Acts 4:37

ἀγροῦ, better “a field” R.V.; the possession was not great, but if the field lay in the rich and productive island of Cyprus, its value may have been considerable. τὸ χρῆμα : rarely in this sense in the singular, only here in the N.T., and never in Attic Greek, but cf. Herod., iii., 38, and instances in Wetstein, and see Blass, in loco. The money, i.e., the proceeds, the money got (German Erlös). Lumby suggests that the word may be used here to indicate the entirety, the sum without deduction, in contrast to the action of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:2. The same unselfish spirit manifested itself in Barnabas at a later date, when he was content to live from the produce of his hands, 1 Corinthians 9:6. Possibly at Tarsus, so near his own home, he may have learnt with Saul in earlier days the craft of tent-making, for which the city was famous (Plumptre). In connection with this passage, and Acts 9:26, see Renan's eulogy on the character of Barnabas. In him Renan sees the patron of all good and liberal ideas, and considers that Christianity has done him an injustice in not placing him in the first rank of her founders, Apostles, p. 191, E.T.