Acts 6:1

And. Rather, “but,” for the verse points a contrast to ch. 5:42.

In those days. That is, the days of ch. 5:41, 42. Luke handles his historical materials with notable smoothness. He has shown the growth of the church under the power of the Holy Spirit, and the great influx of new believers. He has shown how the economy of the church, for a time at least, took on a communal form. Chapter 6 shows some of the difficulties arising out of that arrangement, but is in turn an introduction to the experience of Stephen, which itself is introductory to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and his subsequent missionary activities. The narrative is clearly historical. The account of ch. 6 is closely related to that of ch. 5:14, but the length of the interval between the two events is uncertain.

Disciples. The first time this name is used of Christians in the Acts. The disciples of the Gospels have become apostles, and the term “disciples” has passed to the ordinary believer.

Multiplied. The phrase may be better translated, “when the disciples were increasing in number,” that is, by almost daily additions. Such increase naturally would bring new problems. It had been a simple thing to care for the needs of the apostolic family from the purse that Judas carried. It was more complicated, though not impossible, to care for the early group of believers at Pentecost. But the membership in the Christian society had now so increased that the care of the needy took all the time of the apostles, to the exclusion of higher duties.

Murmuring. Not merely a petty complaining, but a protest sufficiently vocal to warrant serious concern. The record places no blame upon the apostles, for they deserved none. The sudden growth in membership had outstripped their resources and precipitated the difficulty.

Grecians. Gr. Hellenistai, “Hellenists,” that is, Greek-speaking Jews, or “Grecian Jews” (RV). NT usage distinguishes carefully between them and Hellenes, who were Greeks by race (John 12:20). The Hellenists were Jews of the Dispersion (see Vol. V, pp. 59, 60; see on John 7:35; Acts 2:8) who not only spoke Greek but had absorbed Greek culture. They could have been Jews who had been born in lands where Greek was the common language, and so did not know Hebrew or Aramaic, and instead of joining in the Hebrew services in Palestine, had their own synagogues in Jerusalem. They could have been Greek-speaking proselytes. In either case they were converts from Judaism, for up to this time the gospel had not been presented to the Gentiles. Many of the converts of the day of Pentecost must have belonged to this group, as did Barnabas (ch. 4:36) and others whose names are specifically mentioned in the narrative (ch. 6:5).

These Hellenistic Jews read the LXX version of the OT, the version most frequently quoted in the NT. They were usually most zealous, in contrast with many of the local Jews. They came at great sacrifice to worship at the sacred places of Jerusalem, whereas to the Palestinian Jews the Temple precincts too often became commonplace (cf. ch. 21:27, 28). Jewish rabbinical tradition made provision for the saying of the Shema, the Hebrew confession of Jehovah (Deut. 6:4), in Hellenistic Greek. See Vol. V, p. 57.

Hebrews. These were Jews who, in contrast with the Hellenists, had been born in Palestine, and who lived there and spoke the language (Aramaic) that the NT calls Hebrew (see ch. 22:2). See Vol. I, p. 30.

Their widows. That is, of the Hellenists. Since Palestinian Jews were in the majority in the infant church, the needy among the Hellenists might without any ill intent have been left unassisted, because of differences in language and customs. The care of widows is stressed in Scripture (see on Ex. 22:22; Deut. 14:29; Isa. 1:17; Luke 18:3). Here the reference may be to the care of all poor and dependent persons. Obviously the communal economy in the church required some sort of organized supervision of the common fund that had been created (Acts 4:32). Later, the church formulated rules for the care of its widows (1 Tim. 5:3-16).

Ministration. Gr. diakonia, “service,” “ministering,” translated “distribution” in RSV, and “relief” in ch. 11:29. The word is related to diakonos, “ministrant,” or “deacon.” This help was given daily. Because of pressing needs and perhaps lack of storage space, it was doubtless necessary to distribute the aid every day, and possibly from various points in the city. Probably there was a continuous stream of gifts coming in and of donations being passed out. The drain upon the apostles’ time must have been great. But there is no hint that the apostles were guilty of favoritism or neglect, nor that any resentment was felt against them.