The multitude of believers had but one heart and one soul. No one claimed that any of their possessions were their own, but they shared everything in common.
The apostles were giving testimony with great power about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And they all enjoyed great favor…
ACTS 4:32-35
The multitude of believers had but one heart and one soul. No one claimed that any of their possessions were their own, but they shared everything in common.
The apostles were giving testimony with great power about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And they all enjoyed great favor.
There was no needy person among them, for those who owned land or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and lay it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each according to their need.
The small fragment from the Acts of the Apostles offers a “portrait” of the first community of believers. Several such portraits are found in the book of Luke.
All of them idealize the community to some extent, since we already know of other texts from the same book that show the differences and even dissensions within it. But a clear message is conveyed: believers feel called to life in common, even to renouncing personal possessions and placing them at the disposal of all, so that no one would be in need.
And among them, the WITNESSES, giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord. That is to say, “The Acts” are “the gospel of the church,” they do not limit themselves to telling us “acts,” but rather show the “life in the Spirit” of the first community, how the Spirit of Jesus is manifested in it.
1 JOHN 5:1-6
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments….
In the same sense, the fragment from John’s letter gives profound meaning to all this. It presents the resurrected life. Through faith in Jesus, we glimpse a different way of living: the most characteristic thing about Jesus, which essentially differentiates him from other religions (perhaps from all – perhaps that is why Jesus’ way cannot be strictly called “a religion”) is that it is a Project, and it is offered as a project for life.
We must remember the polemical context of John’s letters: they are addressed to communities strongly tempted by Gnosticism, which presents Jesus as a divine but not human being, and the Christian life as knowledge for initiates. The letters insist on the manifestation of faith in the works of love (if we love God and keep his commandments). Once again, being faithful to the spirit of Jesus, without being carried away by inventions foreign to the same Jesus of whom the writer feels a witness.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.