Acts 2:44

Together. This may refer either to the physical gathering together of the believers or to their unity of spirit.

All things common. To have things in common was not unusual in Jewish life of the time. Visitors to the yearly feasts often had their needs supplied by their friends in Jerusalem. It is clear, however, that something more than this is implied in Luke’s statement. The Christians were thrown back upon themselves, and a new, a Christian, economy was set up. However, this does not mean the institution of what is called Christian socialism. It was probably a continuation and enlargement of the “bag,” or common purse, of John 12:6; 13:29. The new converts would be the more ready to share their material possessions because of their new-found love for Christ and for one another, and their earnest expectations of the Lord’s soon return (Acts 1:11). There was nothing compulsory about the sharing (ch. 5:4). It was a literal fulfillment of our Lord’s words (Luke 12:33), and a very natural act for a society founded, not on the law of self-interest and competition, but on the law of sympathy and self-denial. The Spirit of God was showing His power, not only in the specific gifts, but in the way of love.

There is no evidence that this way of life continued in the church for any length of time, except in the gracious benevolence that the church doubtless showed at every opportunity. At the same time, however, the church learned to discriminate in its economy (2 Thess. 3:10; 1 Tim. 5:8, 16). The church at Jerusalem became repeatedly dependent upon the bounty of the Gentile churches, as seen in Acts 11:29. It need not be thought, however, that the Jerusalem church came to be thus in need because of the extravagance of its benevolence in the earlier years, but rather because of the severe persecution and famine it endured (see on Acts 11:27-30; Rom 15:26; 1 Cor. 16:1-3).