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Bible Dictionaries
Community of Goods
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or There are two passages in the Acts of the Apostles which seem to suggest that there was established in the Church in Jerusalem a system of community of goods. ‘And all that believed were together and had all things common; and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, according as any man had need’ (Acts 2:44 f.). ‘And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common.… For neither was there among them any that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto each, according as any one had need’ (Acts 4:32; Acts 4:34-35). The Didache (iv. 8) contains a phrase which must be put beside this: ‘Thou shalt not turn away from him that is in need, but shalt share all things with thy brother, and shalt not say that they are thine own; for if ye are sharers in that which is immortal, how much more in those things which are mortal.’ The so-called Epistle of Barnabas contains almost exactly the same phrase (xix. 8), and it is most probable that in these works it came from some common source. We confine ourselves in this article to the 1st cent., but a statement of Justin Martyr must be cited. He says in the First Apology that the Christians brought what they possessed into a common stock, and shared with every one in need (xiv.).
At first sight it would seem as if the passages in Acts indicated the existence in the Christian community of a definite system of communism, and there are some things in the Gospels which might seem to point in the same direction. The blessedness of poverty, the subtle dangers of riches, are taught in many passages. The rich young man is told to sell all that he has and give to the poor, and our Lord observes upon the incident that it is hard for them that have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God (Mark 10:17-23||). In Luke 6:20; Luke 6:24 our Lord is reported as saying, ‘Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.… But woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation.’ It is possible that we must allow for the influence of different tendencies in the Gospel narratives; for instance, in St. Matthew’s Gospel, this benediction upon the poor is given a strictly spiritual turn (Matthew 5:3). Again the Epistle of St. James seems to indicate that the Christian communities are composed of poor people, while the rich are their enemies. ‘Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him?… Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats?’ (James 2:5 f.).
When, however, we examine the passages in the Acts more carefully, it seems to be clear that the evidence does not warrant us in concluding that there was any definite system of community of goods, even in the Church in Jerusalem. It is plain from the story of Ananias and Sapphira that there was no compulsion about the sale of goods and lands for the common fund. St. Peter is reported as saying to Ananias: ‘Whiles it remained, did it not remain thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power?’ (Acts 5:4). When we turn from the Acts to the Pauline Epistles we find no trace of any system of community of goods. St. Paul constantly exhorts his converts to liberality to the poor, especially to those in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:1 f., 2 Corinthians 8:9, Romans 15:26, 1 Timothy 6:18), and the nature of his exhortation seems to imply that the individual Christian retained his own possessions. The same thing is implied in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 13:16), and seems to be the most natural interpretation of the phrase in 1 John (1 John 3:17).
It cannot be said that the references in the NT justify us in asserting that a system of community of goods was part of the normal constitution of the primitive Christian communities; but it is not impossible that the conception that this was the most perfect form of the religious life may have come into Christianity from such contemporary forms of Judaism as that of the Essenes, among whom the community of goods was apparently practised. But on the whole it would seem that the NT passages are sufficiently explained by the very high sense of the claim of brotherhood among Christian people. The discussion of the full significance of this would take us into the later history of the Church, and would therefore be out of place here. But so much may be said, that the NT principles are wholly inconsistent with the view that the Christian man has any absolute right of property as against his fellow-man. There can be no doubt that a great Father like St. Gregory the Great rightly interprets the spirit of the NT when he says that when we give what they need to those who are in want, we give them that which is their own; we are not giving away what is ours, we are rather discharging an obligation of justice than performing a work of mercy (Lib. Reg. Pastor. pt. iii. ch. xxi.).
Literature.-E. Troeltsch, Die Soziallehren der christlichen Kirchen und Gruppen, 1912: R. W. and A. J. Carlyle, A History of Mediœval Political Theory in the West, vol. i. (‘The 2nd cent. to the 9th,’ by A. J. Carlyle), 1903; E. B. Redlich, St. Paul and his Companions, 1913. p. 7; O. Cone, Rich and Poor in the NT, 1902, p. 143ff.; E. Schürer, GJV [Note: JV Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes (Schürer).] 3 ii. [1898] 564ff.
A. J. Carlyle.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Community of Goods'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/c/community-of-goods.html. 1906-1918.
