The unselfishness of the early church cannot be misconstrued as a form of communism solely because of this isolated scripture and what one may think it teaches. The rule of interpretation being broken here, no verse or phrase can mean something in isolation that it does not mean within its wider context, is probably the key to interpreting this scripture accurately.
This glimpse into the beginnings of the early church does not imply that the apostles required the believers to sell all they had acquired like that of a communistic government. This passage of scripture simply states that the believers were of the same heart and mind, meaning that they were spiritually unified by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, the early church sold their own possessions to help others in need. If this were a model of communism being displayed by the early church we would have not seen a full voluntary surge of generosity and unselfishness, but rather a requirement being imposed upon the believers by the apostles. In verse 36 we see that Joseph (called Barnabas), simply sold a field he owned, he did not sell everything he had. While in verse 35 we are told that the distributions of the goods were needs based, and not based on a pay scale set forth by the church.
Examining the scripture in its widening context, we can easily say that the book of Acts was not written to set a structure for church governance since most of the book is narrative in nature and most of the book covers some limited history of the Apostle Paul and an even more limited history of the Apostle Peter. Luke was not referring to this portion of church history to give an idea of how churches should choose membership, but the passage gives a much larger principle of a Christian is to be generous and see to the needs of his brothers and sisters in Christ.
When reading a historical narrative, whether it is directly about God or certain individuals, cannot be a basis for doctrine on its own. We must consider what the scriptures as a whole have to say about the topic at large. This passage is to be considered descriptive to the modern church not prescriptive.
by Joshua Moran
