Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 4:32

ἡ omitted before καρδία and ψυχὴ with אABD.

32. καρδία καὶ ψυχὴ μία, one heart and soul. This was a Hebrew form of expressing complete accord. So (1 Chronicles 12:38) καὶ ὁ κατάλοιπος Ἰσραὴλ ψυχὴ μἱα τοῦ βασιλεῦσαι τὸν Δαυίδ. Also cf. such expressions as (1 Samuel 14:7; 2 Kings 10:15) ὡς ἡ καρδία σοῦ καρδία μοῦ. In some MSS. there is an addition to this verse, καὶ οὐκ ἦν διάκρισις (some have χωρισμός) ἐν αὐτοῖς οὐδεμία. This is followed by several versions and quoted by the Fathers. It has not found its way into the Received Text, but is just such a marginal explanation as a scribe would be sure sooner or later to incorporate.

καὶ οὐδὲ εἶς κ.τ.λ., and not one of them said. This is much stronger than the rendering of the A.V. Each felt that he held his possessions only as a trust, and if occasion called for it, they were to be given up. Such love towards one another, Christ had foretold, should be a mark of His disciples (John 13:35). All those who have sketched a perfect society, as Plato in his Republic, and Sir Thos. More in his Utopia, have placed among their regulations this kind of community of goods which was established by the first Christians. In theory it is the perfection of a commonwealth, but there is need of perfection in the citizens before it can be realized. There can be no question that an expectation of Christ’s immediate return from heaven, acting along with the unity of thoughts and feeling, made these men willing to part with their possessions and goods, there being, as we shall see from the case of Ananias, no constraint upon them to do so.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 4:32

Old Testament

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