The early Church is sometimes characterized as having introduced Christian Communism. One does not shy away from that identification as long as it is understood for what it was. Not all Communism is to be defined by the Marxist tenets or derivatives. The words related to the word need in the Bible passage touch on: destitution, want, or requirement. The meaning relates to rights. Mortal survival is a right directed by God in human circumstances. We now hold rather firm belief about what rights are. Rights ought to be provided to all in some legitimate way. Jesus covered the idea succinctly, as he did for many temporal issues, with a clear statement to his followers, indeed a statement to all persons, to serve others. He cast it in several ways, as when he said that it is better to give than to receive. That meant for the person possessing more than he needed to serve those who had less than they needed. He also meant that one is more comfortable giving than receiving. Those served need to be relieved from embarrassment for being unable to meet all their own needs. We know how fully we want to take care of ourselves – unless the inherited and proper pride of self-responsibility is distorted. On occasion, we are called to the virtue of humility, self-generated not imposed from others. Without the virtue we likely would not confess our dependence on God for spiritual safety and nurture – something we can never achieve on our own.
Christian Communism was not a government. It was a brotherhood, an order. Those who joined it saw it as their way of meeting the call of Christ for sharing together the largess, or omissions in common grace. It was not necessary to join the program, as seen in the circumstances related to Ananias and Sapphira. They related to the sacrificial group but retained their private stash. They were hypocrites (living lies), and that is what they were judged for – not for the violation of either the brotherhood or the standard social economy. Peter made the matter clear: When it was turned into money, was it not still at your disposal? . . . You have lied not to men but to God. In the current era there are also those who abuse charitable systems. They are the modern Ananias and Sapphira characters. Violation is so pervasive as to endanger those systems. This happened recent to this writing in a massive effort to address veteran needs, violated by administrators.
As a Christian in a democratic country, I want to be obedient to the heavenly command to help meet human needs (requirements for life) that some persons can’t provide for themselves, and which I have some resources to address. As a Christian in any nation, I would want to follow duty to God to serve mankind from God’s house. The focus would not be on the body politic, or defense against any other philosophy of government, but to fulfill a directive from God to serve, and to hold empathy for the needy. That empathy enhances my gratitude to God to make of me a giver rather than a receiver. I avoid the pride of blessing, by humble sharing of blessing. To care for others through government adds a layer of cost to the process, a cost that given proper direction in volunteerism in a community would help lighten the duty to serve.
The Christian Communism system did not last for a lengthy period, even though it attracted many eminent persons. It must have become unwieldy, and may have been misused. Accusations grew that there was favoritism in administration. There was little understanding that opposition is inevitable, and no protective system was planned. The spirit that gave rise to it never died as general church practice. Even small communities retained the Acts emphasis. I have visited several, and found them wholesome and devout. (There were youths there, who asked that a portion of the pay they received when hired out, be slipped to them in cash, and the remainder sent on to the community. As they matured they accepted the community standard or moved into the Gentile world.) Some of the original pattern has held in several Catholic brotherhoods and sisterhoods, affecting other specialties, such as prayer or marriage practices. All of this is informative, of the principle that Christians serve human needs. The Christian is free to decide how to carry out the ideal. The pattern created by the Salvation Army, in any society, may come closest to what the early church was trying to establish. The church must guard against the tendency of social accents to take over first duty – so diluting the first objective Christ’s redemptive message. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020