and the band feeble, each member of the community feels that he must stand by the rest, and let all his strength be put out in advancement of the common cause; but when there is a consciousness of strength, the sense of responsibility is lessened, and men permit themselves to indulge a spirit and to manifest signs of impatience, querulousness, complaint. But no Christian Church can afford to have any of its members introduce the discordant note. It may, indeed, be lost and silenced in the harmonies which prevail; but it may throw everything out of tune and be the beginning of endless dissonance and dire confusion.
II THAT THE HARMONIOUS ACTION OF THE CHURCH IS LARGELY DEPENDENT ON THE WISE APPORTIONMENT OF ITS FUNCTIONS. It is not reasonable that we the apostles should leave the Word of God and serve tables" (ver. 2). It was altogether undesirable that the apostles of Christ, who were charged with such high functions, should expend their strength and time in small monetary arrangements. They would probably do that ill when they might be doing their own proper work admirably. They wisely divided the duties of the Church into two different parts, of which they would take one, and leave the other to those whose habits and faculties made them suitable for its discharge: then all went well. If we do not assign functions with discretion, all affairs will speedily be out of joint; the machinery will work with the maximum instead of the minimum of friction. Let the minister take his post or posts, and there be found in full activity; let the other officers have theirs, and keep them. Let activity be well directed, and there will be peace as well as fruitfulness.
III THAT THE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH OFTEN DO WELL TO CONSULT THE COMMUNITY INSTEAD OF SETTLING EVERYTHING THEMSELVES. "The twelve called the multitude and said, look ye out," etc. (vers. 2, 3). The members of the Church should remember that affairs are greatly expedited, order maintained, and peace preserved by their delegating much business to a few chosen men; on the other hand, the leaders should remember that even the inspired apostles of our Lord did not stand upon their dignity as such, but consulted "the multitude of the disciples," and that what they did with propriety we may do with advantage.
IV THAT EVEN FOR THE HUMBLER DUTIES OF THE CHURCH SOME STERLING CHRISTIAN GRACES ARE NEEDFUL. The seven men now appointed "to serve tables" were to be "men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, and wisdom" (ver. 3); i.e. they were
(1) to enjoy a good reputation;
(2) to be spiritual men in whom God dwelt by his Spirit;
(3) to be men of prudence and capacity.
They who do not possess these qualifications have no right to expect any position in the Church of Christ. Without the confidence and esteem of their brethren they could not make a good beginning; without Christian character they would be out of place altogether; without requisite gifts of the understanding and disposition they would certainly not make a good ending.
V THAT WE MAY EXPECT MINISTERIAL FIDELITY TO BE FOLLOWED BY ABOUNDING AND EVEN SURPRISING TRIUMPHS. When the apostles were relieved of other more secular duties, and "gave themselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word" (ver. 4), then "the Word of God increased" (ver. 7); then came abounding success number of the disciples multiplied greatly;" surprising success great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." It does not necessarily follow that ministerial faithfulness will be attended with such results; prayerlessness, or discord, or inconsistency on the part of the members may defeat the exertions of the holiest and ablest minister of Christ. But, nothing being in the way, the Church itself being in sympathy, an earnest, faithful ministry will witness very blessed spiritual results
(1) some that will rejoice,
(2) and some also that will surprise the hearts of the holy. There will be added unto the Church many, and of these some who seemed utterly and hopelessly removed, by their prejudices, their temporal interests, the heinousness of their wrong-doing, or their long continuance in sin. C.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-7. The appointment of deacons.
I THE SPIRIT OF STRIFE.
1. It arose between the Hellenists and the Hebrews, members of the same nation, of the same blood, of the same Church, but of different places of birth, education, and, above all, of different languages. Language is, perhaps, the greatest divider between man and man. So many of those associations which govern the mind are rooted in the sound of our native tongue. We may notice that Christianity reconciles the difference of the Palestinian Jew and the Greek-speaking Jew; the Book, the New Testament, is the thought of the Jew in the tongue of the Greek.
2. It was on a question of pecuniary benefit. Most disputes of the bitterest kind in the family life turn on questions of money property and its distribution. Hence the Christian duty of strict justice and exactitude in all dealings with the goods of this world.
3. Jealousy was at the root of the strife. No feeling more painful than the sense of neglect and of the preference of others. All Christian principle is rooted in love, which alone can conquer jealousy. All Christian graces are but forms of the "love that seeketh not its own." Love must seek to remove this root of bitterness," which otherwise will trouble many and pollute the pure flow of peace in the Church.
II THE CALLING TOGETHER Or THE CHURCH. To the sense and piety of the multitude the appeal of wisdom and of justice may ever be safely made. But without strong leading, even Christian congregations may become scenes of anarchic passion. It is composed of many wills. If none is present to represent with conscientiousness and firmness the will of the Head of the Church, nothing but confusion can be expected. When that will is clearly apprehended, and the duty thence arising firmly laid down, the majority, if not the whole, will be found ready to obey. Such was the case at Jerusalem.
III THE COUNSEL OF THE APOSTLES.
1. The division of Christian functions is necessary. It is not "pleasing," either to the Head of the Church or to the judgment of its enlightened members, that callings and duties should be confused; above all, that the higher calling should suffer in efficiency from being joined with a lower. The "Word of God," or thought and utterance in the Church the Christian ministry in the special sense was the special function of the apostles. The "serving of tables" was another kind of function, evidently important and necessary. Bat for the two to be fixed in the same persons would have been a want of congruity, or of harmony. For the ministry of the Word freedom from the distractions of business is peculiarly necessary.
2. The central function in the Church is that of the teacher. If this languish or be in any way fettered, the life of the congregation must suffer. It demands a whole man and whole energies. The resolve of the apostles is, therefore, to persevere in prayer and in the ministry of the Word. These two words sum up the life of the preacher. By prayer he draws from the fountain of truth and Divine strength; and in preaching he gives forth that which he has thus received. Without the inner communion with God there can be no power to prevail over the hearts of men.
3. Directions for the appointment of deacons. Seven are to be selected; the number has sacred associations, which were doubtless helpful to the mind. A sevenfold band symbolizes strength, Divine presence and assistance.
(1) They are to be "full of the Spirit an expression which cannot be defined, but the meaning of which can be felt. Divine presence in the soul is ever indefinable, and is known by its effects on the tone of the man, and on the energy, the gentleness, and persuasiveness of his speech and action.
(2) They are to be wise men who are always needed for tasks so delicate as that here assigned them. Goodness and sense: these are the great qualities needed in Church officers every day. Neither weakly good men nor merely shrewd men fulfill the desired qualifications.
IV THE ELECTION. The counsel of the apostles is approved unanimously; and seven brethren are chosen out and presented to the apostles, who ratify the choice of the Church by the devout ceremony of the imposition of hands.
1. The eminence of Stephen. He is specially mentioned as "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit." Faith, a most comprehensive word in the New Testament, may mean here either constancy, fidelity, or the habit of the living and strong believer. But really the two meanings unite. The believing man in the genuine Christian sense is alone the true, the steadfast man. The trustworthy man is so because he himself is a truster in God. He who has no certain faith in the Divine is no object of human confidence.
2. The obscurity of useful lives. Except of Philip, of whom we have an after glimpse, nothing is known of these worthies. (Act_8:5, 26 21:8) "He has not lived amiss whose life and death have escaped the notice of the world," said the Roman poet. The path of a hidden life" is the lot of most Christians. A niche in the temple of fame is not set as an object of Christian ambition; but the approval of the Divine Master is.
3. There may be good service without the title of servant. These men had no official designation of "deacons." They were simply "the seven." It is good to resist the weakness for titles and for status in the Christian Church. Good men and useful are sometimes spoiled when these imaginary distinctions are placed upon them. So susceptible is our fancy that, as dress seems to magnify our personality, so does the consciousness of office and rank. We cannot crush vanity by the singularity of dropping titles; it will nestle just as well under the affectation of plainness. But the simplicity of this example may remind us that there is a danger in vanity for the ministers of Christ of every degree.
V THE SUBSEQUENT CONDITION OF THE CHURCH. It is sketched in three features.
1. The growth of the Divine Word. The Logos, or Word, of God is a very wide expression. It includes all spiritual activity and all expressions of it. The meaning, then, is that there was a great growth of spiritual thought and life. And this by the Divine favor as human means. When the affairs of any Church are conducted in the spirit of wisdom and love, this blessing may be expected. It is foolish to expect manifestations of growth and prosperity where these have not been sought and wrought for.
2. Growth of numbers. Which is one of the most obvious marks of success. The popular reception of a new creed is a mark of its adaptation to the wants of the many. But we must not infer that the unpopularity of a principle, or a person, or a teaching condemns it. There is a popular and an unpopular side to all truth. The divinely winning aspect of Christianity is not always to be seen; and there are days when the faithful must struggle with discouragement. The prophets with their lofty teaching complained that their report was not believed. The gospel, when seen to be the source of peace, prosperity, and wealth, is readily believable; not so widely so when it asks for sacrifice and leads to suffering.
3. The submission of the priests. This was most significant of all. Ecclesiastical orders are the most stubborn in resistance to change; priests the most conservative of religionists, as prophets are the friends of advance and of freedom. The giving way of the priests was indeed a remarkable triumph of Christ and his gospel. The evidence of the facts, the present facts, was too strong to be resisted. The evidence of a religion lies at last in its power to help and Mess the life of society. So long as this evidence is presented by the Church "apologies" for Christianity will for the mass of men be quite unnecessary. J.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD Vers. 1-6. Institution of deacons.
Notice:
1. The increase of officers was the natural outcome of increase in number of disciples, illustrating the great principle that the life of Christianity develops the organization and not depends upon it.
2. The spirit of charity was the underworking cause of the need of more rule. Had there been little to distribute, there would have been no ground of complaint.
3. The Jewish element was still uppermost in the Church. It was as yet an unordered community; but the two principles of care for the weak and equality among brethren were there to be appealed to.
4. The apostles, while guiding the Church with inspired wisdom, usurped no authority as rulers, claimed distinction only as servants of the Lord, called the whole body of believers together, and committed this first distinct act of constitutional appointment to the free vote of the Church as a whole.
5. The men elected were the best men spiritually as well as in adaptation to the special office.
6. The whole transaction was an appeal to Divine direction, being carried through in the spirit of prayer and in dependence on the apostolic superintendence of the Church which was instituted by Christ himself.
7. The deacons" office was instituted for the relief of the spiritual officers of the Church. The ministry of the Word is chief in importance. The "serving tables" requires character, wisdom, spiritual gifts, but is separated from the higher offices of prayer and preaching. The deacons are business" officers.
8. Nothing should be done in the Church except by spiritual men, in dependence on Divine direction sought by prayer, and in harmony with that form of Christian life already appointed. R.
The first note of strife.
There arose a murmuring," etc. Good and evil mingled everywhere. Multiplication of disciples means multiplication of interests and dangers. Prosperity in Churches has its attendant difficulties. Learn a lesson of wisdom and safety from the narrative. Money matters cannot be too carefully and spiritually controlled in all Churches.
I THE NECESSARY INFIRMITIES OF CHURCH LIFE Call be made opportunities of great blessing.
1. Let nothing be neglected, either wants or murmurs, but all promptly and wisely considered and prayed over.
2. Call out the gifts of the people. No one knows what he cannot do. A Church"s extremity is often God"s opportunity.
3. Keep the spiritual and the secular as far as possible in their right places. Let not the business claims oppress the minds which should be free to study the Word of God. Aim at the development of the Church"s knowledge and devotion as supreme.
II GOD"S WONDERFUL CARE OF HIS PEOPLE; overruling; inspiring; by means of individual instances and comparatively trivial occasions, providing great precedents and rules and guiding facts, which extend their influence over the whole world. So in the order of his providence throughout. As humanity develops new capacity and function manifested. R.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER Vers. 1-6. The first crystallizings of ecclesicastical institution.
This short section has much to say, more to suggest, to us. The day of Pentecost had receded no distance whatever into the past; the holy enthusiasm of the days when new-born disciples sold their individual property in order to turn it into common property was literally but of yesterday; and Jerusalem, Christianity"s cradle of associations the venerable sacredness of which was now superseded by a new, a young, a surpassing sacredness, had not yet been left of the apostolic missionaries. If other things were to date their "beginning from Jerusalem," things of brighter and more blessed omen, so also the Church"s earliest acquaintance with division and strife was to be made and m part provided against within the precincts of that same city, center of cities, and "mother of all." However, the strife was not fierce at present, nor the division malignant in its tyro. Yet, looked at under the light of the centuries that have succeeded, there can be now no doubt of the significance of the symptoms which then appeared. Let us notice in this passage
I What may be called THE FIRST EFFORT OF THE CHURCH TO PUT ON FORM. Effort though it was, there can be little doubt that it was most unconscious of its nature. The occasion, interesting from a merely historical point of view, is much more so from a moral point of view. Hitherto the brief and wonderful career of the Church had been all spirit and life stem and bough and twig all concealed beneath flower and fruit. Suddenly, however, the rudiments of organization commence to be seen; and it was a consequence of some of the less lovely aspects of human nature. These do not fail to thrust themselves into notice at a time one would have most desired their absence, and while they labor under the rebuke of many a faithful suggestion of Christian feeling and principle. Plainly up to this time the apostles had themselves distributed the offerings that had been laid at their feet, (Act_4:35; comp. with Act_6:2) availing themselves of just such help as might offer. Inspired apostles could not do everything. Though "murmuring" might not be lovely, and very probably was not so now, yet, as they recognize some foundation for it, they proceed to propose a remedy. (cf. Exo_18:13-26)
II HOW IT WAS GUIDED BY APOSTLES INSPIRED.
1. They summon the whole body of the disciples together, and point out to them the aspects of the case.
2. They throw upon this body of disciples the responsibility of choosing those helpers who shall serve the needs of the occasion.
3. They insist on the moral, nay, more, the high spiritual, qualifications of these. Though they are only "to bear the vessels of the Lord," yet must they in high sense be "pure" and "clean;" for they must be men "of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.
4. By a service most simple, of prayer and laying on of hands, they set them apart for what might seem their comparatively humble and business kind of duties. Christian dignity and honor are set upon the work of these men, as dignity and honor belong to it, in the Name of the Master for whom and for whose Church it was to be done.
III SOME SUGGESTIONS OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES ARISING FROM THIS OCCASION.
1. Division of labor is a principle to be observed within the Church as without it.
2. A gradation in importance of work (though not necessarily of the workman) is plainly implied by the words of the apostle (ver. 2).
3. The character of Church organization, whatever of it there might come to be, seems plainly shadowed forth. It is not to be place and office and dignity for the sake of them, or for the show of hierarchy. The offices of the Church are not to be the filling up of an a priori constitution. They are only justifiable in the interests of the use of the Church, and are to be assigned in faithful analogy with the illustrious model-principle of "the sabbath made for man, not man for the sabbath.
4. The possession of the Spirit is the foundation-qualification of every order of Christian workman. Men "of good report, and of wisdom" may be the manifest qualifications of men of business, whether Church business or not. But the apostles require that those who are "appointed over this business," i.e. "to serve tables," shall be also "full of the Holy Ghost.
5. The discretion of the Spirit is still reserved unfettered in each order and in each individual. For of these seven "deacons," now elected and with solemn service set apart, we hear no more, except of two of them; and both of these are doing distinguished work, not as deacons, but as preaching Christ," and doing "great wonders and miracles". (comp. Act_8:13-15, with Ac 7 and Act_8:5-8) The conclusion of all may be understood to be that the truest Church will be that which earnestly bids for life and movement, and allows only so much form as the tide of life and the directing of that life may fairly require. B.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Vers. 1, 2. The call for order in the Church.
It arose out of the very fact of increase. The association of people together demands organization and order. A few persons may have such an interest in each other and such a knowledge of each other as will enable them to dwell together in peace without formal rules, and this is abundantly illustrated from family life; but large aggregations of people, mostly unknown to each other, that are based only on some common sentiment on a particular subject, must be set under rule and order; society, as distinct from the family, requires organization and government. The first occasion of difficulty arose out of the party spirit, and out of the jealousy some felt on account of others getting undue advantages. These two verses suggest two subjects for consideration.
I THE CALL FOR ORDER AS MADE BY THE PEOPLE. Sooner or later, society, clubs, and nations find out that order is necessary to secure both the general and the individual well-being, comfort, and success in life. Illustrate by the consequences of civil commotion, class conflicts, or society jealousies. The same is true within Christ"s Church. Offences will come. Jealousies and envies do arise. But Church members soon cry out for the order and rule which alone can ensure peace, growth, or prosperity. Every man who joins a community has to learn that he must give up his independence to some extent, and fit into the order if he is to enjoy the benefits of the communion. As against the ambitious and aggressive man, and as against the man who overpresses his individuality, the Church, as a whole, calls for order. And in view of the practical difficulties that arise when numbers meet, or worship, or dwell together, orderly arrangement, and even a central and acknowledged authority, are demanded. It may be shown that order need never unduly repress life, and that exactly the order which men ask for, in Church and in state, is that which will efficiently repress all forms of evil, but leave the freest possible room and scope for the due and useful expression of individual character and individual gifts.
II THE CALL FOR ORDER AS MADE BY THE CHURCH LEADERS. The difficulty that arose was viewed by the apostles from quite a different side. They felt the increasing pressure of the claims which the enlarging Church made upon their interest, their care, and their toil. And they further felt that the work demanded was both beyond their power to compass, and unsuited to their apostolic mission; nay, to concern themselves with formal things of money and provisions and daily meals was to imperil that very spiritual life and culture on which the due fulfillment of their true mission depended. So they called for order in the arrangement of the work demanded, and such order would at once meet their need, giving them due relief, and meet the people"s need, assuring that each class received due attention. It is interesting to note that the apostles consulted the Church in their scheme for the removal of the difficulty, and it has been found wise, both in the Church and in the state, to adopt methods by which the people can be made to share in the responsibility of keeping order, and the dignity and impulse of a conscious self-government can be assured.
Impress that both theoretically and practically the Church still needs order and government. But these must be secured on two conditions.
1. That order shall never crush, only guide, the expressions of life.
2. That order shall secure efficiency, comfort, and peace for all who come within its rules. The Church has in each age known peril in two directions.
(1) Resistance to all organization in the supposed interests of the individual life.
(2) Over-organization giving no room for the natural and healthy expressions of life. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And in those days … there arose a murmuring…
Act_6:1-7
And in those days … there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews.
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Trouble the lot of the Church
The Church on earth has always trouble; if it is not persecuted from without, disorders arise from within which is still more dangerous. (Starke.)
The poor the treasures of the Church
1. They stir up its spiritual gifts.
2. They exercise its brotherly love.
3. They are its ornament before the world.
4. They bear interest to it in eternity.
When Laurentius the martyr was commanded by the Roman governor to bring out the treasures of the Church, he led forth the poor of the congregation. (K. Gerok.)
The ancient bond between poverty and Christianity a blessing to both
I. To poverty. Only in Christianity, in the kingdom of Him who became poor that we might become rich--
1. Is the Divine right of the poor recognised.
2. Has the Holy Ghost awakened a genuine care of the poor.
II. To Christianity. In the care of the poor.
1. It has from the beginning developed its most Divine powers--Love, compassion, patience, self-denial, contempt of death, and trust in God.
2. It has proved before the world its right of existence in the world. (K. Gerok.)
Dissatisfaction in the primitive Church
There never has been a perfect Church, and never will be this side the Lords coming. There is much here which has been reproduced in modern times. Consider--
I. The occasion and character of this dissension. The local association of believers was composed of men separated by various nationalities and degrees of culture. There was much freedom and simplicity, for under the influence of a first creative enthusiasm the need of order and discipline had hardly become apparent. Whenever that declined, dissension was inevitable. Christianised human nature is long before it shakes itself free from petty ambitions and other ignoble sentiments. That the outbreak came soon need awaken no surprise. Men need to be trained for a life of free self-government. The causes were here ready to manifest themselves whenever the occasion presented itself. There were two chief parties--Jews, born in Palestine, of narrow views and restricted sympathies; and Jews or proselytes born in other lands, who had been affected by the refinement, art, poetry, and beauty of Greek culture, and who spoke the Greek language. These differences were sure to provoke collision. But the predominating influence was Jewish, and the Jewish officers were blamed by the Grecian portion of the community for neglecting Grecian widows in the daily administration. A small thing suffices for a great disturbance when latent differences already exist. Sectarianisms and divisions of Churches have often arisen from matters of the smallest importance. Watch the beginnings. Church dissensions are created by wrong feelings much more than by the maintenance of great principles and sacred interests. But few will bear looking at from the Saviours Cross or in the light of the Saviours throne.
II. The expedient resorted to.
1. This was a new stage in the development of a complete Church life. What was demonstrably lacking was supplied. The Lord did not furnish His Church with an apparatus of government already complete. But He gave His Holy Spirit by whom it was to be guided according to the emergencies and needs of the times.
2. Here is a plain manifestation of apostolic initiation and of Church co-operation. The apostles proposed a plan which the members freely accepted, a procedure natural, seemly, orderly, and most efficient. This may be regarded as the charter of Church rights. The apostles consulted the laity to ascertain their opinions and desires. At the same time there is nothing of lawlessness here. Power was not wholly in their hands. The apostles actually appointed and ordained the seven Hellenists whom the people selected. The principle is of the first importance, for it is exactly what we know as constitutional government.
3. Here is the principle of division of labour, as essential to Church efficiency. As those already engaged in the daily administration were not equal to all the work, others were associated with them. It was enough for apostles to do their proper work in founding churches, preaching the Word, praying, seeking the supply of the Spirit, exercising spiritual and miraculous gifts, leading the Church in the ways of the Lord. Other men could and must do what was merely secondary and secular. In free Christian society the specialty of each is needed and is to be employed. There is room for all who have a mind to work; but none for idlers. Division of labour in this case prevented schism. A Church active and consecrated will keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
4. What a solemnity was attached to even the meanest work for the Lord in His Church! The deacons are presented to the apostles, who pray for them, and lay their hands on their heads, setting them apart to such duties. Prayer sanctifies all Christian endeavour. Work for Christ is never to be thought of in a mean spirit. It should be associated with what is best and highest in Christian life, and be done ever as under the great Taskmasters eye. (W. H. Davison.)
Hellenist and Hebrew
From the first the Church had held within its bosom two opposed tendencies. So long as its numbers were not too large, and its enthusiasm had not spent itself, this underlying division created no difficulty. A moment, however, was reached when the jealousy of Hellenist and Hebrew began to give promise of that deep schism which ended only by the extinction of one of the divisions (the Hebrew) altogether.
I. The distinction between Hellenist and Hebrew. Its origin goes back to the captivity. Previously to this the Jews had dwelt as far as possible alone, but through that catastrophe they were scattered through all the huge empire which stretched from India to the AEgean. The numbers that returned under Zerubbabel, and again under Ezra, fell far short of the number of the dispersed; and it was impossible but that prolonged contact with pagan nations should greatly modify their customs and modes of thought. Especially was this the case during and after the wars of Alexander. 4. new spirit of commercial enterprise awoke within them as a new world opened to their wandering feet, and the ancestral faculty for acquiring wealth which their Palestine life had crushed, developed itself. While the home Jews recoiling from defiling contact with foreigners grew prouder and more narrow, their foreign brethren took on a strong tinge of Greek culture, and the spirit of secular gain broke down the feeling of separatism which had been the very kernel of ancient Judaism. All this tended to modify their religion, and for the better. Cut off from the temple ritual, they carried with them neither priest nor sacrifice; they carried only the Septuagint and the synagogue. What they retained was just what was portable, and what was most portable was most spiritual. When at last Christianity arose it found everywhere in the synagogues its first base of operations. It was from Hellenised Jews that Christianity obtained its first and best missionaries, and it is to them we owe it that the Church grew out of all risk of continuing a Judean sect and became the religion of civilised mankind.
II. The murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews. Being men of higher average intelligence and energy than the villagers of Judea or the small traders of the capital, the former were not likely to acquiesce silently in any neglect on the part of the other. There was always a tendency amongst the Palestine Jews to pride themselves on retaining the purest type of orthodoxy, and to suspect as well as dislike their countrymen who had taken on Greek manners. On the other hand, it came very naturally to the foreign Jew to look down on stay-at-home and old-fashioned Hebrews as bigoted and ignorant. A grave danger threatened the young Church if her members imported into her communion such mutual jealousies as these; and the slight murmuring about the widows rations meant nothing less.
III. How the murmuring was allayed. The apostles took alarm, for the murmurs reflected on them. The work had evidently grown beyond their power of personal supervision, and now that one side of the Church grumbled about an unfairness some new arrangement was clearly called for. Even the apostles were no autocrats; the Church was an oligarchy which rested on a democratic basis. The supreme legislative power was felt to reside in the crowd of disciples. What the apostles did at first was to initiate measures, and at the last to confirm appointments. But the adoption of the measure and the election of the officers were the work of the whole multitude. This act--
1. Established certain principles--the right of the Church to transact under Christ its own business; the ministerial, not lordly character of even its highest offices; the subordination of all material interests to its spiritual work; and the ultimate seat of Church authority in the whole body.of believers. Any Church system whose arrangements flatly contravene these principles must be held to have departed from primitive order.
2. Began the severance between the spiritual and temporal work of the Church. It became impossible to combine the serving of tables with the ministry of the Word. A division of labour was called for, and the apostles could not hesitate which side of their double office they should abandon. To bear witness to the saving work of Christ is not a secondary function of the Church, but its one task for which all other things must minister. The Church, however, declined to treat even its secular work as wholly unspiritual, and lifted it out of the atmosphere of mere business into that of worship. The candidates are to be full of the Holy Ghost as well as wisdom, and are set apart with solemn services. The only two among them of whom we know anything are known for the zeal and success with which they preached Christ. Stephen and Philip were a good deal more than almoners.
IV. With the ordination of these seven men a new page of Church history opened.
1. It marked a stage in the Churchs progress towards separate existence.
2. It was the first step towards permanence. The apostles cannot live for ever; but if the new society has the power, under Christ, of founding new orders of office bearers, then it carries within itself the conditions of self-preservation and self-adaptation to changed times and perpetual progress.
3. It brought a new element to the front. The seven bear Greek names, which affords a presumption that they belonged to that section of the Church whose complaints had led to the election. The result, therefore, was this, that, through the murmurs of a few widows, those members of the Church were lifted into office who represented its most free, spiritual, un-Hebrew, and catholic elements. One man especially was thrust forward who was destined to rouse the narrow and ultra-national party of the Pharisees to persecution, as Peter had already roused the Sadducees, and whose death was to be a signal for the scattering of the Church. It was even to lead to the conversion of another man who should one day become an apostle himself and vindicate as an inheritance for Christendom that larger and more spiritual view of Christianity of which Stephen was the first exponent.
V. The story rebukes our short-sighted alarms at the small dissensions and apparent disasters of the hour. We see the divided congregation; we hear its murmuring voices, but we forget to see the hand which guides the Churchs destinies, and causes all things to work together for its good. (J. Oswald Dykes, D. D.)
The first disunion in the Church
I. Its occasion.
II. Its adjustment.
III. Its blessing. (Langbein.)
A picture of early Church life
I. The murmuring in the Church.
1. When it arose. With multiplying numbers, new dangers arose. It was more difficult to keep the unity for which the believers had been distinguished. Many a Church that has withstood adversity has been wrecked by prosperity.
2. How it arose. By the jealousy of the Grecians. If that was not stopped, there was a great disaster before the Church. How it came about that the Grecian widows were neglected, the record does not say. It may have been unintentional oversight, or the result of a feeling against the Greeks as being foreigners. It is worthy of note that the first two dangers to the early Church, hypocrisy and schism, arose from the distribution of its charities.
II. The harmony of the Church. How was it restored? By the prompt, wise, and magnanimous action of the apostles. They did not wait for the murmuring to become a pronounced disaffection. They did not rebuke the murmurers, nor try to justify themselves. They simply asked that the work might be put in the hands of others who could properly attend to it.
1. They made a protest against doing the work at all. They were chosen of Christ to be His witnesses--not to dole out alms. The lower work was encroaching upon the higher. They were liable to be so much engaged in caring for the bodies that they could do nothing for the souls of men.
2. They showed to whom the work should be committed. They directed the disciples to look out seven men among them.
(1) Of good report--so that, to begin with, they would receive the approval of every one. The apostles went upon the principle of never putting a doubtful man into aa important office.
(2) Full of the Spirit--so that their godliness might be apparent. Men full of the Spirit would not be likely to do injustice through partiality--or become defaulters.
(3) And of wisdom--so that the funds would be wisely disbursed. The Church that has a charity fund has to look out that pauperism is not encouraged, that dead-beats are not supported, and that the really needy are generously cared for.
3. They declared what their own work should be. The world was famishing for the gospel more than the disciples for bread. Others could give the bread, but the apostles were chosen especially to give the gospel. First they would get from God, and then they would give to men. There is no giving without first getting. No water can be poured from an unfilled pitcher.
III. The growth of the Church.
1. The choice of the seven. The seven were chosen in accordance with the recommendation of the apostles. Their Greek names show how generously the Church acted in giving the daily ministration largely into the hands of the element from which the murmurs had arisen. That made it impossible for Grecian Jews any longer to complain. The suggestion of the apostles pleased the whole multitude; for they saw that it not only would do away with dissensions, but would result in the greater efficiency of the apostles. The seven finally were inducted into office with as much solemnity as though they were to preach the Word instead of to serve tables! In those days no work for Christ, it would seem, was unworthy of a consecration.
2. The increase of the disciples. That, naturally, was the result of the increase of power resulting from the new state of things. The Church was a greater power, because in it there no longer was any division. The apostles were a greater power; for now there was no obstacle to giving their whole strength to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Notable among the accessions was the great company of priests that became obedient to the faith. The new faith demanded of them so much that in their case obedience meant a great deal more than with others.
IV. The witness for the church. Among the chosen seven there was one especially prominent from the first, Stephen. Observe that he was a witness for the Church--
1. In his endowments. He was full of faith and the Holy Spirit--full of grace and power. The mere fact that a man is so endowed is a great testimony for the Church.
2. In the exhibitions of his power. He wrought great wonders and signs among the people. He showed apostolic power, though he was not an apostle. The layman may be as full of the Holy Spirit and of the power of the Spirit as the minister.
3. In his encounters with adversaries. They were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake. They were cunning, but he was wise. They were learned, but he was inspired.
4. In his appearance before the council. (M. C. Hazard.)
On deacons
I. The origin of the office.
1. We are introduced to a class of people here called Grecians, who were proselytes to the Jewish worship, and Jews born and bred in foreign countries, whose language was Greek. In Act_2:1-47. a long catalogue is given us of the countries from which they came. The home Jews, or Hebrews, looked down upon their foreign brethren as having contracted contamination by their long contact with the heathen. As a natural result, considerable jealousy sprang up between them. The Church did not create the division; on the contrary, its direct influence was to merge the two factions into one--they were all of one accord. But in process of time the old spirit of rivalry manifested itself. The world often taunts the Church with having within its fold contentious and hypocritical people. But where have they come from? The Church has black sheep; but they were black when they first came in from the world, and remain black in spite of the cleansing influences around them.
2. The Grecians murmured. There was no open hostility, or any unseemly ebullition of temper. You place a shell by your ear, and hear the subdued murmur of the air as it winds its way through the intricate convolutions. That is the comparison of St. Luke--there was a low, half-articulate mutter. This disposition to grumble formed the gravest danger the Church had yet had to encounter. The earth is exposed to two perils--from storms without, and volcanic fires within. Of the two, the last is the most dangerous. Let the winds beat as they will, the earth continues firm. But when the internal fires burst forth, the earth quakes to its foundations. In ,like manner the Church is exposed to persecution in the world. This has attacked the Church repeatedly; but it did not fall, because it was founded upon a rock. But the gravest danger arises from within--the spirit of discontent in the members.
3. The Grecians murmured because their widows were neglected. It appears that only the widows received charitable relief, and of course those who were disabled by age or decrepitude. Men able to earn a living doubtless had to go and work. Who were the almoners? The text seems to hint that the apostles had partly delegated their power to certain members of the Hebrew party. The widows were overlooked probably by accident, arising from defective organisation. But the Grecians insisted that there was a set purpose in it, and inquired for sinister motives, and, as is always the case, found them! Jealousy always distorts facts to suit its own morbid fancies.
4. The murmurings of the Grecians induced the apostles to call the multitude of the disciples unto them, in order to confer together. The Jewish Church was constituted on mechanical principles. God Himself elected His own officers, and the nation was expected loyally to submit. But the Christian Church is a living organism; its functionaries are therefore dependent on the vote of the members. Governments are of two kinds--the parental and representative. The government of the Jewish Church was on the parental principle, the members being, in the language of the apostle, under age. But the government of the Christian Church is representative; it is self-government--its members having attained their majority. And in calling the multitude of the disciples unto them, the apostles acknowledged the principle of manhood suffrage. But we must not forget the promise that the Spirit of Truth should guide the Church into all the truth of government not less than the truth of doctrine. This promise holds good for us as for the age of the apostles. No doubt precedent has its value, and no conscientious Christian will speak lightly of the past history of the Church. But if webs be woven of it to tie the hands and bind the feet of the Church now living, we make of it a bad and unjustifiable use. The Church of to-day is as free as the Church of the first century, and is in as close communion with its Head as ever it was. But there is a distinction between the scripturalness of a doctrine or usage and the ecclesiasticalness thereof. What is taught by the apostles is not subject to alteration or capable of improvement. What St. Paul taught the Corinthian Church I accept without cavil or objection; but what the Corinthian Church practised I feel at liberty to adopt or reject.
5. Having summoned the multitude of the disciples together, the apostles proposed they should choose from among themselves seven men of honest report to supervise the distribution, which instantly quelled the discontent. In verse 1 they murmur; in verse 5 they are pleased. Were many in the place of the apostles they would have stood upon their dignity, and ignored the complaint; and the low murmuring of verse 1 would have grown into loud and fierce denunciation in verse 5. But kindness, straightforwardness, and discretion at once surmounted the difficulty. Evil had always better be grappled with in its incipient stage. A small injustice is more easily remedied than a great one, and the facility makes the duty more imperative. Thus we are taught that the Church is a growth. It was not launched upon society with all its organisation perfected. Herein again it contrasts strikingly with Judaism. Moses was commanded to do everything according to the pattern shown him in the mount--by Divine revelation. The people had to originate nothing--they had to receive everything. But the Christian Church is a living organism--it gradually unfolds from within. It began on the day of Pentecost without any regulations or offices except the apostolate. It was simply a germ, but a germ which had within it the power of endless life. By degrees the germ grew and threw out new offices, just as the tree shoots out new branches. Its functions are the healthy outgrowth of its life. The diaconate is instituted when the temporal requirements of the Church urgently demand it, and not a day before. It is, therefore, idle to endeavour to give the Church a rigid, cast-iron shape for all countries and ages. The exigencies of time and place are to determine its outward form.
II. The duties of the office.
1. The seven men were elected to serve. The noun deacon is not used, but the corresponding verb is--they diaconised. Is there not a quiet hint to their successors to be more covetous of discharging the duties than of wearing the name? In the Acts we find only the verb; in the Epistles we find the noun. Here we perceive the fundamental law of language and of life; for language and life are at bottom one--first get the thing, next get the name. The probability is that these men were not officially styled deacons--they were simply known as the seven. Gradually, however, the Church felt a need for an official title, and from the verb it developed the noun. Living in an age noted for its appearances, we go about in the first place to invent names, and care but little about things. All our goods are electro-plate. But the primitive Church was living face to face with stern realities. If it could procure the thing, it let the name take care of itself. A deacon is one who ministers or serves. The same words are used to describe the work of deacons as that of apostles, the object only being different. In each case it was serving, ministering. A deacon etymologically means one who waits at table, who runs to do service. The very word signifies that diaconal work should be characterised by docility and alacrity. People of imperious temperament are scarcely fit to act as servers of the Church; instead of running themselves, their disposition is to bid others run.
2. They were elected to serve tables, to attend to the temporalities of the Church. It was not, however, absolutely necessary that they should confine themselves to this; hard and fast lines are not known in the kingdom of God. Their chief duty is to manage the finances of the kingdom; but, that done, they may extend the sphere of their usefulness. The public mind is confused upon this subject. Preachers are supposed to have no right to meddle with the service of tables; the right they indisputably have, but the expediency may be questioned, except in very rare cases. On the other hand, deacons are supposed to be guilty of presumption when they preach. But they are guilty of nothing of the kind; for Stephen and Philip preach the Word with irresistible power and success. Everywhere in the Apostolic Church are traceable the liberty and elasticity of life. The tools to him who can use them.
3. The deacons are to serve the tables of the ministers. We may rest assured that, whilst waiting on the tables of others, they did not leave the apostles table empty. One important object was to relieve the preachers of anxiety and distraction in their own peculiar work.
4. They are to serve the tables of the poor. This was about the most impoverished period in Jewish history. Mendicants everywhere flocked the highways. The poor ye have always with you. Many of them joined the Church, and the exceptional poverty called forth exceptional liberality. Many, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet. At their feet. Money should always be kept at peoples feet. Many keep it in their safes, and, alas I many in their hearts. In this institution we discover the first germ of the philanthropic efforts of modern civilisation. Judaism doubtless stood alone among ancient religions for the humane feeling pervading it. Nevertheless, its highest result was negative--not to oppress or defraud. Being the first stage of religious culture, Judaism consisted in not doing evil rather than in doing good. The Old Testament dealt in prohibitions rather than in positive injunctions. But the gospel bids you do something. Christ went about doing good. In the text a committee of seven is organised to supervise the distribution of the doles. Occasional outbursts of benevolent impulses were witnessed in previous ages and other countries; now for the first time was a deliberate effort made to reduce impulse into system, and benevolence into an organisation. The seven men of honest report constituted, I believe, the first board of guardians in the world. Modern civilisation is replete with boards--Poor Law Boards, School Boards, Boards of Guardians, and Boards of Health. But they are all natural developments of the board or table of which the text speaks, to serve tables being precisely the same as to serve boards. In the Gospels we witness the conception, in the Acts the birth of philanthropy.
III. The qualifications for the office.
1. Integrity Honest report--men of uprightness and straightforwardness. The funds being entrusted to their care, it is of prime importance that they be men above suspicion. Judas once kept the bag; but he was a thief. It is therefore of great consequence that men of strict integrity be put into this office.
2. Piety. full of the Holy ghost. The judicious management of money requires the special aid of Gods Spirit. Pecuniary interests occupy the middle ground, and are peculiarly liable to corruption. It is popularly imagined that, if a man is full of the Holy Ghost, he cannot attend to temporal duties; that he is only fit to sing and pray. But it strikes me you do not want a very great deal of the Spirit to do that; but you want a great deal of Him to give and collect money. Show me a Churchs collection books, and I can estimate pretty nearly how much of the Holy Ghost that church has. A Church of one hundred members giving fifty pounds a year towards the support of the gospel at home and its propagation in foreign parts, has not much of the Spirit. Wolff elaborated a system to reduce all truths of philosophy into truths of mathematics; and, if I had the leisure, I could invent a system to reduce the truths of theology into truths of arithmetic. A man says, I have faith. Show me thy works, urges James; the works are the measure of the Faith. You say, We have had a powerful revival. I answer, Show me your collection-books. A small collection means baptism by sprinkling; a large colleclection--well, baptism by immersion.
3. Wisdom. That a man is honest and pious is not enough. Without wisdom his administration will do incalculably more harm than good. Wisdom is a right application of knowledge (gnosis). But this implies two things. (First, that he possess the knowledge, to be applied. A deacon should be mighty in the Scriptures. Ignorance should never hold office in the Church. God does not need our knowledge to carry on His kingdom; but He can do without our ignorance. Second, that he possess tact to apply his knowledge in the pursuit of his official duties. Men require to be managed with great delicacy and discernment. They are very sensitive instruments to play upon; a rude touch may snap the strings, and in vain you afterwards endeavour to get them to discourse sweet melody. You have heard of Phaeton, the son of Sol; he was desirous of driving the chariot of the sky. Many persuaded him against the attempt, as he had not the necessary practice to guide with a steady hand its fiery steeds. But he insisted on driving; and he broke his own neck and sent horses and chariot spinning through infinite space. His intentions were good, but his skill was defective. And we have known men taking into their hands the reins of Church govern° recur--upright, pious men enough, no doubt; but for lack of tact they drew upon themselves no end of personal discomfort, drove the Church over the precipice, and plunged it into inextricable confusion. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)
The election of deacons
There is nothing concealed in the action of the New Testament Church. The case of Judas is not covered up nor made the least of. Ananias and Sapphira are not names Withdrawn because of the lies they told. And the murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews is not passed over without reference. The Church is not a secret institution, and was never meant to be a concealed force in society. Christianity abhors all official secrecy. It is a religion which lives in the daylight. Its registers are not hidden away in iron safes; its writing is written as with a pencil of the sun. Who would publish an expurgated edition of the Bible! We undertake to adapt our poets to modern tastes and readers. It is refreshing to belong to a Church that is so open and fearless.
I. How was this difficulty of the early Church adjusted?
1. To-day it would surely terminate in many instances with a secession; but the spirit that guided the Church aright; was the spirit of love. There can be no permanent difficulties where this is supreme. If a Church is only a religious debating society, then we shall determine: many issues merely by numbers.
2. The apostles argue the question out, from the standpoint of a clear conception of apostolic work. Your first conception will generally determine the whole course of your argument. Starting with a noble conception, a man will naturally fall into a noble course, and reach a useful conclusion. The apostles magnified their office. We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word. And the apostles could pray! Just lately, in this very story, we heard them pray, and the place where they were assembled was shaken! And the apostles could also preach. They divided their hearers into two classes--friends and enemies. The mere critic could not play his little game at pedantry under the apostolic sermon. It was one of two things--repentance, surrender, crying to Heaven for pardon, or gnashing of teeth, and malignant hatred, the very fire of hell!
3. The apostles, conceiving their work to be of this high and supreme kind, were rather anxious than otherwise to escape the daily ministration of the tables, and gladly seized the opportunity of leaving this necessary routine to others who were ready to undertake it. This supreme conception of apostolic service was itself ennobled by the trust which the apostles reposed in the people. Christianity is the peoples religion pre-eminently. There are those in the ministry of Christ who can testify that they owe all their comfort, prosperity, and influence to their trust in the people. The apostles did not select certain notables; but having to deal with a peoples question, they consulted the peoples instinct, and therein they have set an example to all Christian associations.
4. Whilst this was the case at the outset, it was impossible that the whole Church could constitute a committee of action, therefore the apostles said, Look ye out seven men, who shall really be yourselves condensed. Such men as shall themselves be equal to the whole multitude. Large-minded, generous men, who can see every aspect of a case, and deal with noble wisdom with the practical difficulties of life. The qualifications of the seven are plainly stated. They were to be men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom. There are no merely secular duties in the Church. Church matters are not merely matters of political system. There is nothing done in Christs Church--whether the opening of a door, the lighting of a lamp, or the preaching of the everlasting gospel--that is not to be done under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. A door may be so opened as to affront the Spirit of God; a visitor may be so shown to a seat as to manifest a truly Christian spirit on the part of the indicator. There is no part of our work in any section that is not holy unto the Lord. The ministry is one. I have no doubt that the men chosen in this text were better able to serve tables than the apostles. We have not all the same gifts. We must rid ourselves of the mischievous sophism which teaches us that some kinds of service are menial. There is no menial service in the Church, unless you make it menial by an unworthy spirit.
5. Looked at as a piece of Church statesmanship, can you suggest a single amendment to this policy? Do not the apostles vindicate their apostleship by their noble wisdom and practical sagacity? It is not every man in the apostleship who could have settled a case so. The ancient proverb tells us that every fool will be meddling. The reason why some ministers are uncomfortable and unsettled is that they will meddle with things that they really cannot arrange. Impose a duty upon a friend, and show by your manner of doing it that you mean him to reveal his best quality. When this spirit seizes us, all distribution of labour will not be a division of front, but will rather show that the front is more united because the labour is wisely divided. Jealousy kills us all to-day.
II. What was the effect?
1. The Word of God increased (verse 7). A united Church means a world impressed by the noble scene. The Church of Christ is not united to-day. The noble purpose of Christ is marred by certain geographical distinctions and ecclesiastical arrangements, in the making of which Providence had neither part nor lot. The Church must be united before the world will be redeemed. Hence Christs great prayer, May they all be one, that the world may believe. We want the apostle now who can bring men together, who can magnify points of union, who can show that the Church, though divided on many minor points, ought to realise its vital union, magnify and display it, and thus Christs soul would be satisfied.
2. Stephen was brought out (verse 8). They made him a minister of tables, and he became the first martyr. Stephen was developed by circumstances. Being put into this office, he developed his true quality of mind and heart. There are those who cannot be kept in obscurity, and who cannot be limited to merely technical publicity. What if this man had been unintentionally neglected? (J. Parker, D. D.)
The first election of deacons
I. The reason of their election.
1. The temporal necessities members of the Church. Widows are especially mentioned, in all communities the most deserving of aid. The Bible, therefore, particularly commends them to the compassion of the benevolent. Pure religion and undefiled, etc. It is the duty of the Church to attend to the temporal as well as the spiritual necessities of its members. In this Christ has left us an example. The gospel is more a record of His beneficent acts than of His doctrinal ideas.
2. The absorbing work of the gospel ministry. This the twelve referred to as a reason. The deacons were elected not to rule, as some arrogant modern deacons fancy, but to relieve the preachers; so that, undistracted, they might give themselves wholly to their proper work.
II. The method of their election.
1. The Church had its part--to look out the seven most suitable men, a work requiring inquiry, good judgment, and responsibility.
2. The apostles had their part.
(1) They originated the election. The suggestion for new officers came from them, not from the members; and they, not the members, called the Church together for the purpose.
(2) They directed the election, describing the character of the men to be elected.
(3) They confirmed the election. The men the Church elected were set before the apostles for ordination. Had they not, however, been up to the standard, the apostles had assuredly the right of rejection.
III. The qualification for their election.
1. Unblemished reputation.
2. Eminent godliness.
3. Practical sagacity.
IV. The result of the election (verse 7). The election operated--
1. By quelling the spirit of contention, which would obstruct the advancement of the Church.
2. By the augmented agency of the Church. Seven noble men set to work.
3. By enabling the apostles to give themselves entirely to the preaching of the gospel. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The first deacons chosen
In the beginning of the preceding chapter, we had a sad account of an act of fraud and falsehood on the part of some that contributed to this common fund among the disciples in Jerusalem; and now we have an account of the murmuring of some of those who received it. The first was the offspring of great depravity; this is the result of human imperfections. The one was met by a very strong measure; this is met by conference, by advice, by calling into exercise the principles of common sense and the feelings of their common Christianity.
I. The narrative. Notice--
1. The increase of the disciples. In spite of the persecution which the Church was continually meeting with, we have continual statements of its prosperity and increase. I have no doubt that by this time the number of Christians in Jerusalem was ten thousand.
2. When you think about these ten thousand people, you see at once that this common fund cannot mean that all these people had given up all their property, and that there was a distribution made to every one of this whole multitude. What! had they given up their trades? had they left their workshops, their farms, and merchandise? No; they were going on, I suppose, fulfilling their daily duties. Then did they bring all their wages and profits, throwing all this into a common fund, and taking back every day what was required, more or less according to their circumstances? You cannot suppose any such thing. Why, if they were to call the whole ten thousand together every morning, and give them only a shilling each, there would be five hundred pounds wanted every day. We must look at this fund as just a provision for those who were in necessitous circumstances.
3. Now things went on for some time, till at last there arose a murmuring, a dissatisfaction. Some began to feel that there was not proper attention paid them, and it reached the ears of the apostles, who proceed to make the arrangement here mentioned. You will see at a glance that previous to this somebody must have done this work. The thing had been done before. In Act_2:44-45, it is said, All that believed were together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need--i.e., each one at first distributed his own benevolence. The advance upon that you have at the end of the fourth chapter. The first rude idea was for every man to act for himself, and come with his hands full and his heart full, and just dispense according to the impulse of his feeling; and the first modification of that was, for all to bring what they had to give, and lay it down at the apostles feet, and so there would be something like regularity in the distribution, and investigation, and examination of the particular case and circumstances; whereas in the other way it could not be done, and one might be receiving from many. And that goes on, the apostles (I suppose) trying to do it. But not, I apprehend, without assistance from the hundred and twenty, who would probably all be Hebrews. But here were the Grecians; and there might be a feeling rising up, with no foundation, that there was a neglect of their widows in the daily ministration. So difficult it is, you see, even under the guidance of the Divine Spirit, and with the first love and strong affection of the early Christians, to get rid of all those party prejudices and suspicions which rise up in society and array class against class. But the murmuring comes to the ears of the apostles, and something must be done to meet it.
4. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, Does that mean the whole ten thousand? Supposing there were not ten thousand? Could five thousand men transact business? Any of you that know anything about business, know how difficult it is to get anything done even in a large committee. In order to get through business, you must have a few heads, with strong hearts and hands connected with them, that will really do something. I cannot, therefore, feel myself warranted in stating that this is really to be taken positively and literally. I do not know where they would meet in Jerusalem--so many of them. I know that, afterwards, when Peter was in prison, prayer was made without ceasing of the Church, meeting in a private house--in the house of the mother of John Mark; and I dare say there were little knots of such all over the city. I think, in this case, the principal part of those they would call together would be Grecians--the principal persons of that party--and it would be a full meeting, and open for any to attend who felt interested in the matter; but we cannot suppose that there was the whole, or anything like the whole, of the mass of Christians in Jerusalem. When they were come together, the apostles said, It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables, which may mean, The thing does not work well, does not give universal satisfaction; we are doing the best we can, but it is not reasonable that we should be exclusively devoted to this thing; we have had our heads and our hearts full of anxiety about this matter, and we find it is not reasonable that we should serve tables, for we feel that in doing so we must leave the Word of God, and we must not do that; and therefore, as we have already made one departure from the first rude idea to a better, we must try now to get a best, and we propose now that seven men be looked out for this duty.
5. And the saying pleased the whole multitude; and they chose Stephen, etc. It is remarkable that all these names are Greek; and this was probably done to satisfy the Grecians. Or if, in the multitude of the disciples, there were included some of the principal persons among the Hebrews, then this marks also the kindly and liberal feeling among them, arranging that from that party and that class that complains, every individual of the seven was chosen. Whom they set before the apostles. We do not know how they chose them. There was some meeting of the brethren--the more distinguished and influential, I think; and these individuals were fixed upon, and they were presented to the apostles.
6. And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. I think this was just the solemn and public representation before the eyes of the people that they parted with so much of that power which they had hitherto exercised in relation to this business, and that henceforth these men were to be held responsible for the exercise of it.
7. There was peace restored to the Church; no longer divisions, or heart-burnings, or jealousies; and then, as the result, one might think, we immediately read again that the number of the disciples multiplied greatly. Just as you find in the beginning of the fifth chapter, that when purity was restored, then as the result there was a great increase of the Church, so now peace and purity are favourable to all those affections and feelings and activities by which an increase of the body may be expected. The Word of God increased and prevailed in two ways.
(1) With respect to the number of the disciples.
(2) With respect to a particular class of person; so that some of the most unlikely men;--a great company priests, Were obedient to the faith. Some people can hardly believe this; but why should it be thought a thing incredible with us, that in those days of miracle and the pouring down of the Divine Spirit, there should be manifested the power of the faith and grace of Christ upon these men?
II. The lessons. Now see--
1. How difficult it is, even when mens hearts are in the right place and in a good state, to prevent jealousies and misunderstandings among a large body of people.
2. How a liberal, open, manly, common-sense pilicy, under the blessing of God, may meet and allay this sort of thing; when men will calmly look at it, and observe that something must be done, and endeavour in an open and honest spirit to do it.
3. What an admirable opportunity this would have been to mention something about priesthood! There are some men that are very fond of getting priests into the Christian Church; but here was a great number of real priests actually brought into the Church, and we hear nothing about them. They stand as simple disciples. Standing there upon the common floor of the Christian temple, they had a greater, purer, more elevated priesthood than that which they had sustained as the offspring of Aaron.
4. Have we the origin of the office of deacons here? They are not called deacons. The word, indeed, from which deacons comes, is used in the account two or three times. It is used with respect to the apostles giving themselves to the deaconship of the Word; and then these men to the deaconship of tables. The word deacon is a very general term, signifying ministry or service, occurring a great many times in the New Testament. It is applied to the apostles, to Timothy, to Jesus Christ. But yet it did come to a technical and an official sense, and to signify a particular officer in the Christian Church, as the Church began to grow. And I think that this was the origin of the office of the deacon; though, perhaps, that office, in the course of time, took some degree of modification, as distinct from the one thing for which these men were appointed; for they were chosen with a very limited duty with respect to this particular thing. (T. Binney.)
Dissensions and precautions
I. The inner life of the primitive church.
1. The election sprang out of the multiplying, and the multiplying begat a murmuring. Increase of numbers does not always mean increase of happiness and true spiritual life. God has made all things double one against another; and when He bestows such notable increase, He adds some counterbalancing disadvantage to keep His people humble.
2. The distribution of alms is always attended by jealousies and disputes, rendering the work one of the most unpleasant tasks which can be undertaken. Fretting and worry, weary days and sleepless nights, are often the only reward a Christian philanthropist receives. But here comes in the Acts of the Apostles to cheer. The apostles themselves did not escape the accusation of favouritism, and we may well content to suffer what they were compelled to endure.
3. The primitive Church was no ideal communion, but a society with failings and weaknesses and discontentent, exactly like those which exist in the Church of our own times. The apostolic Church did not disdain a mere economic question.
II. What lay at the basis of this murmuring, and of the jealousies thereby indicated? If we wish to understand the course of events in the Acts, we must refer to the books of Maccabees, where is told the romantic story of the struggle of the Jews against the Greek kings of Syria, who tried to force them into conformity with the religion of Greece, which then was counted the religion of civilisation and culture. The result was that the intensely national party became bitterly hostile to everything pertaining to Greece and its civilisation. Cursed be he who teacheth his son the learning of the Greeks, was a saying among the Hebrews; while again, we hear of Rabban Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, who used to embody his hatred of the Grecians in the following story: There were a thousand boys in my fathers school, of whom five hundred learned the law., and five hundred the wisdom of the Greeks; and there is not one of the latter now alive, excepting myself here and my uncles son in Asia. Heaven itself was supposed by the Hebrews to have plainly declared its hostility against their Grecian opponents. Hence, naturally, arose the same divisions at Jerusalem. The bitter dissensions which racial and linguistic differences have made in the Church of every age are here depicted in miniature. The quarrels between East and West, Greeks and Latins, whites and negroes, European Christians and Hindoo converts, all turn upon the same points and embody the same principles, and may best find solution upon the lines laid down by the apostles. There are diversities of function and of work in the Church--a ministry of the Word, and a serving of tables. One class should not absorb every function.
III. The people nominated, while the apostles appointed. They took the most effective plan to quiet the trouble which had arisen when they took the people into their confidence. The Church has been often described as the mother of modern freedom. The councils of old time were the models and forerunners of modern parliaments. How many a quarrel in life would be avoided, how many a rough place would be made smooth, were the apostolic example always followed. Men naturally resist a law imposed from without, without any appearance of consultation with them or of sanction on their part; but men willingly yield obedience to laws, even though they may dislike them, which have been passed with their assent and appeal to their reason. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)
The division of work
Some kinds of work are easier to learn than others. Some callings and professions require a long and special training, others are more easily acquired. All cannot teach, all are not called to the higher offices of the Church. The work of the Church may be compared to that of some extensive manufactory. Do not we seek from the raw, or at any rate from the unrefined material, to produce the perfect fabric? The material upon which we work is in every stage of refinement; it is of every class of texture. All have not to pass through the same process; what may refine some would surely damage others. We do not place the message in the same words before the uneducated and the highly cultured. And just as there are degrees of know]edge in the learners, so there may be in the teachers. Because we are not fitted to explain Christian truth to those who have learnt much, we have no right to conclude that there is no sphere in which we may teach. In a manufactory there are workers of every degree of skill and capacity, from the hewers of wood and drawers of water, to those by whose brain power, knowledge, thought, and foresight the working of the great concern is directed. The opportunities of the Church worker to-day are manifold indeed; and they vary according to the local conditions. Think how musical gifts and abilities may be devoted to the service of God, by making more beautiful, more devotional, the services of the Church, the mission room, the Sunday school, the cottage lecture! Think how financial and business capabilities may be employed in the careful management of various philanthropic agencies! How a knowledge of elementary science and the laws of life may be directed towards improving the conditions under which the ignorant and careless live! I might go on to speak of the work on behalf of temperance, purity, thrift. Then, again, a band of earnest district visitors is among the clergymans very greatest helps. The abilities necessary for the successful performance of this work are within the reach of many. The first requisite is sympathy, the next a knowledge of human character. (W. E. Chadwick, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Chapter 13
Chapter 13
PRIMITIVE DISSENSIONS AND APOSTOLIC PRECAUTIONS.
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Act_6:1-4
The sixth chapter of the Acts, and the election of the Seven, mark a distinct advance in the career of the early Church. This sixth chapter is like the twelfth of Genesis and the introduction of Abraham upon the stage of sacred history. We feel at once as if the narrative of Genesis had come into contact with modern times, leaving the mysterious period of darkness all behind. So is it with the Acts of the Apostles. The earliest days of the primitive Church were quite unlike all modern experience. The Church had received a great blessing and a wondrous revelation, and had been enriched with marvellous powers. But just as men act when they have experienced a surpassing joy or a tremendous calamity, -they are upset for a time, they do not realise their position, they do not take all the circumstances in at once, nor can they quite settle what their future course shall be; they must get a little way distant from the joy or the sorrow before they make their future arrangements, -so was it with the Apostles during that space of time which elapsed from the Pentecostal outpouring down to the election of the Seven. We are so accustomed to think of the Apostles as inspired men, that we forget that inspiration did not destroy their natural powers or infirmities, but rather must have acted in consonance with the laws of their constitution. The Apostles must, to a certain extent, have been upset by the extraordinary events they had witnessed. They sought and found daily guidance in the power of the Spirit; but they had made no settled plans, had not compared or arranged their ideas, had formed no scheme of doctrine or teaching, had realised nothing concerning the future of the society they were unconsciously building up under the Divine leading. God had His plans; the ascended Lord had spoken to the Apostles concerning the future of the kingdom of Heaven; but it would be making the Apostles more than men of like passions and like infirmities with ourselves to imagine that during those stirring and eventful days they had Consciously realised the whole scheme of Christian doctrine and government. That period of a few months-for it could not have been more-was a period of Divine chaos, out of which the final settlement of the Church of God began slowly to evolve itself under the direction of God the Holy Ghost. How long, it may be asked, did this period of unsettlement last? A question which resolves itself into the further one bearing directly on our present subject, -what was the date of the election and subsequent martyrdom of Stephen? The answer to this throws much light on the apostolic history and the events recorded in the first five chapters of this book.
I. St. Stephen was put to death some time in the year 37 A.D., after Pontius Plate had been recalled from the government of Palestine, and before his successor had arrived to take up the reins of power. The Jewish authorities took advantage of the interregnum in order to gratify their spite against the eminent orator who was doing so much damage to their cause. Under ordinary circumstances the Jewish Sanhedrin could not put a man to death unless they had received the fiat of the Roman authorities. Now, however, during this interval, there was no supreme authority from whom this fiat could be secured, and so they seized the opportunity and executed Stephen as a blasphemer, according to the method prescribed in the law of Moses. This happened in the year 37 A.D., about four years after the Crucifixion. We must, however, observe another point. During the latter years of his administration, Pontius Pilate had been acting in a most tyrannical manner. This fact explains a circumstance which must strike the most casual reader of the Acts. We there read that the supreme Jewish council made two attempts to restrain the Apostles; the first after the healing of the cripple at the Temple Gate, and the second when Gamaliel dissuaded them from their purposes of blood. After that they allowed the Apostles to pursue their course without any hostility. This appears to the casual reader more striking, more difficult to understand, than it was in reality. We are now obliged to think of Judaism and Christianity as opposed and mutually exclusive religions; we cannot conceive of a man being a Jew and a Christian at the same time. But was not so with the Apostles and their followers at the period of which we are writing. This may seem contradictory to what I have elsewhere stated as to the antagonistic character of the two religions. But the apparent inconsistency is easily explained. As fullblown and realised systems, Judaism and Christianity are inconsistent. The one was a bud, the other an expanded flower. The same individual bulb cannot be at the same moment a bud and a flower. But the Apostles had not as yet realised Christianity as a full-blown system, nor grasped all its consequences. There was no inconsistency when they made a conjoint profession of Judaism and Christianity. The Apostles and their followers were all scrupulous observers of the law of Moses; and no dwellers in Jerusalem were more regular attendants at the Temple worship than the persons who had as yet no distinct name, and were known only as the followers of the prophet of Nazareth. To take an illustration from modern ecclesiastical history, the Apostles and the early Jerusalem Church must have been simply known to the Jewish authorities, just as the first Methodists at Oxford were known to the Church authorities of John Wesleys earlier days, as stricter members of the Church of England than the usual run of people were. This fact alone lessens the difficulty we might find in accounting for the statements made as to the continued activity of the Apostles, and the freedom they enjoyed even after they had been solemnly warned by the Sanhedrim. Neither the Apostles themselves nor the Jewish council recognised as yet any religious opposition in the teaching of Peter and his brethren. The Apostles themselves had not yet formulated their ideas nor perceived where their principles would ultimately lead them. No one indeed would have been more surprised than themselves had they foreseen the antagonistic position into which they would be ultimately forced; and as for the Sanhedrin, the only charge they brought against the apostles was not a religious one at all, but merely that they were challenging the conduct and decision of the authorities concerning the execution of Jesus Christ, and, as the High Priest put it, "intend to bring this Mans blood upon us." But then history reveals to us some other facts which completely explain the difficulty and vindicate the historical accuracy of the sacred narrative. St. Stephen was put to death in the year 37. At that time he may have been acting as a deacon for two, or even three, years, during which Christian teaching and views made very rapid progress, all unopposed by the Jewish authorities, simply because their attention was concentrated on other topics of much more pressing interest. Pilate was appointed governor of Palestine in 26 A.D. He ruled it for ten years, till the end of 36 A.D., when he was recalled. God causes all things to work together for good, and overrules even state changes to the development of His purposes. Pilates whole period of rule was, as I have already said, marked by tyranny; but the concluding years were the worst. The members of the Sanhedrin were then specially excited by two actions which touched themselves most keenly. He seized on the accumulated proceeds of the Temple-tax of two drachmas, about eighteen pence, paid by every Jew throughout the world, which then amounted to a vast sum, expending it in making an aqueduct for the supply of Jerusalem. This action affected the pecuniary resources of the Jewish authorities. But he attacked them on a dearer point still, for he set up the images of the Emperor in the Holy City, and thus wounded them in their religious feelings, introducing the abomination of desolation into the most sacred places.
All the attention of the priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the people, was concentrated upon the violent deeds of Pilate. They had no time to think of the Apostles, -who, indeed, must themselves have shared in the national enthusiasm and universal hostility which Pilates attempts excited. A common opposition stilled for the time the internal strife and controversy about the prophet of Nazareth which had, for a little, rent asunder the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Let us now repeat the dates to which we have attained. St. Stephen was executed in 37 A.D.; his election took place probably in 34 A.D. The first seven chapters of the Acts set before us, then, all we know of the history of the earliest four years of the Churchs life and work; and yet, though very briefly told, that history tallies with what we learn from writers like Josephus and Philo.
II. Let us now return to the text of our narrative. This sixth chapter offers a very useful glimpse into the inner life of the primitive Church. It shows us what led up to the election of the Seven in these words: "Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration."
(a) The election sprang out of the multiplying, and the multiplying begat a murmuring among the disciples. There is here teaching for the Church of all time, plain and evident to every reader, a lesson which history has repeated from age to age. Increase of numbers does not always mean increase of happiness, increase of devotion, increase of true spiritual life, but has often brought increase of trouble and discontent alone. What a lesson of patient submission under present trials the wise man may here read. God has made all things double one against another; and when he bestows such notable increase as He granted to the apostolic Church, He adds thereto some counter-balancing disadvantage to keep his people low and make them humble. Undiluted joy, unmitigated success, is not to be the portion of Gods people while tabernacling here below. How often has the lesson been repeated in this experience of the past as in our own personal experience as well!
The trial of the apostolic Church was typical of the trials which awaited future ages. The Church, in the Diocletian persecution, for instance, was wasted and torn. The records of that last great trial through which the Church passed, just prior to her final triumph over Paganism, are lighted up by the fires of the most determined attempt ever made to crush the faith of the Crucified One. How often during that last persecution Gods faithful ones must have wept in secret over the ruin of the holy places and the threatened destruction of the faith! Yet the trials of the hours of adversity were as nothing compared with the dangers which beset the Church when the faith triumphed under Constantine, and the multitude of the disciples was increased and multiplied by the power of imperial patronage. The trials of the day of persecution were external, and utterly powerless to affect the spiritual life of Christs mystical body. The trials of a multiplying and enlarging Church were internal; they arose from unbelief, and hypocrisy, and want of Christian love, and were destructive of the life of God in the human soul. The dangers of success, the subtle temptations of prosperity, making us proud, contemptuous of others, self-conscious, dependent wholly upon man, and independent of God, are the lessons, ecclesiastical, social, and personal, pressed upon us by the opening words of this sixth chapter.
(b) These words, again, correct a popular mistake, and reproduce a warning of our Master too often forgotten. When the disciples were increasing, and the hearts of the Apostles all aglow with the success vouchsafed them, "a murmuring arose between the Grecian Jews and the Hebrews." What a glimpse we get here into the very heart and centre of early Christian social life. It is often the hardest task in historical researches to get such a glimpse as here is given. We know the outer life of societies, of families, of dynasties. We see them in their external form and symmetry: we behold them in their company dress and in their public appearances; but till we get to know and realise their common everyday life, how they ate, drank, slept, how their social intercourse was maintained, we fail to grasp the most important side of their existence. The primitive Church is often thought of and spoken of as if its social and spiritual life were wholly unlike our own; as if sin and infirmity were entirely absent, and perfect holiness there prevailed. This expression, "Now in these days there arose a murmuring," shows us that the presence of supernatural gifts, the power of working miracles and speaking with other tongues, did not raise the spiritual level of individual believers above that we find in the Church of the present day. The distribution of alms is always attended by jealousies and disputes, rendering the work one of the most unpleasant tasks which can be undertaken by any man. No matter how earnestly one strives to be fair and just, no matter how diligently one may seek to balance claim against claim and righteously to satisfy the wants of those who seek relief, still there will always be minds that will never be content, and will strive to detect injustice and wrong and favouritism, no matter how upright the intention may be. What a comfort to Gods servant striving to do his duty is the study of this sixth chapter of the Acts! Fretting and worry, weary days and sleepless nights, are often the only reward which the Christian philanthropist receives in return for his exertions. But here comes in the Acts of the Apostles to cheer. It was just the same with the Apostles, for they must have been the chief almoners or distributors of the Churchs common fund prior to the election of the Seven. The Apostles themselves did not escape the accusation of favouritism, and we may well be content to bear and suffer what the Apostles were compelled to endure. Let us only take heed that like them we suffer wrongfully, and that our conscience testify that we have striven to do everything in the sight of the Lord Jesus Christ; and then, disregarding all human murmuring and criticism, we should calmly proceed upon our work, in no way discouraged because the recipients of Christian bounty still act as even the primitive Christians did. This is one important lesson we gain from this passage.
(c) We may, again, learn another great truth from this incident, and that is, that the primitive Church was no ideal communion, but a society with failings and weaknesses and discontent, exactly like those which exist in the Church of our own times. The favourite argument with controversialists of the Church of Rome, when trying to draw proselytes from among Protestants, is, as logicians say, of a a priori type. They will enlarge upon the importance of religion and religious truth, and upon the awful consequences which will result from a mistake on such a vital question, and then they will argue that God must have constituted a living infallible guide on such an important topic, and that guide is in their opinion the Pope, as the head of the Catholic Church. The Scriptures are full of warnings-unnoticed warnings they often are, but still they are full of them-as to the untrustworthy character of all such kind of arguments. In this sixth chapter, for instance, the thoughtful and meditative student can see a specimen of these providential admonitions, and a reason for its insertion in the sacred story. Christ came to establish the Christian Church upon earth. For this purpose He lived and suffered and rose again. For this purpose He sent forth the Third Person of the Holy Trinity to lead and guide and dwell in His Church; and surely, a priori, we might as well conclude that in the Church so founded, so guided, so ruled by Peter and the rest of the Apostles, there would have been found no such thing as favouritism, or murmuring, or discontent, -sentiments which might exist in the unregenerate world, but which should find no place in the kingdom of the Spirit. But, when we turn to the sacred record of Christs sayings, and the inspired history of Christs Church, we find that all our a priori presumptions and all our logical anticipations are put to flight, for the Master warns us in the thirteenth of St. Matthew, when speaking His wondrous parables concerning the Kingdom of Heaven, that sin and imperfection will ever find their place in His Church; and then the history of the Acts of the Apostles comes in to confirm the inspired prophecy, and we see from this chapter how the primitive Church of Christ was torn and racked with mere earthly feelings and mere human infirmities, like the ordinary worldly societies which existed all around; "there arose a murmuring" even in the Church where Apostles taught, where the Holy Ghost dwelt, and where the Pentecostal gifts were displayed. The occasion of the murmuring, too, is noteworthy and prophetic. It was like the trial under which man fell and by which Christ was tempted. It was a mere material temptation. Even in the primitive Church, living as it did in the region and presence of the supernatural, expecting every day and hour the return of the ascended Lord, even there material considerations entered, and the world and the things thereof found a place, and caused divisions where they would seem to have been strictly excluded by the very conditions of the Churchs existence. The Church and the world there touched and influenced one another; and so it must be always. There is a world indeed against which the Church must ever protest-the world of impure lusts and wicked desires, the world of which Paganism was the presiding genius; but then there is a world in which the Church must exist and with which it must deal, the world which God has created and ordained, the world of human society and human wants, feelings, desires, appetites. With these the Church must ever come in contact. Monasticism and asceticism have endeavoured indeed in the past to get rid of this world. They cut men and women off from marriage and separated them from society, and reduced human wants to a minimum; and yet nature asserted itself, and the corruptions of monasticism have been a divinely-ordered protest against foolish attempts to separate between things spiritual and things secular, between the Church founded by Christ and the world created by God. The murmuring arose on this occasion because the Apostles made no such mistake, but recognised fearlessly that the Church of Christ took cognisance of such a question as the daily distribution and the temporal wants of its disciples. The apostolic Church did not disdain a mere economic question, and yet the Church of our own time has been slow enough to follow its example; but, thank God, it is learning more and more of its duty in this respect. The time has been when nothing was considered worthy of the notice of the Christian pulpit or of Church synods and Church courts save purely spiritual and doctrinal questions. The vast subjects of education, of the social life, of the amusements of the people, the methods of legislation or statesmanship, were thought outside the region of Christian activity, and were utterly neglected or else left wholly to those who made no profession at least of being guided by Christian principle. But now we have learned the important truth that the Church is a Divine leaven placed in the mass of human society to permeate it through and through; and perhaps the present danger is that the clergy should forget the apostolic warning, true for every age, that while the Church in its totality, priests and people, should take an active interest in these questions, and strive to mould the whole life of man on Christian principles, it is not at the same time "fit that the ministry should forsake the word of God and serve tables."
III. But we have not yet done with this murmuring or with the lessons it furnishes for the Church of the future. What lay at the basis of this murmuring, and of the jealousy thereby indicated? "There arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews"; a racial question developed itself, and racial, or perhaps we should rather say, in this case, social and linguistic, differences found place in the apostolic Church, and gave rise to serious quarrels even where the Spirit in fullest measure and in extraordinary power was enjoyed. There was bitter dissension between Jews and Samaritans, though they believed in the same God and reverenced the same revelation. Political circumstances in the past sufficiently explain that quarrel. There was almost, if not quite, as bitter hostility between the Grecians and the Hebrews, because they spoke different languages and practised diverse customs, and that though they worshipped in the same temple and belonged to the same nation. The origin of these differences in the Christian Church of Jerusalem goes back to a very distant period. Here comes in the use of the Apocrypha, "which the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners." If we wish to understand the course of events in the Acts we must refer to the books of the Maccabees, where is told the romantic story of the struggle of the Jews against the Greek kings of Syria, who tried to force them into conformity with the religion of Greece, which then was counted the religion of civilisation and of culture. The result was that the intensely national party became bitterly hostile to everything pertaining to Greece and its civilisation. The Jews of Palestine of that period became like the purely Celtic Irish of the Reformation epoch. The Irish identified the Reformation with England and English influence, just as the Jews identified Paganism with Greece and Syria, and Greek influence; and the result was that the Irish became the most intensely ultramontane nation, and the Palestinian Jews became the most intensely narrow and prejudiced nation of their time. The Palestinian or Hebrew Jews, speaking the Ararnaeic or Chaldee tongue, scorned Greek language and all traces of Greek civilisation, while the Jews of the Dispersion, specially those of Alexandria, strove to recommend the Jewish religion to the Gentile world, whose civilisation and culture they appreciated, and whose language they used. The opposition of the Hebrew to the Grecian Jews was very bitter, and expressed itself in language which has come down to us in the Talmudic writings. "Cursed be he who teacheth his son the learning of the Greeks," was a saying among the Hebrews; while again, we hear of Rabban Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, St. Pauls teacher, who used to embody his hatred of the Grecians in the following story: "There were a thousand boys in my fathers school, of whom five hundred learned the law and five hundred the wisdom of the Greeks; and there is not one of the latter now alive, excepting myself here and my uncles son in Asia." Heaven itself was supposed by the Hebrews to have plainly declared its hostility against their Grecian opponents. Hence, naturally, arose the same divisions at Jerusalem. There were in that city nearly five hundred synagogues, a considerable proportion of which belonged to the Grecian Jews. All classes and all the synagogues, Hebrew and Grecian alike, contributed their quota to the earliest converts won by the Apostles; and these converts brought their old jealousies and oppositions with them into the Church of Christ. The Hebrew or the Grecian Jew of yesterday could not forget, today, because he had embraced a belief in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, all his old feelings and his old hereditary quarrels, and hence sprang the Christian dissensions of which we read, prophetic of so many similar racial and social and linguistic dissensions in the Church down to the present time. The Acts of the Apostles is a kind of magic mirror for Church history. In the olden times men dreamt of a magic mirror into which one could look and see the course of their future life depicted. We can see something of the same in this inspired book. The bitter dissensions which racial and linguistic differences have made in the Church of every age are here depicted in miniature. The quarrels between East and West, between Greeks and Latins, between Latins and Teutons, between Teuton and Celt, between Roman Catholic and Protestant, between the Whites and Negroes, between European Christians and Hindoo converts; the scandalous scenes still enacted round the Holy Place at Jerusalem, where peace is kept between nominal Christians only by the intervention of Mahometan soldiers, -all turn upon the same points and embody the same principles, and may best find solution upon the lines laid down by the Apostles. And what were these lines? They laid down that there are diversities of function and of work in the Church of Christ; there is a ministry of the word, and there is a serving of tables. One class should not absorb every function; for if it does, the highest function of all, the ministry of the word and prayer, will inevitably suffer. Well, indeed, would it have been had this lesson been far more laid to heart. How many a schism and rent in the visible Church of Christ has been caused because no work, no spiritual function, was found for a newly-awakened layman anxious to do something for Him who had done so much for his soul The principle here laid down in germ is a very fruitful one, suitable for every age. A new crisis, a fresh departure, an unexpected need, has arisen, and a new organisation is therefore at once devised by the Apostles; and well would it have been had their example found closer imitation. We have been too much in the habit of looking upon the Church of Christ as if it were once for all stereotyped in apostolic times, and as if there were nothing to be done in the living present save to adapt these ancient institutions to our modern needs. The Roman Catholic Church has been in many respects more true to apostolic principles than the children of the Reformation. With all her intense conservatism Rome has never hesitated to develop new organisations as new needs have arisen, and that in the boldest manner. It has often been remarked that the Church of Rome would never have lost John Wesley and the Wesleyans as the Church of England did. She would have put a brown cassock upon him, and girded him with a rope, and sent him forth as the head of a new order, to do the work to which he felt impelled and for which God had qualified him. Experience has taught us, however, that we cannot safely neglect apostolic precedent; and the warning implied in the words of the Apostles, "it is not fit that we should forsake the word of God and serve tables," has been amply fulfilled. The highest ministry of the word has been injured by the accumulation of all public work in the Church on one class alone. What minister of Jesus Christ does not feel that, even with the wider and more apostolic views now prevalent, with all the recognition of the service which the godly Christian laymen render, the old tradition is still strong, and clergymen are too absorbed in the mere serving of tables, to the neglect of their higher functions? The laity often complain of the poor, thin, meagre character of the preaching to which they are compelled to listen; but how can it be otherwise when they demand so much purely secular service, so much serving of tables from those whose great work is to teach? The Church of England, in her service for the ordination of priests, demands from the candidates whether they will devote themselves to the study of the Word of God, and such other studies as bear upon the same. I often wonder how her clergy are now to fulfil this solemn vow, when frequently they have not a night in the week at home, save perhaps Saturday evening, and when, from early morning to late at night, all their energies are swallowed up in the work of schools, and clubs, and charitable organisations, and parochial visitations, leaving little time and still less energy for the work of meditation and thought and study. The clergy are the Lords prophets, watchmen upon the walls of Zion. It is their great business to explain the Lords will, to translate the ideas of the Bible into the language of modern life, to apply the Divine principles of doctrine and discipline laid down in the Bible to the ever-varying wants of our complex modern civilisation; and how can this function be discharged unless there be time for reading and for thinking, so as to gain a true notion of what are these modern wants, and to find out how the eternal principles of the Scriptures are to be applied to them? We require a great deal more organised assistance in the work of the Church, and then, when that assistance is forthcoming, we may expect and demand that the highest ministry of all, "the ministry of the Word and prayer," shall be discharged with greater efficiency and blessing. The Apostles, in meeting this crisis, laid down a law of true development and living growth in the divine society. The Church of Christ is ever to have the power to organise herself in the face of new departures, while at the same time they proclaim the absolute necessity and the perpetual obligation of the Christian ministry in its highest aspect; for surely if even for Apostles it was needful that their whole time should be devoted to the ministry of the word of God and prayer, and the Church of that time, with all its wondrous gifts, demanded such a ministry, there ought to exist in the modern Church also an order of men wholly separated unto those solemn duties.
IV. The Apostles, having determined upon the creation of a new organisation to deal with a new need, then appeal to the people for their assistance, and call upon them to select the persons who shall be its members; but they, at the same time, reserve their own rights and authority, and, when the selection has been made, claim the power of ordination and appointment for themselves. The people nominated, while the Apostles appointed. The Apostles took the most effective plan to quiet the trouble which had arisen when they took the people into their confidence. The Church has been often described as the mother of modern freedom. The councils of old time were the models and forerunners of modern parliaments. The councils and synods of the Church set an example of open discussion and of legislative assemblies in ages when tyrannical authority had swallowed up every other vestige of liberty. The Church from the beginning, and in the Acts of the Apostles, clearly showed that its government was not to be an absolute clerical despotism, but a free Christian republic, where clergy and people were to take counsel together. It is a noteworthy thing indeed, that even in the Roman Catholic Church, where the exclusive claims of the clergy have been most pressed, the recognition of the rights of the laity in the matter of Church councils and debates has found place down to modern times. The representatives of the Emperor and other Christian princes took their seats in the Council of Trent, jointly with bishops and other ecclesiastics, and it was only at the Vatican Council of 1870 that this last lingering trace of lay rights finally disappeared. The Apostles laid down by their action the principle of Church freedom, and the mutual rights of clergy and people; but they also gave a very practical hint for the peaceful management of organisations, whether ecclesiastical, social, or political. They knew what was the right thing to do, but they did not impose their will by the mere exercise of authority; they took counsel with the people, and the result was that a speedy solution of all their difficulties was arrived at. How many a quarrel in life would be avoided, how many a rough place would be made smooth, were the apostolic example always followed. Men naturally resist a law imposed from without without any appearance of consultation with them or of sanction on their part; but men willingly yield obedience to laws, even though they may dislike them, which have been passed with their assent and appeal to their reason. In Church matters especially would this rule apply, and the example of the Apostles be most profitably followed. Autocratic action on the part of the clergy in small matters has often destroyed the unity and harmony of congregations, and has planted roots of bitterness which have ruined ministerial usefulness. While steadily maintaining great fundamental principles, a little tact and thought, a wise condescension to human feeling, will often win the day, and carry measures which would otherwise be vigorously resisted.
Finally, the Apostles enunciate the principles which should guide the Church in its selection of officials, specially when they have to deal with the temporal concerns of the Society. "Look ye out therefore from among you seven men of good report." Attempts have been made to explain why the number was fixed at seven. Some have asserted that it was so determined because it was a sacred number, others because there were now seven congregations in Jerusalem, or seven thousand converts. Perhaps, however, the true reason was a more commonplace one, and that was that seven was a very convenient practical number. In case of a difference of opinion a majority can always be secured on one side or other, and all blocks avoided. The number seven was long maintained in connection with the order of deacons, in imitation of the apostolic institution. A council at Neo-Caesarea, in the year 314, ordained that the number of seven deacons should never be exceeded in any city, while in the Church of Rome the same limitation prevailed from the second century down to the twelfth, so that the Roman Cardinals, who were the parochial clergy of Rome, numbered among them merely seven deacons down to that late period. The seven chosen by the primitive Church were to be men of good report because they were to be public functionaries, whose decisions were to allay commotions and murmurings; and therefore they must be men of weight, in whom the public had confidence. But, further, they must be men "full of the Spirit and of wisdom." Piety was not the only qualification; they must be wise, prudent, sound in judgment as well. Piety is no security for wisdom, just as in turn wisdom is no security for piety; but both must be combined in apostolic officials. The Apostles thereby teach the Church of all time what are the qualifications necessary for effective administrators and officials. Even in charitable distributions and financial organisations the Church should hold up the high standard set before her by the Apostles, and seek out men actuated by religious principle, guided by religious truth, swayed by Divine love, the outcome of that Spirit whose grace and blessing are necessary for the due discharge of any office, whether of service, of charity, or of worship, in the Church of Jesus Christ; but possessed withal of strong common sense and vigorous intellectual power, for love and zeal separated from these often fall into mistakes which make religion and its adherents a laughing-stock to the world and a hindrance to the cause of truth and holiness. God can indeed make the weak things of this world to confound the high and mighty, but it would be presumptuous in us to think that we can do the same, and therefore we must seek out the instruments best suited in every way to do Gods work and accomplish His purposes.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 1. In those days. About that time. It may…
1. In those days. About that time. It may have been several years after the planting of the church. The believers had become very numerous in Jerusalem. Arose a murmuring of the Grecians. “The Grecians” were not Greeks, or Gentiles, but foreign Jews, who were born and brought up out of Palestine, and spoke the Greek language. This class of Jews was found in almost every city where Paul preached. See Acts 13:14–16. The Hebrews were Jews of Palestine. They held themselves superior to the foreign Jews, and something of this spirit showed itself in the church. Their widows were neglected. There was “distribution to all men, as every man had need,” not to those who did not need, but to the needy, and the dependent widows would especially need care.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Act_6:1. In those days should be in these days,—i.e.,…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_6:1. In those days should be in these days,—i.e., shortly before Stephen’s martyrdom which did not long antedate Saul’s conversion in A.D. 37. Hence the events recorded in the present chapter may be set down as having taken place in A.D. 35 or 36. It is satisfactory to know that while Baur denies, Zeller, and Weizsäcker admit that the ensuing narrative concerning Stephen proceeds upon undeniably historical ground. Was multiplied.—Better, was multiplying, or becoming numerous, through the teaching and preaching spoken of in Act_6:2. Grecians.—Not Greeks, but Hellenists or Greek-speaking Jews of the Diaspora (Act_9:29, Act_11:20), as distinguished from the Hebrews or Palestinian Jews (Php_3:5), who talked in Syro-Chaldaic or Aramæan. Were (habitually) neglected.—Or overlooked, the imperfect hinting at the frequency of the occurrence, though it is not clear whether the complaint was well founded or only imaginary. The daily ministrations were not of private benefactions (Wendt) but of public alms from the funds already mentioned (Act_2:45, Act_4:35), either of food or of money.
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Act_6:2. The twelve must have included Matthias (Act_1:26), whose apostleship is thus placed beyond dispute as valid, at least in the judgment of both his colleagues and the Church. The multitude of the disciples.—Of those resident in Jerusalem, since many must by this time have left the city. Not reason.—οὐκ ἄρεστον, properly = non placet, not pleasing, or not fit, becoming, suitable. Leave.—In the sense of “forsaking,” “deserting,” “discontinuing.” Serve or minister to tables.—The apostles had seemingly at first undertaken this work, acting “not merely as a teaching college, judicial bench, court of representatives, but also as an administrative authority; specially arranging, distributing, and superintending the feedings” (Holtzmann).
Act_6:3. Wherefore, brethren, or according to some MSS., but, brethren, look ye out.—If the selection was made by the congregation, the appointment proceeded from the apostles. Of honest report.—Lit. attented persons—i.e., of good report (compare Luk_4:22; 1Ti_5:10). For Holy Ghost read Spirit.
Act_6:4. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer.—The idea is that of steadfast perseverance.
Act_6:5. On the names of the deacons see “Homiletical Analysis.” That all the seven were Hellenists arose not from the circumstance that they were intended solely to look after the Hellenist widows’ interests—of which there is no hint in the narrative; but probably from a desire to avoid anything that might look like favouring the Hebrew widows (Holtzmann). The statement that Nicolas was a proselyte suggests that all the others were Jews.
Act_6:6. They, the apostles laid their hands on them, the deacons.—The first mention in Acts, but not the last (Act_13:3), of this ceremony which occurred in the Old Testament; in the consecration of the Levites (Num_8:10), and in the appointment of Joshua (Num_27:23) and afterwards in the New in the ordination of ministers (1Ti_4:14; Heb_6:2).
Act_6:7. Increased and multiplied.—The tenses (imperfect) indicating gradual and continuous growth, might be rendered kept on increasing and multiplying. A great company of the priests.—Not merely persona of Levitical descent (Zöckler), but real sacerdotal persons, priests proper, who must then have been numerous, considering the number, 4,289, that returned from Babylon (Ezr_2:36; Ezr_2:38). Obedient to the faith.—A genuine Pauline expression (see Rom_1:5).
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_6:1-7
The Institution of the Diaconate; or, the Church’s First Strife allayed
I. The occasion of its institution.—
1. The rapid increase of the Church’s members. It was certainly gratifying that, notwithstanding the persecutions directed against the apostles, their labours in propagating the gospel were attended by conspicuous success. The remarkable influx of disciples which took place under their preaching would most likely have called for assistance of some sort in the organisation of the Christian community. The special form of assistance they did solicit was dictated by the state of matters now to be mentioned.
2. The unexpected rise of dissension among the Church’s members.
(1) The opposing parties in the Church were the Palestinian, or Hebrew (i.e., Syro-Chaldaic, or Aramaic) speaking, and the Grecian, or Greek-speaking Jews. Though both of one blood, they were nevertheless divided by speech, and as a consequence by habits of thought ard social customs. The rivalry, and even jealousy between them, the Hebrew or Conservative party, who adhered with greater closeness and tenacity to the law and traditions of Mosaism, and the Grecian (Hellenists) or Liberal party, who had been influenced by the broader culture and laxer notions of the empire generally, perpetuated itself for long years in the Christian Church, and was a source of much strife during the early centuries of our era.
(2) The cause of their dissension was the habitual neglect (whether studied or accidental, real or imaginary, is not stated) of the Grecian widows in the daily distribution of food or money. It is not likely that the apostles or their helpers deliberately arranged thus to set a mark of inferiority upon the Greek-speaking Christians; but one can readily perceive how widows of foreign origin might not be so well known as those who resided in Palestine and Jerusalem, and how, being foreigners, they might have greater difficulty in making their wants known and getting them attended to. In any case it is not hard to understand how the Grecian Christians should feel somewhat sensitive over what had the appearance of a studied neglect.
II. The mode of its institution.—
1. The apostolic decision concerning themselves.
(1) To withdraw from the business of dispensing the Church’s alms. Not because they resented the suspicion of unfairness implied in the complaints of the Greek-speaking Jews (or Christians). The complaint may have been just, and (whether it was just or not) the apostles may have seen that some different arrangement, as, e.g., the distribution of the Church’s alms by responsible officials—would be required in order to restore confidence and prevent the recurrence of similar mistakes or complaints. Not because they deemed the service of tables too mean an occupation for persons of their capacity and dignity. It may be taken for granted that the apostles were not actuated in their procedure by personal vanity or self-esteem, but because they considered themselves to have been called to a higher form of ministry with which this lower interfered, to the extent of threatening to withdraw them altogether from it. In their estimation preaching was a more exalted form of work than acting as Church almoners, distributing the bread of life, a more urgent labour than doling out, even to poor widows, loaves and fishes or the wherewithal to purchase them. And because this latter was work for which the Church had an ample supply of competent workers within her ranks.
(2) To reserve themselves for the more spiritual labours of the apostolate—praying and preaching. By and-by they would need assistants in these duties also; but in the meantime these claimed their whole time and attention. N.B.—The position of pre-eminence among ministerial duties here assigned to praying and preaching should be noted by those who think that in modern times these should be reduced to a minimum. Praying and preaching are twin gospel ministries that never should, and cannot be dissociated except to the detriment of both.
2. The apostolic direction to the Church members.
(1) What it was. To “look out from among themselves seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom,” whom the apostles might appoint over the business of serving the Church’s tables. In which direction should be noted: First, the proper work of the diaconate. “To serve tables,” to distribute the Church’s alms, and care generally for the poor. This, as the cases of Stephen and Philip showed, excluded not the exercise, where possessed, of the gift of preaching, praying, or working miracles. Secondly, the requisite qualifications for the diaconate. Approved character. The deacons (seven in number, most likely because no more were required; but see “Hints on Act_6:5”) were to be of “good report”—i.e., of recognised Christian standing and worth (compare 1Ti_3:8-10). Eminent piety. “Full of the Spirit”—i.e., of the Holy Spirit, which would be known by the fruits of the Spirit appearing in their lives (Mat_7:20). Practical sagacity. “Full of wisdom,” which probably meant that insight into truth, discernment of character, and knowledge of how to act, which resulted from being inspired and led by the Holy Ghost. Thirdly, the body to elect the diaconate. The congregation of believers. Neither their leaders, the apostles, nor a committee of their number, but the whole assembly of the Church members—all who chose to take part in the proceedings, which would likely be the majority of those residing in Jerusalem. The apostles’ language expressly recognises the Church as the elective board. Fourthly, the source of authority for the diaconate. This the apostles as distinctly reserved for themselves. If the congregation selected, they appointed; if the congregation called, they ordained.
(2) How it was received. “The saying pleased the whole multitude.” This showed the wisdom by which the apostles had been guided in proposing their motion; the confidence with which they were regarded by the believing community, no one attempting or desiring to dissent; and the spirit of unity which still prevailed and could triumph over the incipient stirrings of discord. Happy the Church whose pastors are guided by the Chief Shepherd, whose counsels are accepted by their congregations, and whose people are actuated by a spirit of love and concored!
(3) How it was carried out. First, the election of the seven. “They chose Stephen,” etc. (see “Hints”). Secondly, the presentation of the seven. To infer that the election was conducted in the absence of the apostles would not be safe. Thirdly, the ordination of the seven. The apostles, having prayed, “laid their hands upon them.” In this act the brethren did not join, showing that the authorisation of the new officers proceeded not from them. The laying on of hands—first mentioned in connection with the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen_48:10-14), of frequent occurrence in Mosaic ritual (Lev_3:2; Lev_16:21; Num_8:12), and used in appointing Joshua to succeed Moses (Num_27:18)—became the customary form in the New Testament Church of Dedication to a sacred office (Act_13:3; 1Ti_4:14). “It was a symbol of the impartation of the gifts and graces” which those dedicated “needed to qualify them for the office,” and was “of the nature of a prayer that God would bestow the necessary gifts rather than a pledge that these were actually conferred” (Hackett).
III. The result of its institution.—By setting free the apostles to attend to higher duties important consequences followed.
1. A wide extension of the gospel. “The word of God increased.” The area over which it spread enlarged. The influence it wielded deepened.
2. A large increase of disciples. Their number multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. Christ promised, if He were lifted up, to draw all men unto Himself (Joh_12:32); and wherever the gospel is openly, courageously, affectionately, and faithfully proclaimed, it seldom fails to secure adherents.
3. A great accession from the priesthood. This must have been a numerous body at the time to which this chapter refers, since, according to Ezra (Act_2:36-38), it was 4,289 strong on returning from Babylon. The coming over to Christianity of so considerable a company of priests, of whom none had ever followed Christ, marked a signal advance in Christianity. Plumptre suggests that their conversion may have been due to the preaching of Stephen, who anticipated Paul in announcing the passing away of the temple worship, which had probably become a weariness to the flesh and an intolerable burden to the spirit of the more earnest, at least of the priests, who, accordingly, responded to the fascination of a simpler and more spiritual worship.
Learn.—
1. That Christians ought to be, but are not always, above quarrelling (1Co_3:3; Gal_5:20; Php_2:3).
2. That oversight may occur in the bestregulated congregations.
3. That Christian ministers and people should ever study the things that make for peace (Rom_14:19).
4. That nothing should be allowed to hinder a Christian minister from his specific work of preaching and praying.
5. That Christian congregations have a right to elect their own officebearers.
6. That those who hold office in the Christian Church should be above suspicion.
7. That the word of God cannot be bound (2Ti_2:9).
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_6:1. Murmuring in the Primitive Church.
I. The occasion of it.—It sprang out of the multiplying of the disciples. This teaches—
1. That increase of numbers does not always mean increase of happiness, increase of devotion, increase of spiritual life, but has often brought increase of trouble and discontent alone. Undiluted joy, uninterrupted success, is not to be the portion of God’s people while tabernacling here below.
2. That the presence of supernatural gifts, the power of working miracles and speaking with tongues, did not raise the spiritual level of individual believers above that we find in the Church of the present day. What a comfort to God’s servant striving to do his duty is the study of this sixth chapter of the Acts! The apostles themselves did not escape the accusation of favouritism.
3. That the primitive Church was no ideal communion but a society with failings and weaknesses and discontent, exactly like those which exist in the Church of our own times.
II. The ground of it.—That which lay at the basis of this murmuring was “a racial question,” or perhaps it should be said those “social and linguistic differences” which “had found place in the Church.” “The bitter dissensions which racial and linguistic differences have made in the Church of every age are here depicted in miniature. The quarrels between the East and West, between Greeks and Latins, between Latins and Teutons, between Teuton and Celt, between Roman Catholic and Protestant, between the whites and negroes, between European Christians and Hindoo converts—the scandalous scenes still enacted round the Holy Place at Jerusalem, where peace is kept between nominal Christians only by the intervention of Mahometan soldiers—all turn upon the same points and embody the same principles.
III. The removal of it.—The difficulty which had arisen was solved by laying down the following principles:
1. That there are diversities of functions and of work in the Christian Church. There is a ministry of the word and there is a serving of tables.
2. That one class should not absorb every function; for if it does, the highest function of all, the ministry of the word and prayer, will inevitably suffer.
3. That the Church of Christ should ever have the power to organise herself in the face of new departures, while at the same time she proclaims the absolute necessity and the perpetual obligation of the Christian ministry in her midst.—G. T. Stokes, D.D.
Dissension, in the Church.—
1. Old. Dating from Apostolic, yea, even from Pentecostal times.
2. Common. Having shown itself in almost every Christian community since.
3. Unbecoming. All sin is; this especially so as breaking out among those who should love as brethren.
4. Hurtful. As again all sin is, but this in particular as marring the beauty, destroying the peace, and hindering the usefulness of the Church.
Act_6:2. Serving Tables; or, the Church’s Care of the Poor.—Of Christian service this is
I. A necessary form.—Considering that God hath chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith (Jas_2:5), that Christ esteems them as His brethren (Mat_25:40), and that kindness to the poor has been specially enjoined on Christ’s disciples (Act_20:35; Gal_6:10; Eph_4:28).
II. An honourable form.—Though not to be placed on a level with preaching, yet to be highly esteemed as one requiring the most exalted gifts and conferring the most enduring benefits (1Ti_5:10).
III. A difficult form.—Calling for much wisdom and tenderness, so as to avoid giving offence by either neglecting or hurting the sensibilities of the recipients of the Church’s bounty (Rom_12:8).
IV. A profitable form.—Since Christ will reward all such service as done to Himself (Mat_25:40).
Act_6:1-2. Blots in a Church.
I. When nominal adherents multiply faster than true disciples.
II. When a spirit of discord and division breaks out among its members.
III. When the poor are neglected and the rich only attended to.
IV. When ministers have no time to preach because of being absorbed in secular business.
V. When the spirit of prayer dies out of both pulpit and pew.
Act_6:4. Praying and preaching.
I. Praying without preaching.—An imperfect if not a presumptuous ministry. Christ having ordained the preaching of the gospel as a means of its propagation (Mat_28:19-20; Luk_24:47). This form of worship cannot be discontinued without sin. A word for those who would dispense with the sermon in church services or reduce it to the smallest dimensions.
II. Preaching without praying.—An unprofitable exercise. The same Lord who commanded His disciples to preach also taught them to pray (Mat_6:9; Luk_11:1), and said, “Without Me ye can do nothing” (Joh_15:5). A hint to those who forget that the ends of the ministry cannot be reached by human wisdom or eloquence alone.
III. Praying and preaching.—The true ideal of an acceptable ministry. What Christ hath joined let none of His followers put asunder (1Ti_2:1-8).
Act_6:5. The First Christian Deacons.
I. Their number.—Seven. Not likely either:
1. Because the congregations in Jerusalem were seven in number, and each selected a man; or
2. Because the number of believers was now seven thousand, and one was chosen for each thousand; or
3. Because of the sacredness of the number seven; or
4. Because there were already different elements in the Church, Hebrews
(3), Hellenists
(3), Proselytes
(1), that required to be provided for; or
5. Because Jerusalem was divided into seven districts; or
6. Because there were seven archangels; or
7. Because the gifts of the Holy Spirit were sevenfold; or
8. Because among the Libertini of Rome “there was a distinct guild or collegium known as the Septemviri Epulones or Seven Stewards, whose business it was to arrange for the banquets held in honour of the gods which were more or less analogous to the Christian agapœ, on certain set days” (Plumptre); but
9. Probably because, for some reason not stated, seven was considered by the apostles the number required for the work.
II. Their names.—All Greek. But not therefore all belonging to Hellenistic Jews, since Palestinian Jews with foreign names were not rare (see Act_1:23).
1. Stephen. An uncommon name appearing in few inscriptions, but found in the burial place of the Empress Livia as the designation of a libertinus or freedman, a goldsmith, and an immunis—i.e., one exempted from the religious obligations of his trade guild. In addition the name is found “on a tablet in the museum of the Collegio Romano.” Wherefore it has been conjectured that “in the proto-martyr of the Church … we have one of the earliest representatives of Roman Christianity” (Plumptre). His character is given in words afterwards used of Barnabas (Act_11:24).
2. Philip. Subsequently styled an Evangelist (Act_21:8), and employed to preach the gospel to the city of Samaria (Act_8:5) and to the eunuch (Act_8:26). A tradition, preserved by Epiphanius, places Philip as well as Stephen among the Seventy. The fact that, when Paul arrived at Cæsarea (Act_20:8), Philip had four fully grown daughters renders it probable that at the date of his election he was married.
3. Procorus.
4. Nicanor.
5. Simon.
6. Parmenas. Of these four, nothing being known, nothing need be surmised. Christ can be as well served by obscure as by famous men. If Stephen acquired the glory of being the first martyr perhaps they, like Philip, had the honour of long service, and unlike him had the merit of serving without distinction.
7. Nicolas. What Luke records of him is that he was a proselyte of Antioch, and therefore the first Gentile named as having been admitted to the Christian Church; what Luke does not record is that he was the founder of the sect of the Nicolaitanes (Rev_2:6; Rev_2:15)—a supposition not hastily to be credited, though attested by Irenaeus (I. xxvi, 3; III. xi. 1), Clement of Alexandria (Strom. II. xx. 118; III. 4), and Hippolytus (vii. 36), and accepted by some moderns (Zöckler and others). The statement that Nicolas was a proselyte may imply that the others were of Jewish birth.
III. Their duties.—
1. Principally to attend to the administration of the Church’s benevolence, and generally to care for the poor.
2. In addition to evangelise, if they possessed the gifts for such work—as was shown by both Stephen and Philip.
Note.—That the seven men, though not expressly named “deacons,” were the forerunners of the ecclesiastical officers who afterwards bore that title (1Ti_3:8), is apparent. Though nothing is said by Peter about their being constituted a new order of Church rulers, it need not be doubted that the Church came to recognise them as such on the ground of this transaction. Since the days of Cyprian this opinion has prevailed. That the seven are not like the later deacons subordinated to the presbyters is no valid objection (Holtzmann), because the organisation of the Church at this time may not have been complete. That the seven formed a special order of officials created for a special purpose (Weizsäcker) may be true without the inference being correct that the order was not designed to be permanent. That funds for the poor were at a later period entrusted to the hands of the elders (Act_11:30) does not prove that the diaconate gradually developed into the presbyterate (Vitringa, Böhmer, Lange, Ritschl, Wendt, Lechler), but merely that the elders, as the spiritual rulers of the Church, received the money from those who brought it. The actual distribution may have been carried out by deacons. The notion that the seven were the predecessors of both bishops (ἐπίσκοποι) and deacons (διάκονοι), and that neither of these constituted a preaching or teaching order, but were merely finance officers (Hatch, Harnack), is not in accordance with Scripture (1Ti_3:1-12; 2Ti_2:24).
Act_6:1-5. The Seven Chosen.
I. The unique functions of the Church.—It must be assumed that, in the rise of the Christian Church, a new power obtained among men. Baptised with this new “power,” the Church confronted the world with the fact of the unity of the race. The wonderful works of God were confined to no peculiar peoples; they meant the Church for the world. In addition to this was the new principle as to social life. The poor should share, equally with the rich, the gospel benefits. Says Mr. Lecky: “No achievements of the Christian Church are more truly great than those which it has effected in the sphere of charity.”
II. The choice of “the seven.”—That the best men cannot always please is evidenced by the text. In their distribution of charity the apostles failed. They were accused of neglecting the Grecians in their zeal for the Hebrew converts. There are two important truths involved in that election, claiming special notice. Thus, firstly, the responsibilities inhering in the Church-membership. It was not an apostolic appointment. Not even Peter could choose; the election was the act of the multitude. Secondly, the wisdom of the Church is evidenced in their choice. Instead of further murmuring there had come a profound peace—a peace built on no compromise.
III. The characteristics of “the seven.”—They must be men of “good report.” There is no disputing the fact that, in the apostolic estimate, the truest religion makes men of the best and most honest report. No office—of bishop or evangelist or deacon—can give a good report to a dishonest man. Character is greater than office-bearing. Again, “the seven” must be “full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” In this demand lay hidden the secret of their spiritual power.
IV. The model character of the diaconate.—It is a natural sequence of the choice of “the seven” that it should be supplemented by a character equal to the highest ideal. Stephen met the fullest requirements.—Monday Club Sermons.
Act_6:7. The Progress of the Church.
I. How it is effected.—By the preaching of the word.
1. In ever-enlarging fulness.
2. In ever-widening circles.
3. By ever-increasing agents.
4. With ever-deepening earnestness.
II. How it is revealed.—By the multiplication of disciples.
1. Not of merely nominal adherents, which are not always a source of strength.
2. But of genuine believers, whose hearts have been touched by grace.
III. How it is consolidated.—By obedience to the faith.
1. By the submission of the whole being to the Lord of faith, Christ.
2. By the consecration of every power to the life and work of faith.
3. By regulating every step in accordance with the principle of faith.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 1. Do not forget that the gospel began among…
HELLENISTS AND HEBREWS
1. Do not forget that the gospel began among the Jews exclusively, the Gentiles having nothing to do with it; hence the Christian Church, originally like the Jewish, was purely Judaic. With the roll of a century, it underwent a radical somersault, eliminating the Jewish and incorporating the Gentile element. “Grecian” in E. V. leads to the conclusion that they were Gentile Greeks, which is incorrect. They were Jews, native and proselyte, who spoke the Greek language and used it in their synagogue worship in contradistinction to other Jews [doubtless nearly all native], who spoke the Hebrew language, using it in their synagogues. It was natural to recognize a degree of preference for these native Jews and pure Hebrews, though, doubtless inadvertently, holding them in a degree of estimation above the Greek-speaking Jews, largely proselytic; hence the complaint that the Hellenistic widows were neglected in their daily ministration. Christian widows, unencumbered with families at that time, got filled with the Holy Ghost, turned preachers, being eminently useful as soul-savers; thus devoting all their time, with no means of support, they lived on church charities. What a pity in this respect, the church of the present day does not go back to first principles! How eminently useful our unencumbered holy widows would be if thus utilized, preaching the gospel in family circles, mission-rooms and on the streets. Dr. Carradine, in his last pastorate in St. Louis, used them much to the glory of God and the salvation of souls, recognizing the policy of the Apostolic Church. At this time the Greek language [spoken by these Hellenistic Jews] was the language of the world, having through the Alexandrian conquests reached all nations and become universal. While reading the Old Testament, we all see the hand of the Almighty on the Jews, but intuitively drift to the conclusion that it was not on the Gentiles. In this we are egregiously mistaken. The difference is that we have the inspired history of the Jews and not of the Gentiles. B. C. 32, Alexander, a youth of one and twenty years, succeeded his father Philip on the throne of Macedonia, a small country in northern Greece. Finding but thirty-five thousand dollars in the royal treasury, and thirty-five thousand men in the army, the first transaction of his regal administration was to divide out the money equally among the soldiers, giving each man a dollar apiece. Observing that the young king left himself moneyless, a bystander asked, “Now, king, what have you left for yourself?” The sanguine youth responded, “My hopes.” “What are your hopes?” “Why, that I shall conquer all the world.” At that time the Persian Empire reached from India to Ethiopia, containing a hundred and twenty-seven States, nearly all of the known world which was sufficiently important to appropriate, except Greece, which, though small, had simply proved too heroic for the Persian conquest, even under the leadership of Xerxes, with his two million and five hundred thousand warriors, the largest army ever mustered on the globe. Alexander succeeds in inspiring his little band with the same paradoxical hope of conquering all the world. Consequently he invades the great Persian Empire, is met by the royal army on the plains of Granicus. A terrible battle ensues, leaving forty thousand Persians dead on the field, while Alexander didn’t lose a man. This stunned the mighty Persian monarch and woke him up to recognize in the young Grecian no child at play. Great preparations were now made, feeling sure they would capture the impudent youth with his audacious followers and settle the matter once for all. Alexander meets them on the plains of Issus. where an awful battle is fought, lasting three days. One hundred thousand Persians are left dead on the field, while Alexander’s loss was simply nothing. This awful defeat sent panic throughout the Persian Empire. King Darius gives the matter personal attention. An innumerable army is rendezvoused from the one hundred and twenty-seven States of the Empire. The sons of royalty from the diversified kingdoms encourage the army with their personal presence. King Darius is on hand, commander-in-chief. The powers of earth are combined against the paradoxical foe they find in the haughty young Grecian. They meet on the plains of Arbela, which, I trow, proved the greatest battle the world ever saw. It lasts a solid week. Rivers of blood deluge the fields. Mountains of the dead accumulate. Three hundred thousand Persian warriors are left dead on the field. The Greek is everywhere triumphant. Darius flies for his life, his vast army utterly demolished and disorganized. Alexander overtakes the fugitive monarch on the banks of the Indian Ocean. Darius now pleads for his crown, proposing to Alexander that they divide the world half and half. Alexander points to the sun, then in his noon-day glory. “Do you see that sun? Could the world endure two suns? You know they would burn it up. So this world can not have two kings. I must have it all.” Now, account for the fact that this boy of one and twenty, with no money and a handful of men, conquered all the world and wept because he couldn’t find another one to conquer. God was in it. This wonderful Greek language, the finest the ages ever knew, the culmination of that climacteric Greek learning in which they excelled all nations, astonishing the ages with their achievements in poetry, oratory, philosophy and the fine arts, thus eclipsing all the nations of the earth and becoming the honored teachers of the young kings resorting thither from every land and clime to learn wisdom at the feet of the Greek philosopher. Why these great wonders? God, through these poets, orators, philosophers and scholars, was manufacturing the Greek language, the beauty, precision, and vivacity of those mechanism is the riddle of modern scholarship. God thus prepared it — His chosen vehicle, in which to preach the gospel to every nation. He gave Alexander the conquest of the world that he might turn over every government on the globe to the cultured Greeks, who established their wonderful language in the learned circles of every nation under heaven, thus through these wonderful providences preparing the world for the reception of the gospel. Again we have the significant fact that in the early centuries of the Christian era this wonderful language was taken out of the mouths of all nations like the Hebrew of the Old Testament at an earlier day, lest the nations of the earth might corrupt them. Therefore we have the inspired archives of the Hebrew and Greek kept in their pristine purity, locked up in these dead languages, whither we can all go and find the unadulterated truth as it is in Jesus, and transmit it to the world. Oh, the wonders of the divine administration!
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain Act 6:1-3
Act 6:1-3
On the Office of the Diaconate
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I. The origin of the office. (1) We are introduced here to a class of people called Grecians. They were proselytes to the Jewish worship, and Jews born and bred in foreign countries, whose language therefore was Greek. The home Jews or Hebrews looked down on the foreign Jews or Grecians as having contracted contamination by their long contact with the uncircumcised heathen. (2) The Grecians murmured. This disposition to grumble seriously threatened the well-being of the Church; it formed the gravest danger it had yet had to encounter. The Grecians complained that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. The diaconate was instituted when the temporal requirements of the Church urgently demanded it, and not a day before.
II. The duties of the office. (1) The seven men, according to the text, were elected to "serve." (2) They were elected to "serve tables." Speaking broadly, this means that they were to attend to the temporalities of the Church. Their chief duty is to manage the finances of the kingdom, but that done to their own and others’ satisfaction, they may extend the sphere of their usefulness, and assist in the furtherance of truth and goodness. (3) The deacons are to serve the tables of the ministers. One important object in the institution of the diaconate was to relieve the preachers of anxiety and distraction in the zealous pursuit of the work peculiar to themselves. (4) They are to serve the tables of the poor.
III. The qualifications for the office. (1) The first qualification is integrity. (2) Next comes piety, "Full of the Holy Ghost." (3) The third qualification is wisdom. Without wisdom, the deacon’s administration will do incalculably more harm than good. What is wisdom? A right application of knowledge. But this implies two things. (1) That he possesses the knowledge to be applied; (2) that he possesses tact to apply his knowledge in the pursuit of his official duties.
J. Cynddylan Jones, Studies in the Acts, p. 114.
Act 6:1-6
Hellenist and Hebrew
From the very day of Pentecost, the Jerusalem congregation had embraced a number of Hellenists, or foreign-trained Jews, though we have no means of knowing what proportion they bore to those born in Palestine, called by Luke "Hebrews." It is certain that their influence must have been out of proportion to their numbers. They were men of higher average intelligence and energy than the villagers of Judæa, or the small traders of the capital, and were not likely to acquiesce silently in any neglect which, from being in a minority, they might suffer at the hands of the home-born.
I. The creation of the office of deacon showed all the better that it did not mean to show anything, how unfettered the new kingdom of Christ is by external regulations; how full of self-regulating power, how unhierarchical, how free, how unlike great modern Church establishments; how like a great family of brothers dividing among themselves the work to be done.
II. Another thing which the act of that day did, and was recognised even at the time as doing, was to begin the severance between the spiritual and temporal work of the Church. It had become impossible any longer to continue the serving of tables with the ministry of the Word. That the work might be well done, a division of labour was called for, and the Apostles could not hesitate which side of their double office they should abandon. To bear witness to the saving work of Jesus Christ is not a secondary or accidental function of the visible association we call the Church. It is its very end, its raison d’étre, its one task, to which all else is a mere accessory. Still, it deserves to be remarked how carefully the new office and its duties were lifted out of the atmosphere of mere business into that of worship. The men eligible to office are to be full of the Holy Ghost as well as of wisdom. They are to be set apart to their work with equally solemn religious services, and symbolical acts of consecration, as if their work had nothing to do with serving tables. The earliest instinct of the Church was a perfectly true one, that no office in the kingdom of God can be discharged as it ought to be, no matter how exclusively external or secular it may appear, unless it be discharged by a spiritual man, and in a spiritual way. All the servants of the Church must be first servants of her Master, "men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost."
J. Oswald Dykes, From Jerusalem to Antioch, p. 207 (see also Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iv., p. 641).
References: Act 6:1-7.—E. M. Goulburn, Acts of the Deacons, p. 1; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 311. Act 6:2.—J. Baldwin Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 309. Act 6:5.—Bishop Simpson, Sermons, p. 159. Act 6:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 802; J. N. Norton, Old Paths, p. 292. Act 6:8-10.—E. M. Goulburn, Acts of the Deacons, p. 41. Act 6:8-15.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. v., p. 12.
Act 6:11-15
The first Christian Martyr. Look:—
I. At Stephen as a man. The third verse gives us to understand that he was a man of "honest report:" literally, a man well testified of—the public bore him good witness. (1) This means that he was an honest man; and not only honest, but that he had a reputation for honesty. (2) But the words further imply that he was a good man. He was good, and he seemed good. A good character should be clear as glass, or, to use the Biblical illustration, transparent as light—a character men can not only look at, but look through, and see God behind and beyond.
II. Stephen as a Christian. (1) He was full of faith. (2) He was full of the Holy Ghost.
III. Stephen as a deacon. (1) He was full of grace. (2) Being thus full of grace, he was of necessity full of power. (3) Moreover, he did great wonders and miracles among the people. For a while he is the most promising and interesting figure in Christian antiquity, and if we possessed his grace we should also inherit his power, and do great wonders, if not miracles, among the people.
IV. Stephen as a disputant. (1) They were not able to resist the wisdom with which he spake. (2) They were not able to resist the spirit by which he spake.
V. Stephen as a prisoner. His character as a prisoner is set forth in the eleventh and succeeding verses. His speech before his judges was remarkable: his bodily appearance was more remarkable still. They all, "looking steadfastly on him, beheld his face, as it had been the face of an angel."
VI. Stephen as a martyr. Nowhere outside the religion of the New Testament do we behold such majesty and meekness, in the grim presence of death. Pagans may die heroically, Christians only die forgivingly. Heathens may die bravely, believers in Christ only die Divinely. "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."
J. Cynddylan Jones, Studies in the Acts, p. 135.
Reference: Act 6:13.—E. G. Gibson, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 423.
Act 6:15
The Angel-face on Man
There are certain things common to the angel-face on man, amid all the endless variety of type and form—certain things which we may look for (with at least but little exception) on all the faces which carry on them any image, or resemblance to higher worlds, and holier creatures, and by the mention of these we shall make the subject quite practical.
I. Brightness. We cannot be wrong in supposing that there was something luminous in the face of Stephen, which was seen by those who looked steadfastly on him. We always associate brightness with the angels. If Stephen’s countenance had been dull or sad on that day, this in the text had never been recorded of him.
II. Calmness. Stephen was preternaturally calm, and calm in a scene of the utmost excitement. And it is not enough to have a general cheerfulness as the result of a survey of life and the world on the whole. There must be superiority to particular disquietudes, and a keeping of the heart in the stillness of grace, in the great and deep peace of God, in the very presence of any immediate agitations. No one can hope to get the angel-face who furrows and flushes his own with daily excitements, and yields without a struggle to particular temptations in the hope that a general obedience will get him through. The peace of God is to keep the heart and mind as a garrison is kept.
III. Benignity shone out in that wonderful arresting face; without this there could be no resemblance to God Himself, or to His dear Son. He that loveth not, is not of God, and cannot wear an angel-face.
IV. Fearlessness. If an angel were here, to live for a while the life of a man, you would see what it is to be brave. The celestial courage is attainable in terrestrial scenes, if not perfectly yet in large measure, and those who attain it will, by so much more, put on celestial resemblance, and look on human scenes, as it were, with the face of an angel.
V. He who would have the angel-face must look high and far. He must learn to look not so much at things, as through them, to see what is in them and what is beyond.
A. Raleigh, The Little Sanctuary, p. 295.
There is a very awful power of rebuke entrusted by God to His chosen servants; and well may it fill us with awe that He has invested man, to such a degree, with his own attribute. Yet this history of St. Stephen furnishes us with limitations of its use, which are still more needful for us. For man, in his waywardness, often reverses the method of God; He is silent when He should rebuke in what concerns God’s honour: rebukes when he should be silent, in what concerns his own.
I. They who rebuke should have the commission to rebuke. When we rebuke we speak in His name, and this we dare not presume of ourselves. Since rebuke is the voice of God correcting us, they who utter it should be themselves such as to hope that they speak that voice. We must listen to those in authority as our Lord bade to hearken to those who sat in Moses’ seat, but they who speak must, that they sin not, speak the words of God and see that they mingle not their own.
II. Further, since rebuke is of so awful a character and inflicts suffering, it must be given, not without suffering to ourselves also who give it. We may not inflict pain without pain, suffering without suffering. It were to forget our common Master whose office we take; our common frailty, alike liable to be tempted and to need rebuke; it were to make ourselves as God, who alone cannot suffer. It were rather to make ourselves like Satan, who alone torments without suffering, and is made to suffer, since of himself he will not.
III. We must reprove with humility. To reprove with humility we must reprove only those whom we have a right to reprove; not our elders; not those set over us; not those manifestly superior to ourselves. And to those who seem to be our equals, or who are in any way subject to us, we dare not assume any superiority, as though we were, on the whole, better than they.
IV. Lastly, we must reprove in love. We must not, as we are wont, measure the fault by the vexation it causes ourselves. Rather should we be tender, in proportion as the fault affects ourselves. Our one object should be to win, as we may, souls to Christ, and so we should reprove as may best win them.
E. B. Pusey, Sermons from Advent to Whitsuntide, vol. i., p. 75.
The face of Stephen in this world we can never see. We can never read here its revelation of character. Now it is in perfect loveliness, like Him who is seen by His saints in His perfection. One day we may read—if we attain—that special message which God traced before the council in momentary beauty before it was hidden in a bloody grave. The vision of the martyr was a mighty message; but his lips threw that message into words. These words are in part at least recorded for our learning; and if we cannot see the face, the record we can read.
I. Note, first, that earnest desire for truth, which is the first real requisite to its attainment. St. Stephen had evidently desired truth, and searched and studied the Scriptures, and that eager and loving spirit had had its reward. One example of that reward is seen in the vigorous intellectual grasp of the subject, which he had to handle with readiness and under the appalling pressure of a trial for life. All the gifts of Stephen, his earnest desire for knowledge, his subtle dialectic, his noble eloquence, were turned full upon the subject of highest interest, upon the mysterious revelation of eternal truth.
II. There were higher endowments in the martyr than any mere attributes of mind. No mental vigour in such a desperate crisis would have availed to any purpose, unless it had been seconded by a boldness and intrepidity of spirit. Struggling for a cause, new, untried, and deemed altogether contemptible, he possessed his soul with a heroic patience, and bore his part with literally unexampled courage.
Note also his wealth of tenderness. The scene at the death of St. Stephen reminds us of the scene at the death of Christ; the words of prayer, which rose amid the hailstorm of cruel stones, ring through our souls with an effect of penetration, like that of the looks of the great Intercession, at the moment of the nailing to the cross. Do you ask the secret of such a combination of tenderness and courage in any tempted man? There is one answer: an unshaken, a deep, and supernatural union with Jesus Christ.
III. We all surely must, in our degree, hope to bear our testimony at all hazards to truth. Well then, let us note the conditions on which such fulfilment of our reason of life depends. (1) The soul must be true to itself. (2) In the world of revealed faith, all power of witness depends upon conviction. Act with courage upon conviction, and act with charity. (3) When all possible struggle is over we may witness to Jesus by the calmness of a loving resignation.
W. J. Knox Little, Manchester Sermons, p. 215.
The First Martyr
I. Religious persecution began with Christianity. This is a simple fact of history. Strange as it may seem, there is no record in earlier times, amid all the cruelty and reckless disregard of the sacredness of human life, which sullied the annals of the old world, of suffering and death deliberately inflicted on account of religious opinions. Martyrdom, in the strict sense of that word, was an unknown thing when Stephen stood up before the council. In him the terrible prophecy of his Lord began to be fulfilled. If he had failed in the trial, humanly speaking, Christianity would have failed. Had he relented under fear of stoning, the faith of the infant Church would have been shaken. On the other hand, Stephen’s boldness—that calm, high bearing, that face irradiated as an angel’s, rejoicing in danger and death for the Master’s sake—rooted the Christian Church as a living power in the earth. The world and the Church had confronted each other. Did Stephen realise all this—that for a brief hour the world’s destinies had rested with him? It may be so; hence, in the consciousness of that high calling, his face was seen as the face of an angel.
II. There is much to be noted in the Providence of God with regard to Stephen. The chapter before us dwells emphatically upon the singular power of his ministry. Yet this ministry, full of such mighty promise, was cut short at the very outset. Was there, then, a waste of power in that early cutting short of the martyred deacon, in the midst of his days? Was it premature, that dying under the stony shower outside the gates of Jerusalem? Not so. It may well teach us two lessons. (1) The power of a short life. Who has not known instances of the sudden dropping into the grave of some gifted intellect, some character of more than common loveliness and promise? May it not be said that, like the Hebrew hero, such have been mightier in their death than in their life. The memory of Stephen may have been more to the Church of the Firstborn than Stephen’s protracted ministry. (2) And there is a further teaching still. Was Stephen content to die at the beginning of his race? Then do we learn not to be impatient ourselves to behold a completed work; to be willing to lay the foundations, and leave to others to bring forth the top stone with joy; willing ourselves to sow the seed, and let other hands gather in the harvest.
Bishop Woodford, Sermons on Subjects from the New Testament, p. 92.
Acts 6; Acts 7
Stephen.
From the history of Stephen we learn:—
I. That fidelity to truth provokes antagonism; holiness and sin are mutually repellent; love and selfishness are the opposites of each other; and sooner or later the followers of the one will come into collision with the votaries of the other. The opposition of the ungodly is one of the seals to the genuineness of our discipleship; and if we bear ourselves rightly under it, who can tell but that it may be the occasion of blessing to multitudes? The banner which hangs in idle folds round the flagstaff in the sultry stillness of the summer noon, is fully unfurled by the wild rudeness of the wintry wind; and men may see in the latter case the emblem and inscription which were invisible in the former. Even so the antagonism of our spiritual adversaries is valuable, in that it brings forth anew those traits of Christian character and points of Christian doctrine which otherwise would have been unobserved.
II. The deep interest which the glorified Redeemer has in His suffering followers. He cannot sit in such an emergency, for He is Himself persecuted in His dying disciple, and must go to soothe and sustain Him. Our foes can strike us only through our Saviour’s heart. He is our shield and buckler, our high tower and our deliverer.
III. The peacefulness of the believer’s death. "When he had said this, he fell asleep." These words tell of the peace that was in the martyr’s heart. You cannot go to sleep with anxiety fretting your spirit; but when your mind is calm and undisturbed, then the night angel comes to you with her gift of forgetfulness and her ministry of restoration. So when we read that Stephen fell asleep, we see through the words into the deep unbroken quiet of his soul.
IV. Words which seem to have been in vain are not always fruitless. Stephen’s defence was unsuccessful so far, at least, as securing the preservation of his own life was concerned. But his argument was not lost, for when not long afterward the zealous Saul was converted on his way to Damascus, this address, I have no doubt, came back upon him, and became the means which, in the hands of the Holy Ghost, were used for his enlightenment in the significance of the gospel of Christ.
W. M. Taylor, Paul the Missionary, p. 1.
References: Act 7:2-17.—E. M. Goulburn, Acts of the Deacons, p. 80. Act 7:9.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 61; E. D. Solomon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 235. Act 7:9, Act 7:10.—J. N. Norton, Old Paths, p. 104. Act 7:13.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes, Gospels and Acts, p. 183. Act 7:20-22.—F. W. Robertson, The Human Race, p. 51. Act 7:22.—H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 46. Act 7:30.—Ibid., p. 59. Act 7:35.—J. B. Mozley, Sermons, Parochial and Occasional, p. 182; C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. i., p. 244. Act 7:35, Act 7:36.—Christian World Pulpit, p. 75. Act 7:37-55.—E. M. Goulburn, Acts of the Deacons, p. 126; H. Melvill, Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 1627. Act 7:38-53.—E. G. Gibson, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 427. Act 7:39.—H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 152; Ibid., Contemporary Pulpit, vol. v., p. 129; Ibid., vol. vi., p. 129.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Stephen and the Seven
Stephen and the Seven
1-7. The Hebrew-speaking Jews, who were in a majority in the Church of Jerusalem, were inclined to despise and neglect the minority who spoke Greek. In particular, the Greek-speaking widows received less food than their Hebrew-speaking sisters. This led to complaints, and the impartiality of the Apostles was called in question. The Apostles, finding the distribution of charity too great a burden for them, summoned a meeting of the Church, and called upon the brethren to elect seven men to undertake this business. The office to which they were appointed was in later times called the diaconate (Php_1:1; 1Ti_3:8, 1Ti_3:12). but the name had not yet come into use, and St. Luke consequently avoids it.
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1. Grecians] i.e. Hellenists, or Greek-speaking Jews. Hebrews] i.e. Hebrew-speaking Jews. Hebrew was spoken mainly in Jerusalem and Judæa. Ministration] i.e. distribution of food (Act_6:2).
2. It is not reason] rather, 'It does not please us.' Serve tables] i.e. attend to the distribution of food. Others think that the tables of bankers are meant, and that the Apostles complain that they cannot keep the accounts, or manage the finances of so large a community.
3. Full of the Holy Ghost] Al1 Church work requires to be performed in the power of the Spirit, and not least the management of charity and finance.
Wisdom] i.e. the practical discernment and tact so necessary in the distribution of charity.
5. The names are all Greek, which suggests that some at least of them were Greek-speaking Jews. That all were Hellenists is not probable. Greek names were quite common even among the Hebrews (cp. Nicodemus, Philip, and Andrew). One, Nicolas, was a proselyte, i.e. doubtless a full circumcised proselyte. Of two only, Stephen and Philip, have we any further account. The appointment of the Seven marks the first stage in the growth of liberal ideas within the Church.
The differences between the Hellenistic (Grecian) Jews and the Hebrews are noteworthy. The Hellenists used the Gk. OT. (Septuagint); were educated more or less in the Greek manner; studied (though to a Hmited extent) Greek literature and philosophy, and adopted a more liberal attitude towards the Gentile world than the Hebrews. The typical representative of Hellenism is Philo, who makes Moses and the prophets speak the language of philosophy. Josephus also (in spite of his knowledge of Hebrew) has pronounced Hellenistic tendencies.
6. The essential element in ordination is prayer, and the laying on of hands by the chief ministers of the Church. The laying on of hands in making appointments is ancient. Thus 'Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him' (Num_27:18-23; Deu_34:9).
8-15. The preaching, miracles, and arrest of Stephen.
The reason why the preaching of Stephen gave so much greater offence than that of the Twelve probably was that he saw that the coming of Christ virtually abrogated the Ceremonial Law, and that its abandonment was only a question of time. He thus anticipated St. Paul, perhaps even went beyond him at least in theory (see on Act_6:14). But as his speech gives no clear indications of such views, not even in Act_7:48 some suppose that he attacked the authority, not of the Law of Moses itself, but only of those traditional additions to it which the scribes held to be of equal or greater authority. Stephen was probably a Hellenist, and his opponents in the synagogues (Act_6:9) were also Hellenists.
8. Of faith] RV 'of grace.'
9. There are said to have been no less than 480 synagogues in Jerusalem, and the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, at any rate, would have been sufficiently numerous to have synagogues of their own. Libertines] lit. 'freed-men.' These were descendants of those Jews who, having been carried by the Romans, particularly by Pompey, to Rome as prisoners of war, had afterwards been emancipated from slavery. Cyrenians] A fourth part of the inhabitants of Cyrene, the capital of Upper Libya, consisted of Jews. Alexandrians] At Alexandria (founded by Alexander the Great, 332 b.c.) two of the five parts into which the city was divided were inhabited by Jews, who were ruled over by a Jewish officer called an alabarch. At Alexandria the OT. had been translated into Greek. Here flourished a Jewish-Greek philosophy of which Philo is the chief exponent. Apollos was an Alexandrian (Act_18:24). Tradition makes St. Mark the first bishop of Alexandria. Cilicia] To this synagogue St. Paul probably belonged. Asia] The Roman province, not the continent. It embraced Lydia, Mysia, Caria, part of Phrygia. Its three chief towns were Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamos.
11. Suborned men] The success of these tactics against Jesus encouraged them to repeat them.
13. This holy place] i.e. the Temple.
14. Destroy this place, etc.] What St. Stephen had probably said was that the Law would pass away as having been fulfilled in Christ, and that if the Jews persistently refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, their city and Temple would be destroyed, as Jesus had prophesied (Matthew 24, etc.). Although the charge was malicious and false, there was some truth in it. Stephen's teaching was clearly more advanced and liberal than that of the Twelve.
15. The face of an angel] This description is probably due to St. Paul, who was doubtless present: cp. Act_7:58.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain VI: 1. From the preceding account of the struggle,…
VI: 1. From the preceding account of the struggle, between the apostles and the Sadducees, Luke now turns to consider, briefly, the internal condition of the Church during the same period. Though the mass of the disciples had attained many of the excellencies of Christian character, they were still but men, and liable to the partialities and prejudices of men. This became manifest in a manner which at first threatened serious consequences. (1) “ Now, in those days, the disciples having multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Hellenist against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.” The disciples in Jerusalem now numbered largely over five thousand. In so large a multitude, it was almost impossible to look after the wants of all with equal care, and some unintentional oversight must unavoidably occur. The “daily ministration” is undoubtedly that distribution from the funds contributed by the brethren, which was made “to every one according as he had need.” That it was made daily, confirms our former conclusion, that there was no general equalization of property, but only a provision for the needy. The Hellenists were Jews of foreign birth and Greek education, and were so called because of their conformity to the manners of the Hellenes, as Greeks were called. Many of them were, perhaps, not permanent residents in Jerusalem, but had remained there after Pentecost on account of their interest in the new religion. They were the more likely to be neglected, because less familiarity known to the apostles and their assistants.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain Hellenists, i.e. Grecian Jews.
Grecians
Hellenists, i.e. Grecian Jews.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. The Murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews…
CHAPTER 6
1. The Murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews (Act 6:1-7).
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2. Stephen; His Ministry and Arrest (Act 6:8-15).
Another failure is brought before us. The enemy acts again. From without and from within Satan pressed upon that which was of God. While the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit acted in Grace and power, the enemy came in to disturb. It is still so. Whenever there is a door opened there are also many adversaries (1Co 16:9).
The flesh manifested itself in murmuring. The assembly took care of the poor; widows being specially helpless, were the objects of daily ministrations. The Jews themselves in connection with the synagogue had special funds for them. They must have also formed a recognized group in the early church (1Ti 5:9-10). The ministration is the distribution mentioned in Chapter 4:35, and as the multitude was very great, including, perhaps, hundreds of widows, this work was quite a task. Murmurings arose and these were born of jealousy, the result of unbelief. It is the first indication of weakness and failure. This reminds us of the murmurings of Israel as recorded in the book of Exodus. The same old thing, the changeless flesh, shows itself among the saved and united company of believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The murmurings were on the side of the Grecians. Their complaint was against the Hebrews that the Grecian widows were being overlooked. The Grecians were not, as some teach, Gentiles, but they were Greek-speaking Jews, born in countries outside of Palestine, and therefore called Hellenists, or Grecians.
The murmuring is at once arrested. Seven men are chosen under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles declared “we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word.” The Holy Spirit thus separated the gifts called to minister in spiritual things from those in temporal matters. Note how prayer is put before the ministry of the Word. There can be no effectual ministry, no successful preaching and teaching of the Word, unless it is preceded by prayer.
The seven chosen ones are then named. While we know little of these men and the service they rendered, with the exception of Stephen and Philip, it is an interesting fact that their names are all Greek. In this the grace of God is beautifully exhibited. The Grecians were the murmurers, and no doubt they were fewer in number than the Hebrews. A modern day church meeting would have proposed to elect a committee composed of equal numbers of the two parties. But not so here.
Grace and wisdom from above are manifested in this action. The entire seven were chosen from those who had complained. This was the blessed rebuke of Grace.
The seven were then set before the Apostles, and when they had prayed they laid their hands on them. As this “laying on of hands” is so much misunderstood, and has been made an act by which authority, power and blessing is claimed to be conferred, we must say a brief word on it. It is always proper in reading and interpreting the Word of God, to see if not elsewhere in the Bible the terms or things to be interpreted are used, so that through them the right meaning can be ascertained. The laying on of hands is first mentioned in the Book of Leviticus. In the opening chapters of that book we read how the offerer was to lay his hand upon the head of the offering. Thus we read of the Peace offering: “He shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering” (Lev 3:2). This meant the identification of the Israelite with the offering itself. And this is the meaning of the laying on of hands from the side of the Apostles. They identified themselves and the assembly with them in their work for which they had been chosen. It was a very simple and appropriate act to show their fellowship with them. All else which has been made of the laying on of hands is an invention. There is no Scripture for the present day usage in Christendom, that a man in order to preach the Gospel or teach the Word of God must be “ordained.”
miracles among the people. Certain of the synagogue of the Libertines and others disputed with Stephen. (It is wrong to call these “Libertines” free thinkers. Jews had been taken to Rome as slaves. Their descendants who had been liberated were called Libertines, that is freedmen. They were known as such in Jerusalem and hence the name “synagogue of the Libertines.”) And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Stephen is accused of blasphemy. The charge is “blasphemy against Moses and against God.” They succeeded in their satanic work by stirring up the people, the elders and the scribes. Three things are mentioned by them. He ceaseth not to speak words against this holy place, against the law, and that he should have said: “This Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.” And then they looked upon him, and behold his face was like the face of an angel. All eyes were attracted to this wonderful sight. Steadfastly they looked upon a face of Glory; a face
reflecting heaven’s light, heaven’s Glory; a face reflecting the Glory of Him into whose presence he soon would be called. And may not that young man named Saul also have been there and seen that face? And that dark countenance of that young Pharisee of Tarsus was soon to behold that same Glory-light, and then tell the world of the Gospel of the Glory and that “we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory unto glory.”
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Choosing of the First Deacons.
The Choosing of the First Deacons.
The matter laid before the congregation:
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v. 1. And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
v. 2. Then the Twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables.
v. 3. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
v. 4. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.
Luke, having given an account of the second persecution which struck the apostles, returns once more to his history of the progress of the Christian Church. He introduces a new recital, a new paragraph, or section. It was in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, was growing very rapidly. that an internal danger arose in the very midst of the congregation. "The facility with which impure elements could become associated in the Church with the pure was proportioned to its numerical increase. And when the provision which was made for the poor became more and more ample, this circumstance itself may have attracted many needy persons. " The disturbing, disquieting matter in this case was that an open murmuring and grumbling of dissatisfaction arose in the congregation. Two kinds of Jews were represented in the Church at Jerusalem, the Jews, or Hebrews proper, that had been born in Judea and had grown up in the midst of the old Jewish customs, and Grecian Jews, or Hellenists, Jews of foreign birth and Greek education, speaking the common Greek dialect and more or less acquainted with Greek habits of life. In general, the Hebrews and the Grecian Jews were united in the work of the congregation in full harmony, chap. 2:46; 4:32. External distinctions, of wealth, social position, language, habits of living, etc. , should never influence the harmonious activity of the Church in a disagreeable manner. But here a peculiar difficulty had arisen. Communism had in no way been introduced, but a very full provision had been made for the needy by the liberality of the wealthier members. The funds thus obtained were in charge of the apostles, chap. 4:35, who distributed them to the poor and to the widows. Under the circumstances: the rapid growth of the congregation, the increasing number of those that were dependent upon the bounty of the congregation, the fact that the Grecian Jews were not so well known in person to the apostles, an oversight was easily possible. One or more widows that felt themselves entitled to this service had been overlooked when the apostles made their daily rounds. And immediately the devil, the spirit of dissension and strife, inspired the thought that this was an intentional slight. Similar complaints and charges are sometimes made in our days also, and with as little ground. As long as fallible human beings are trying to serve other human beings that are just as fallible, mistakes are liable to happen, which should be adjusted without uncharitable grumbling. Whatever ground there may have been for dissatisfaction, the apostles, on their part, did not want the suspicion of partiality to rest upon them.
They therefore called a meeting of the entire congregation and laid the matter before all the disciples. It certainly was not the right, the proper thing for them to abandon, to give up the Word of God, both in public preaching and in individual instruction, in order to serve at tables, to attend to a ministry which might well be done by others. Their chief, their principal work was the care of souls, the preaching of the Gospel. They proposed to the assembly, therefore, that they, as brethren, should look about for seven men. The qualifications of these men are stated by the apostles as being chiefly three. They must have a good reputation both within and without the Church, as men of integrity and blameless life; they must be filled with the Holy Ghost, who imparts to them the mercy of Christ and the power to lead a holy life; they must be filled with wisdom, with practical wisdom, with good common sense that enables men to manage complicated business affairs to the full satisfaction of all concerned. These men should be officially appointed to take care of the present need, to have charge of this business of the congregation. Note that the business side of a Christian congregation was emphasized in the first stated meeting of the first body that bore that title. "In that case this story is useful and good that we consider the example of the apostles well and learn what kind of men are to be used for that office, for which St. Stephen permitted himself to be used.
To have a good report is that one has kept himself honest and without reproach in all things, that one has not, as the world now commonly does, either been shamefully avaricious or squandered money and goods. Then also the Holy Ghost belongs here. For to have the Holy Ghost is nothing but being a Christian, to love the Word of God, to hear it gladly, to arrange one’s life accordingly, and to maintain a good conscience. All these are the work and fruit of the Holy Ghost. But now it may well be that a person have both a good report and the Holy Ghost, and still not be fit for such office; therefore they say: Such people should also be wise, full of ability and practice. For this office needs practical heads, if otherwise it shall be exercised with use and propriety. Lazy, unwilling, careless, unfit people cannot be used for this office. " These qualifications should be kept in mind also in our days, whenever officers of the church are to be elected; there is too much thoughtless, haphazard choosing, with consequent dissatisfaction and harm to the congregation. While the men that were thus to be appointed should have charge of this special service, the supplying of those things which were necessary for the bodily sustenance of the poor and the widows, the apostles themselves wanted to devote all their time and energy to prayer and the ministry of the Word; in these matters they wanted to persevere to the exclusion of everything else. The Christian preachers of all times have the office of the ministry of the Word. That is the most important service in the kingdom of God; upon it depends the salvation of souls. It is by no means a small and insignificant matter to proclaim the Word. of God before the whole congregation, and also to apply it in the individual cases. And, in addition to that, this ministry is a ministry of prayer. The responsibility of every soul in the congregation rests upon the pastor, and he will bring the needs of each and all before the heavenly Father in daily prayer and intercession. Services in the congregation that interfere with this chief business should be entrusted to other men, to whom the Lord has given the necessary qualifications.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
This is the beginning of a new part of the story. Luke gives important background information to understand the story. (See: Background Information)
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Now in these days
Consider how new parts of a story are introduced in your language. (See: Introduction of a New Event)
was multiplying
"was greatly increasing"
Grecian Jews
These were Jews who had lived most of their lives somewhere in the Roman Empire outside of Israel, and had grown up speaking Greek. Their language and culture were somewhat different from those who had grown up in Israel.
the Hebrews
These were Jews who had grown up in Israel speaking Hebrew or Aramaic. The church consisted of only Jews and converts to Judaism so far.
widows
women whose husband has died
their widows were being overlooked
This can be stated in active form. AT: "the Hebrew believers were overlooking the Grecian widows" (See: Active or Passive)
being overlooked
"being ignored" or "being forgotten." There were so many who needed help that some were missed.
daily distribution of food
The money that was being given to the apostles was used in part to buy food for the early church widows.
translationWords
disciple
multiply
Greek
Jew
Hebrew
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:1 The Greek-speaking believers were Jewish Christians who had…
6:1 The Greek-speaking believers were Jewish Christians who had lived elsewhere in the Greco-Roman world and probably observed some Greek customs. The Hebrew-speaking believers were more traditional Jews, native to Palestine, who spoke Hebrew or Aramaic and refrained from Greek customs. • their widows were being discriminated against: This injustice threatened the growth and development of the church with rumblings of discontent and had to be addressed.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.