Acts 4:34 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 4:34
Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
to begin under (quietly) · verb — imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural
any
τιςtis
G5100
some or any person or object · indefinite pronoun — nominative singular masculine
among
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
them
αὐτοῖς·autois
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
that
ὑπάρχωhypárchō
G5225
to begin under (quietly)
lacked
ἐνδεήςendeēs
G1729
deficient in · adjective — nominative singular masculine
for
γὰρgar
G1063
properly · conjunction
as
ὅσοιhosoi
G3745
as (much · correlative pronoun — nominative plural masculine
were
ὑπάρχωhypárchō
G5225
to begin under (quietly)
possessors
κτήτορεςktētores
G2935
an owner · noun — nominative plural masculine
lands
χωρίωνchōriōn
G5564
a spot or plot of ground · noun — genitive plural neuter
or
ἢē
G2228
disjunctive · conjunction
houses
οἰκιῶνoikiōn
G3614
properly · noun — genitive plural feminine
them
πωλοῦντεςpōlountes
G4453
to barter (as a pedlar) · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
brought
ἔφερονepheron
G5342
to "bear" or carry (in a very wide application · verb — imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural
prices
τιμὰςtimas
G5092
a value · noun — accusative plural feminine
sold
πιπρασκομένωνpipraskomenōn
G4097
from the base of G4008 (πέραν)) · verb — present passive participle, genitive plural neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Luke 12:33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief appr…
Luke 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting h…
Deuteronomy 2:7 For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years…
Psalms 34:9-10 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
Matthew 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and…
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor,…
Luke 22:35 And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 4:32–end
We have a general idea given us in these verses, and it is a very beautiful one, of the spirit and state of this truly primitive church; it is conspectus saeculi - a view of that age of infancy and innocence.
I. The disciples loved one another dearly. Behold, how good and how pleasant it was to see how the multitude of those that believed were of one heart, and of one soul (Act 4:32), and there was no such thing as discord nor division among them. Observe here, 1. There were multitudes that believed; even in Jerusalem, where the malignant influence of the chief priests was most strong, there were three thousand converted on one day, and five thousand on another, and, besides these, there wer…
with great power--effect on men's minds.
great grace was upon them all--The grace of God copiously rested on the whole community.
Adam Clarke on Acts 4:34
Neither was there any among them that lacked - It was customary with the Jews to call the poor together, to eat of the sacrifices, but as the priests, etc., were incensed against Christ and Christianity, consequently the Christian poor could have no advantage of this kind; therefore, by making a common stock for the present necessity, the poor were supplied; so there was none among them that lacked. This provision therefore of the community of goods, which could be but temporary, was made both suitably and seasonably. See Bp. Pearce, and see the note on Act 2:44.
John Gill on Acts 4:34
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.
The Church Fathers
"Neither was there any among them that lacked." Their feeling was just as if they were under the paternal roof, all for awhile sharing alike. It is not to be said, that though indeed they maintained the rest, yet they did it with the feeling that the means whereof they maintained them were still their own. No, the admirable circumstance is this, that they first alienated their property, and so maintained the rest, on purpose that the maintenance might not come as of their own private means, but as of the common property.
If this were done now, we should live more pleasant lives, both rich and poor, nor would it be more pleasant to the poor than to the rich themselves. And if you please, let us now for awhile depict it in words, and derive at least this pleasure from it, since you have no mind for it in your actions. For at any rate this is evident, even from the facts which took place then, that by selling their possessions they did not come to be in need, but made them rich that were in need.
But, you will ask, what should we do after the money was spent? And do you think it ever could be spent? Would not the grace of God be ten thousand fold greater? Would not the grace of God be indeed richly poured out? Nay, should we not make it a heaven upon earth? If, where the numbers were three thousand and five thousand, the doing of this thing had such splendid success, and none of them complained of poverty, how much more glorious would this be in so vast a multitude? And even of those that are without, who would not contribute?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Alms · .The early Christians — .The early Christians
Beneficence · .The first Christians — .The first Christians
Communism · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Houses · Were sold — Were sold
Land · Bought and — Bought and
Missionaries, All Christians Should Be As · In devoting all property to God — In devoting all property to God
Self-Denial · Exemplified: The Christians — Exemplified: The Christians
Unselfishness · .The disciples — .The disciples
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Acts 4:32–end
Acts 4:32-37
32. And the multitude which believed had one heart and one soul; and no man did say that any of those things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. 33. And the apostles did bear witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ with great power; and great grace was upon them all. 34. For there was one among them that kicked: for so many as possessed lands or houses, setting them, they brought the price of those things which were sold, 35. And they laid it at the feet of the apostles: and it was distributed to every man according as he had need. 36. And Joses, which was suremined of the opostles Barnabas, (which is, the son of comfort,) a Levite, of the countr…
The sharing of early believers was remarkable (see also 2:44-45; cp. 6:1). Being united in heart and mind, they willingly offered anything they possessed to meet the needs of other believers. This sharing was voluntary and without coercion, and it related to pressing needs in the community and was prompted by Christian love and concern for one another.
