Section 4:32–37

The believers shared what they owned with one another

In this section, the believers were united, and they were sharing what they had with each other. Some believers even sold their land or a house to give the money to other believers. The apostles were powerfully telling others about Jesus. And God was greatly helping all of them.

Luke told the story of Barnabas as an example. Barnabas sold a field and brought the money to the apostles so that they could give it to other believers who needed it.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The believers shared their possessions
-or-
The believers held their possessions in common

Paragraph 4:32–35

4:32a

The multitude of believers: This phrase in Greek is literally “the number/crowd of the ones having-believed.” Here the word “number/crowd” refers to the group of believers as a whole. At that time all of the believers were probably in Jerusalem. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

The whole group of believers (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
the full number of those who believed (English Standard Version)

one in heart and soul: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as soul, as a phrase together with the word heart, indicates that the believers were united in their whole being: motives, feelings, desire, and thought.

In some languages different words are used for this meaning. For example:

one in liver/stomach and ⌊one in⌋ thinking/spirit
-or-
one in their mind/thoughts
-or-
lived in-agreement/united and they were one heart

4:32b

No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own: This clause means that no one was saying, “These things are mine and I will not share.” Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own (English Standard Version)
-or-
They were not counting their possessions as their own
-or-
There was not one who said: “This is my own belonging,”

No one: Here this phrase refers to none of the believers. For example:

None of them (Good News Translation)

4:32c

but: 4:32b says that the believers did not keep their things for themselves only. 4:32c says that they shared everything. The Greek indicates contrast between those two things. But people in some languages will not see them as contrasting. For example:

32bThey didn’t keep back any of their belongings 32cwhich was needed by their sibling in believing.
-or-

32bNo one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, 32cthat is, they shared everything they had.

they shared everything they owned: This clause indicates that the believers shared all their things with other believers. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

they all shared with one another everything they had (Good News Translation)
-or-
all their things were in a place where anyone could use them

The meaning is similar to “had everything in common” in 2:44.

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