The Meaning of Acts 4:32 Explained

Acts 4:32

KJV: And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

YLT: and of the multitude of those who did believe the heart and the soul was one, and not one was saying that anything of the things he had was his own, but all things were to them in common.

Darby: And the heart and soul of the multitude of those that had believed were one, and not one said that anything of what he possessed was his own, but all things were common to them;

ASV: 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.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  the multitude  of them that believed  were  of one heart  and  of one  soul:  neither  said  any  [of them] that ought  of the things which he  possessed  was  his own;  but  they  had  all things  common. 

What does Acts 4:32 Mean?

Verse Meaning

As was true of Israel when she entered Canaan under Joshua"s leadership, failure followed initial success in the early church. The source of that failure lay within the company of believers, not their enemies.
"The greater length of the story of Ananias and Sapphira should not lead to the conclusion that it is the important incident, the preceding section being merely an introduction to give it a setting; on the contrary, it is more likely that Acts 4:32-35 describes the pattern of life, and is then followed by two illustrations, positive and negative, of what happened in practice." [1]
The unity of the believers extended beyond spiritual matters to physical, material matters (cf. Matthew 22:37-39). They owned personal possessions, but they did not consider them private possessions. Rather they viewed their belongings as common (Gr. koina, cf. koinonia, "fellowship") property. Customarily they shared what they had with one another (cf. Acts 2:44; Acts 2:46; Deuteronomy 15:4). Their unity manifested itself in a sense of responsibility for one another. Love, not law, compelled them to share (cf. 1 John 3:17-18).
"Their generosity sprang not from coercive legislation (as modern Socialists and Marxists demand) but from a true union of hearts made possible by regeneration." [1]
The economic situation in Jerusalem was deteriorating at this time due to famine and political unrest. [2] Employment opportunities were declining, and unsaved Jews were beginning to put economic and social pressure on the Christians.

Context Summary

Acts 4:23-35 - Help From On High
Like draws to like; Judas went to his own place, and the Apostles to their own company. The best answer to threats is prayer. The Apostles' one petition just then was for boldness. They scorned to ask for their own safety; it was enough if Jesus was glorified.
What a note of jubilant triumph was in that glorious prayer, offered by this threatened little band! They realized that they were under the special protection of God, who had made the world, had spoken by the prophets, and was the Father of Jesus. They thought that more miracles of healing would promote their cause; but, though they did not realize it at the time, their unity, love, hope, willingness to share their goods, coupled with their intrepid bearing, were their most potent arguments. Notice that in their consciousness, it was God's hand that was being stretched out to heal, though their hands were the immediate channel of its beneficent operations. They had been filled before, but they were filled again. It is our privilege to claim repeated infillings to make good our leakage and evaporation. [source]

Chapter Summary: Acts 4

1  The rulers of the Jews, offended with Peter's sermon,
3  imprison him and John
5  After, upon examination
8  Peter boldly avouching the lame man to be healed by the name of Jesus,
11  and that only by the same Jesus we must be eternally saved,
13  they threaten him and John to preach no more in that name,
23  whereupon the church flees to prayer
31  And God, by moving the place where they were assembled, testifies that he heard their prayer;
34  confirming the church with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and with mutual love and charity

Greek Commentary for Acts 4:32

Of one heart and soul [καρδια και πσυχη μια]
It is not possible to make sharp distinction between heart and soul here (see Mark 12:30), only that there was harmony in thought and affection. But the English translation is curiously unlike the Greek original. “There was one heart and soul (nominative case, not genitive as the English has it) in the multitude (του πλητους — tou plēthous subjective genitive) of those who believed.” [source]
Not one of them [ουδε εις]
More emphatic than ουδεις — oudeis “not even one.” Common (κοινα — Koinéa). In the use of their property, not in the possession as Luke proceeds to explain. The word κοινος — Koinéos is kin to συν — sun (together with)=χυν — xun (Epic) and so χυνοσκοινος — xunoŝKoinéos See this word already in Acts 2:44. The idea of unclean (Acts 10:15) is a later development from the original notion of common to all. [source]
Common [κοινα]
In the use of their property, not in the possession as Luke proceeds to explain. The word κοινος — Koinéos is kin to συν — sun (together with)=χυν — xun (Epic) and so χυνοσκοινος — xunoŝKoinéos See this word already in Acts 2:44. The idea of unclean (Acts 10:15) is a later development from the original notion of common to all. [source]
Heart and soul []
See on Mark 12:30. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Acts 4:32

Acts 2:44 And had [και ειχον]
Imperfect active, kept on having, a habit in the present emergency. Common (κοινα — Koinéa). It was not actual communism, but they held all their property ready for use for the common good as it was needed (Acts 4:32). This situation appears nowhere else except in Jerusalem and was evidently due to special conditions there which did not survive permanently. Later Paul will take a special collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem. [source]
Acts 2:44 Common [κοινα]
It was not actual communism, but they held all their property ready for use for the common good as it was needed (Acts 4:32). This situation appears nowhere else except in Jerusalem and was evidently due to special conditions there which did not survive permanently. Later Paul will take a special collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem. [source]
Acts 10:14 For I have never eaten anything [hoti oudepote ephagon pan)]
Second aorist active indicative, I never did anything like this and I shall not do it now. The use of pan (everything) with oudepote (never) is like the Hebrew Common and unclean (Koinon kai akatharton). Koinos from epic xunos (xunsun together with) originally meant common to several (Latin communis) as in Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32; Titus 1:4; Judges 1:3. The use seen here (also Mark 7:2, Mark 7:5; Romans 14:14; Hebrews 10:29; Revelation 21:27; Acts 10:28; Acts 11:8), like Latin vulgaris is unknown in ancient Greek. Here the idea is made plain by the addition of akatharton (unclean), ceremonially unclean, of course. We have the same double use in our word “common.” See notes on Mark 7:18. where Mark adds the remarkable participle katharizōn (making all meats clean), evidently from Peter who recalls this vision. Peter had been reared from childhood to make the distinction between clean and unclean food and this new proposal even from the Lord runs against all his previous training. He did not see that some of God‘s plans for the Jews could be temporary. This symbol of the sheet was to show Peter ultimately that Gentiles could be saved without becoming Jews. At this moment he is in spiritual and intellectual turmoil. [source]
Acts 10:14 Common and unclean [Koinon kai akatharton)]
Koinos from epic xunos (xunsun together with) originally meant common to several (Latin communis) as in Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32; Titus 1:4; Judges 1:3. The use seen here (also Mark 7:2, Mark 7:5; Romans 14:14; Hebrews 10:29; Revelation 21:27; Acts 10:28; Acts 11:8), like Latin vulgaris is unknown in ancient Greek. Here the idea is made plain by the addition of akatharton (unclean), ceremonially unclean, of course. We have the same double use in our word “common.” See notes on Mark 7:18. where Mark adds the remarkable participle katharizōn (making all meats clean), evidently from Peter who recalls this vision. Peter had been reared from childhood to make the distinction between clean and unclean food and this new proposal even from the Lord runs against all his previous training. He did not see that some of God‘s plans for the Jews could be temporary. This symbol of the sheet was to show Peter ultimately that Gentiles could be saved without becoming Jews. At this moment he is in spiritual and intellectual turmoil. [source]
Romans 14:14 Unclean of itself [καινον δι εαυτου]
So Paul takes his stand with the “strong” as in 1 Corinthians 8:4., but he is not a libertine. Paul‘s liberty as to food is regulated by his life in the Lord. For this use of κοινος — Koinéos not as common to all (Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32), but unhallowed, impure, see note on Mark 7:2, note on Acts 10:14, and note on Acts 10:28. God made all things for their own uses. Save that (ει μη — ei mē). The exception lies not in the nature of the food (δι εαυτου — di' heautou), but in the man‘s view of it (to him, εκεινωι — ekeinōi dative case). [source]
Romans 15:26 A certain contribution [κοινωνιαν τινα]
Put thus because it was unknown to the Romans. For this sense of κοινωνιαν — Koinéōnian see 2 Corinthians 8:4; 2 Corinthians 9:13. For the poor among the saints (εις τους πτωχους των αγιων — eis tous ptōchous tōn hagiōn). Partitive genitive. Not all there were poor, but Acts 4:32-5:11; Acts 6:1-6; Acts 11:29.; Galatians 2:10 prove that many were. [source]
Romans 15:26 For the poor among the saints [εις τους πτωχους των αγιων]
Partitive genitive. Not all there were poor, but Acts 4:32-5:11; Acts 6:1-6; Acts 11:29.; Galatians 2:10 prove that many were. [source]
1 Timothy 6:1 Their own [τοὺς ἰδίους]
Lit. private, personal, peculiar, as 1 Corinthians 3:8; 1 Corinthians 7:7. Sometimes strange, eccentric. Contrasted with δημόσιος publicor κοινός commonSee Acts 4:32. Sometimes without emphasis, substantially = possessive pronoun, just as Lat. proprius passes into suus or ejus, or οἰκεῖος belongingto one's house into the simple one's own. See on Galatians 6:10, and comp. Matthew 22:5; Matthew 25:14. In lxx commonly with the emphatic sense. Very often in the phrase κατ ' ἰδίαν privatelyas Mark 4:34; Luke 9:10; Galatians 2:2, but nowhere in Pastorals. [source]
Titus 1:4 According to the common faith [κατὰ κοινὴν πίστιν]
The phrase N.T.o Κοινός commonusually in contrast with καθαρός pureor ἅγιος holyas Acts 10:14; Acts 11:8; Revelation 21:27. In the sense of general as here, Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32; Judges 1:3. Comp. 2 Peter 1:1. The “catholic” faith. Κατὰ accordingto, as Titus 1:1. [source]
Hebrews 10:34 Of your goods [τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ὑμῶν]
The verb ὑπάρχειν means originally to begin, or begin to be; hence of anything that has begun to be, to come forth, be there; then simply to be. Accordingly the phrase ὑπάρχει μοὶ τι means there is something to me, I have something. See Acts 3:6; Acts 4:37; Acts 28:7. Hence τὰ ὑπάρχοντα thingswhich are to one; possessions, goods. See Matthew 19:21; Matthew 24:27; Luke 8:3; Acts 4:32. [source]
Hebrews 10:29 Hath counted an unholy thing [κοινὸν ἡγησάμενος]
Ἡγεῖσθαι tocount or deem means a conscious judgment resting on a deliberate weighing of the facts. See Romans 12:10; Philemon 2:3. Here it implies a deliberate, contemptuous rejection of the gifts of the new covenant. The fundamental idea of κοινὸς is shared by all, public. Thus Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32; Titus 1:4; Judges 1:3. Out of this grows the idea of not sacred; not set apart for particular uses by purification, and so (ceremonially) unclean or defiled, as Mark 7:2, Mark 7:5; Acts 10:14, Acts 10:28; Acts 11:8. In these cases it is not implied that the thing is defiled or filthy in itself, but only unclean through the absence of that which would set it apart. Comp. Romans 14:14. Here the word admits of two explanations: (1) that Christ's blood was counted common, having no more sacred character or specific worth than the blood of any ordinary person; (2) that in refusing to regard Christ's blood as that of an atoner and redeemer, it was implied that his blood was unclean as being that of a transgressor. The former seems preferable. There was no specific virtue in Christ's blood as blood; but a peculiar and unique virtue attached to it as the offering of his eternal spirit (Hebrews 9:14), as the blood shed in ratification of a sacred covenant established by God, and as having sanctifying virtue. This view is further justified by the combination of blood and spirit, as sources of sanctification allied in the writer's mind. [source]
1 John 2:9 His brother [τὸν ἀδελφόν]
His fellow-Christian. The singular, brother, is characteristic of this Epistle. See 1 John 2:10, 1 John 2:11; 1 John 3:10, 1 John 3:15, 1 John 3:17; 1 John 4:20, 1 John 4:21; 1 John 5:16. Christians are called in the New Testament, Christians (Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16), mainly by those outside of the Christian circle. Disciples, applied to all followers of Christ (John 2:11; John 6:61) and strictly to the twelve (John 13:5sqq.). In Acts 19:1, to those who had received only John's baptism. Not found in John's Epistles nor in Revelation. Brethren. The first title given to the body of believers after the Ascension (Acts 1:15, where the true reading is ἀδελφῶν brethrenfor μαθητῶν disciples). See Acts 9:30; Acts 10:23; Acts 11:29; 1 Thessalonians 4:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 John 3:14; 3 John 1:5, 3 John 1:10; John 21:23. Peter has ἡ ἀδελφότης thebrotherhood (1 Peter 2:17; 1 Peter 5:9). The believers. Under three forms: The believers ( οἱ πιστοί ; Acts 10:45; 1 Timothy 4:12); they that believe ( οἱ πιστεύοντες ; 1 Peter 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:7; Ephesians 1:19); they that believed ( οἱ πιστεύσαντες ; Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32; Hebrews 4:3). The saints ( οἱ ἅγιοι ); characteristic of Paul and Revelation. Four times in the Acts (Acts 9:13, Acts 9:32, Acts 9:41; Acts 26:10), and once in Jude (Judges 1:3). Also Hebrews 6:10; Hebrews 13:24. In Paul, 1 Corinthians 6:1; 1 Corinthians 14:33; Ephesians 1:1, Ephesians 1:15, etc. In Revelation 5:8; Revelation 8:3, Revelation 8:4; Revelation 11:18, etc.|Until now ( ἕως ἄρτι )|Though the light has been increasing, and though he may claim that he has been in the light from the first. The phrase occurs in John 2:10; John 5:17; John 16:24; and is used by Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Corinthians 15:6.| [source]

What do the individual words in Acts 4:32 mean?

- And the multitude - having believed were [in] heart and soul one not one anything of that which possessed he claimed his own to be but were to them all things in common
Τοῦ δὲ πλήθους τῶν πιστευσάντων ἦν καρδία καὶ ψυχὴ μία οὐδὲ εἷς τι τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ ἔλεγεν ἴδιον εἶναι ἀλλ’ ἦν αὐτοῖς πάντα κοινά

Τοῦ  - 
Parse: Article, Genitive Neuter Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
πλήθους  the  multitude 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Neuter Singular
Root: πλῆθος  
Sense: a multitude.
τῶν  - 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
πιστευσάντων  having  believed 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: πιστεύω  
Sense: to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in.
ἦν  were  [in] 
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
καρδία  heart 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: καρδία  
Sense: the heart.
ψυχὴ  soul 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: ψυχή  
Sense: breath.
μία  one 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: εἷς  
Sense: one.
εἷς  one 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: εἷς  
Sense: one.
τι  anything 
Parse: Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: τὶς  
Sense: a certain, a certain one.
τῶν  of  that  which 
Parse: Article, Genitive Neuter Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ὑπαρχόντων  possessed 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Genitive Neuter Plural
Root: ὑπάρχω  
Sense: to begin below, to make a beginning.
ἔλεγεν  claimed 
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: λέγω  
Sense: to speak, say.
ἴδιον  his  own 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: ἴδιος  
Sense: pertaining to one’s self, one’s own, belonging to one’s self.
εἶναι  to  be 
Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Active
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
αὐτοῖς  to  them 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
πάντα  all  things 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Neuter Plural
Root: πᾶς  
Sense: individually.
κοινά  in  common 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Neuter Plural
Root: κοινός  
Sense: common.