The Narrow Path Ministries

In Acts 6, the early church dealt with a problem.

1 Now in those days, when the disciples were growing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews against the native Hebraic Jews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
2 So the twelve called the whole group of the disciples together and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to wait on tables.
3 But carefully select from among you, brothers, seven men who are well-attested, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this necessary task
4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

Why do you think the solution was to appoint some managers to enforce fairness? It seems that the root of the issue wasn't addressed, specifically the predjudice shown to Hellenistic widows. Did the apostles err?

It is odd to me that in the previous chapter, Ananias and Saphira were struck dead for attempting to lie to the Holy Spirit, but there doesn't seem to be any addressing the sinful preferences at the root of this issue.

Your thoughts please.

Dave

hi dave--

i certainly think it is possible that the complaint by the hellenistic jews was groundless; i.e. they may have perceived unfairness when in actuality there was none. petty jealousies often arise in these situations (lots of poor people with limited resources available). of course i am guessing. but rather than risk further bickering, etc the apostles decided to have the deacons oversee the process, so that no one could complain.

the reason i think this is possible is that if there truly was a simmering prejudice and purposeful unfairness on the part of the hebrews, i think this would have been addressed more strongly by the apostles.

TK

TK -

Your theory makes sense but the end of verse 1 seems too deterministic to fit that explanation:

1 Now in those days, when the disciples were growing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews against the native Hebraic Jews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

Note that it doesn't say that they thought their widows were being overlooked, but simply states that they were.

Also, as described in different NT epistles, many in the early church seemed to struggle with a common Jewish attitude of prejudice against non-Jews, often advocating that non-Jews practice Jewish customs.

Dave

Dave--

you may be right. i always read the text to mean that there was indeed some prejudice going on. but your post made me look a little closer.

it kind of depends how you read it. note that it says that there was a "complaint" and then it states what the complaint was. the part you bolded could be read to mean that the prejudice was a known fact, but it might not be.

if the apostles knew that there actually was some favoritism, rather than ponitificate they simply proposed a practical solution. why the persons who were cheating the hellenistic jews (if they in fact were) were not struck dead like ananias and sapphira is not known, unless all of the hebrews would have been wiped out!

TK