TRUE COMMUNISM

TRUE COMMUNISM-COMMONISM

“And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common.” Acts 2:44

If Jesus was the Messianic King, as Peter had proven; and if there could be remission of sins extended even to the very Jews who were responsible for His death as Peter had declared; then his hearers could have drawn only one conclusion, namely, that the restoration of the long-awaited Kingdom to Israel was still a possibility in their own generation.

                That the Jewish converts did so conclude seems to be indicated by their immediate course of conduct. First, there is absolutely no record of any break with the Jewish temple worship, but on the contrary they continued daily with one accord "in the temple" (Acts 2:46) where, according to Old Testament prophecy, all worship would be centered in the future Kingdom (Isa. 56:7). Second, the attitude of these early Jewish believers toward property suggests the expectation of an imminent establishment of the Kingdom. The selling of their possessions and the sharing of the proceeds was no adoption of a communistic policy but a common policy. For what they did was wholly voluntary on every man's part (cf. Acts 4:34-5:4). Moreover, in the coming Kingdom, the prophets assign an important place for private property rights: "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree." And in these rights men will be fully secure: "none shall make them afraid" (Mic. 4:1-4). But every devout Jew knew that the Kingdom would begin on earth with a divine rectification of ancient wrongs: "the crooked shall be made straight" (Isa. 40:4). And of all wrongs upon earth, none are more complex and difficult of settlement than those arising out of the violation of property rights. Moreover, on the basis of Old Testament prophecy, the Israelites anticipated a restoration of the Promised Land on a grand and greatly enlarged scale (Gen. 15:18-21); and in this restoration each tribe would be assigned an allotment (Ezek. 47-48). With an aroused expectation of the immanency of the divine Kingdom, in which there would be a divine rectification of historic maladjustments, it cannot be surprising that these Pentecostal converts did not attach very much value to existing possessions and property titles. To them, the Grand jubilee of all the centuries seemed at hand. Give it up and let His wisdom divide my portion.

                Furthermore, these converts must have been encouraged in their expectation by the "signs and wonders" performed by the Apostles (Acts 2:43). For these were signs of the Kingdom, as predicted in the ancient prophets, and which had marked the offer of the Kingdom by the Messiah during the period of the Gospels. See also Acts 4:34.