Those who possess money and property usually feel they have the right to use these things for their own benefit. But this is not the way of Christian love. The true Christian must overcome this accepted way of life. Instead, the Christian realizes that even though certain assets may be possessed or con trolled, they are not to be used at will. This was given its classical expression in the early days of the church when, “no one said that any of the things which he possessed were his own” (Acts 4:32).
This makes it clear that the crucial issue for Christians is not a particular form of common ownership but a unique form of common consumption. To have “all things in common” did not mean that no one any longer “possessed” any thing. Because of circumstances and customs, the disposition of material assests will usually fall into the hands of certain specific people. There the early Christians still speak about the things which various believers “possessed.”
The unique thing was not that no one possessed anything, but that no one said that any of the things possessed were their own. Thus the spirit of love broke through the ordinary barriers of the economic order. The believers under stood that, even though they legally held title to certain assets, this did not mean that these assets were to be disposed of at their own private discretion. Rather, they understood that this property was at the disposal of the entire brotherhood, according to need.
This is the Christian concept of consumption. It does not depend so much on the reshuffling of title deeds or the placing of all money in a single bank account (although these in some cases may be helpful), as upon the willingness of each member to put entire resources at the disposal of the church.
This kind of holding “all things in common” did not stop at Jerusalem. It is reflected throughout the New Testament experience. However, in an eagerness to get around it today, many people give a false description to what happened at Jerusalem. And then they fail to see it anywhere else. As a matter of fact, however, this kind of “koinonia” became a mark of the Christian fellowship throughout the Empire.
In Romans, for example, a letter written at a time and to a church which was quite removed from Jerusalem, the apostle instructs Christians to practice “koinonia” with respect to the needs of the saints (Romans 12:13). A more literal translation of the test would be, “with regard to the needs of the saints, practice making all things common.” They are instructed here to do the very thing which was done at Jerusalem. The instruction is mentioned briefly along with other ethical points which indicates that Paul expected it to be understood and practiced without a detailed explanation or a weighty argument.
These Christians were already acquainted with the fact that within the new community of God’s people a new system of distribution was functioning which affected material resources just as much as spiritual gifts. Within this new “economy” every gift and every blessing, rather than being used to advance the welfare or prestige of the one to whom it is given, is put into the common service of the whole body.
Each member is thus engaged in a process of giving and receiving, each in proportion to their abilities and each in proportion to their needs. This process cannot be reduced to a certain system or formula or fixed standard but always exists as a living process within those churches that are taking their Lord seriously. This did not happen automatically in the early days, as we may judge by the admonition which the Apostle felt it necessary to give, but it did happen.
When Peter said, “Lo, we have left all and followed thee,” Jesus answered: “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or mother, or father, or children, or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive an hundred fold new houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and land, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 12:28ff).
An illustration of how this actually worked out is afforded in 2 Corinthians 8-9. Here the abundance of the Gentile churches provided for the needs of the Jerusalem believers. In their time of need, they did have brothers and sisters a hundredfold. The abundance of one group supplied the needs of the other. If the situation were to be reversed, Paul says, the flow of resources would also be reversed. Then reaching back into the wilderness of experience when Israel gathered manna, Paul gives this formulation to the economic life of the church: “They who gathered much had nothing left over and they who gathered little had no lack” (2 Corinthians 8:15).
That this kind of “equality” (Paul’s term) might be attempted on such a large scale would be unthinkable were not it operative within the more immediate circles of congregational fellow ship. This as we know was the case in Jerusalem to begin with. It was encouraged in Rome. Something of this kind certainly existed in Thessalonica, as we can judge from the fact that some of the brethren there were trying to abuse the practice of love by living without working. That this kind of problem faces the welfare agencies of the state today, but is almost unheard of as a problem in congregational life is a sad commentary on how little the church has engaged in this ministry of “equalization.” The epistle of 1 John places the willingness to engage in this kind of sharing as an absolute test of the genuineness of Christian experience (1 John 3:17).
It is a further striking testimony to this mutual sharing that the Christian motivation for “work” in the New Testament is to have something to “give.” “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.” Today people work in order to get ahead, or to save for the future. But in the New Testament the goal of work is to enable one to share.
In the same vein, when Paul instructed the elders of the church in Ephesus that they, like he, should work with their hands, the overriding motivation was that they might “help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Such work was also to minister to their own necessities (Acts 20:34). But above and beyond that, the real goal of work is to have something to share.
Only as we come to this final point about the practice of love within the brotherhood can we fully appreciate the earlier limitations which are imposed upon us as Christians. This is the positive side of the whole matter. The Christian does not accumulate, does not insure against the future, does not borrow and pledge, in order that brotherly love can function realistically.
Instead of accumulating and insuring, believers share what they have with those who need it now. This is possible because they have been set free from the anxieties of the world and the drive to lay up treasures has been cut off. Resources are set free for immediate use in and through the church. This makes possible that kind of Christian liberality and sharing which in turn is the normal channel that God uses to make good his promises about caring for believers.
Thus the Christian alternative to accumulation in the world is to use whatever is necessary for immediate needs and to share beyond that (or even a part of that) with those who are poor and needy. All that can be spared is used to invest in the Kingdom of God, knowing that earthly investments are constantly subject to fraud, theft, and devaluation, while the Kingdom values abide forever. In the same way, the Christian alternative to borrowing from the world is to confess our needs before God and his people.
This is but one aspect of the work of redemption. But it is nevertheless typical of all the rest. God delivers us from the burden of our own past. This means forgiveness of sins. It also means, as much as is possible, freedom from debts. No longer do we live on the basis of our own past, but on the basis of His past -- the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. We are thereby set free from the bonds of the flesh. We die to the world, in this case, the economic world. Similarly, God delivers us from our own human future. He secures for us, by His grace, a glorious inheritance with all the saints, a hundred fold in this life and in the age to come eternal life. Both our past and our future are made new.
By means of this procedure our present life is also transformed. This is how the powers of the Kingdom begin functioning now. People whose past and whose future are in God’s hands have a new freedom in the present. They need not labor to make up for past deficiencies nor to offset future emergencies. They can live in the present. And for that reason they can love the brothers and sisters since love is always a present response to present needs.
This will teach us furthermore how to grow in love. It will not be enough just to exhort each other that we should love more and share more. We love only because He first loved us. We love only to the extent that we have experienced His love. This applies in relationship to our sins. It also applies to our financial life. Only to the extent that we commit our financial past and our financial future into God's loving care will we have significant resources for sharing with others in the present.
Virgil Vogt was a community leader in Reba Place Fellowship, Evanston, Illinois, when this article appeared.
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