Communism

How Nave’s arranged it

• General scriptures concerningActs 2:44Acts 2:45Acts 4:32Acts 4:34–37Acts 5:1–10

The passages, in Bible order (5)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 5 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Acts 2:44

   All the believers were together and had everything in common.

   ›Commentary on Acts 2:442 voices

   “And the class of oblations in general has not been set aside; for there were both oblations there [among the Jews], and there are oblations here [among the Christians]. Sacrifices there were among the people; sacrifices there are, too, in the Church: but the species alone has been changed, inasmuch as the offering is now made, not by slaves, but by freemen.

   “And all that believed were together,....

   Everything gathered on Acts 2:44→

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2. Acts 2:45

   Selling their possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need.

   ›Commentary on Acts 2:452 voices

   “And if the whole Christian Church had continued in this spirit, this usage must have continued through all ages. To affirm therefore that Christ did not design it should continue, is neither more nor less than to affirm, that Christ did not design this measure of love should continue.

   “And the words "according to each one's need" he uses not simply, but in the sense of "stewardship," because this expression shows that the apostles did not act as the philosophers among the Greeks, of whom some abandoned their fields, and others threw much gold …

   Everything gathered on Acts 2:45→

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3. Acts 4:32

   The multitude of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned.

   ›Commentary on Acts 4:322 voices

   “For he said that experience was needed in order to distinguish between cases of genuine need and of mere greedy begging. For whoever gives to the afflicted gives to the Lord and from the Lord shall have his reward; but he who gives to every vagabond casts to a dog, a nuisance indeed from his importunity but deserving no pity on the ground of need.

   “And the multitude of them that believed,.... The Gospel, and in Christ, the substance of it; and a multitude they were, for they were now about eight thousand persons.

   Everything gathered on Acts 4:32→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Acts 4:34–37

   There were no needy ones among them, because those who owned lands or houses would sell their property, bring the proceeds from the sales,

   ›Commentary on Acts 4:34–372 voices

   “If we cannot serve God and mammon, can we be redeemed both by God and by mammon? For who will serve mammon more than the man whom mammon has ransomed? Finally, of what example do you avail yourself to warrant your averting by money the giving of you up? When did the apostles, dealing with the matter, in any time of persecution trouble, extricate themselves by money?

   “Neither was there any among them that lacked,.... Bread to eat, or clothes to wear, or any of the necessaries of life; which shows their great charity, and gives a reason why they were in so much favour with the people, because they took so much care of their poor; and this flowed from the grace of God bestowed upon them: for as many as were possessors of lands and houses; or "vineyards", as the Ethiopic version reads, whether in Jerusalem or elsewhere; sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold; whether lands, houses, or vineyards.

   Everything gathered on Acts 4:34–37→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Acts 5:1–10

   Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.

   ›Commentary on Acts 5:1–102 voices

   “For they both raised the dead, which God alone (can do), and restored the debilitated to their integrity, which none but Christ (can do); nay, they inflicted plagues too, which Christ would not do. For it did not beseem Him to be severe who had come to suffer. Smitten were both Ananias and Elymas -Ananias with death, Elymas with blindness-in order that by this very fact it might be proved that Christ had had the power of doing even such (miracles).

   “But a certain man named Ananias,.... A name common among the Jews, the same with Hananiah, Jer 28:1 it signifies not the humility of the Lord, or the affliction of the Lord, or the answer of the Lord, as say some, as if it was derived from ענה; but the grace of the Lord, or the Lord's gracious one, coming from חנן: there is no dependence on names; though this man's name signified one that was in the grace and favour of God; he was not so, but a graceless person, as appears by what follows.

   Everything gathered on Acts 5:1–10→

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