Acts - The Early Community

Let’s recap quickly:

Jesus leaves

The disciples stay

The Holy Spirit comes

They hear in their language

Peter addresses the crowd

The Jews repent and receive the Spirit

About 3,000 are added that day

Many of those go home, and now we get our first insight into how they were doing life together

Acts 2:43–47 NRSVue

Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Let’s boil this down:

Wonders and signs

All were together and shared

They sold things and gave to the poor

Daily they went to temple

Broke bread at home with generosity

Praising God

Earning the goodwill of people

Daily they added to their numbers the saved

I have a letter written around 130 CE that gives some insight into the early church

I am going to read a bit of this letter

Epistle to Diognetus – Chapter 1

Most excellent Diognetus, I see that you are extraordinarily eager to learn about the Christian way of worshiping God.

You are inquiring very clearly and carefully about them: what God they trust in and how they worship him; why they all disregard the world and despise death; why they neither consider as gods those whom the Greeks worship nor observe the superstition of the Jews; what kind of love they have for one another; and why this new race or practice has come into existence now and not earlier.

I warmly welcome this enthusiasm of yours. And from God, who supplies both the ability to speak and to hear, I ask that it may be granted to me to speak in such a way that you benefit the most from what you hear, and to you to listen so that the speaker is not disappointed.

Epistle to Diognetus – Chapter 2

Come then, clear yourself of all the preconceptions that currently occupy your mind. Get rid of that old habit that has been deceiving you. Become like a brand new person from the very beginning—as though you’re about to listen to a brand-new teaching, which is exactly what you yourself admitted you wanted.

Look closely—not just with your eyes, but with your understanding—at the substance and form of those things that you call and consider to be gods.

Isn’t one of them just stone, exactly like the stones we walk on every day? Isn’t another bronze, no better than the ordinary vessels we use in daily life? Isn’t another made of wood that is already rotting? Isn’t another silver, which needs a human guard to keep it from being stolen? Isn’t another iron, ruined by rust? And isn’t another just clay—nothing more respectable than the pots used for the most menial and dishonorable tasks?

Aren’t all of these made from perishable materials? Aren’t they all shaped by iron and fire? Didn’t a stonecutter make one, a blacksmith another, a silversmith another, and a potter yet another? Before these craftsmen shaped them into their current forms, couldn’t each of these materials have been formed into something completely different? And right now, couldn’t the very same materials, in the hands of the same craftsmen, be turned into ordinary household items just like any others?

Aren’t they all mute? Blind? Lifeless? Senseless? Motionless? Don’t they all rot and decay?

Yet you call these things gods. You serve them. You worship them. And in doing so, you become just like them.

This is exactly why you hate the Christians—because they refuse to consider these objects to be gods.

Epistle to Diognetus – Chapter 3

Next, I suppose you are especially eager to learn why Christians do not worship in the same way as the Jews.

The Jews abstain from the kind of worship I described earlier and worship the one God who made heaven and earth and everything in them. In this they are correct, and they regard him as Lord. But in the actual manner in which they offer him worship, they are badly mistaken.

While the Greeks demonstrate a kind of madness by offering these things to objects that have no feeling and cannot hear, the Jews suppose they are offering service to God as if he needed such things. This is not worship, but foolishness.

For the God who made heaven and earth and everything in them, and who gives us all the things we need, certainly does not require any of the things that people imagine they are providing for him.

Those who think they are honoring him by offering the blood and the fat and whole burnt offerings of animals—believing that these rituals show him respect—seem to me to be no different from those who show the same respect to deaf idols. The one group believes they are giving something to things that cannot receive any honor, while the other imagines they are giving something to the God who stands in need of nothing.

Epistle to Diognetus – Chapter 4

But as for their scrupulous rules about foods, their superstitious reverence for the Sabbath, their boasting about circumcision, and their hypocritical fasting and new moons, I don’t think you need me to teach you that these things are ridiculous and not worth discussing.

For which of the things God created for human use is it unlawful to eat? Yet they declare some things clean and others unclean, as if God had made some things for use and others not for use.

Moreover, they slander God by claiming that he forbids them to do good on the Sabbath, while they themselves do whatever they please on other days.

What is more ridiculous than their pride in the circumcision of the flesh, as though they were specially loved by God because of it?

And as for fasting, who does not know that they fast on account of the new moons and festivals? But these are merely human inventions.

Epistle to Diognetus – Chapter 5

For Christians are not distinguished from the rest of humanity by country, language, or customs. They do not live in their own separate cities, nor do they speak some strange dialect, nor do they practice any unusual way of life. The teaching they follow has not been invented by the careful thought or speculation of inquisitive people, nor do they champion any merely human doctrine.

Instead, living in both Greek and non-Greek cities, as each one’s lot has been assigned, and following the local customs in clothing, food, and the rest of their daily life, they display to us a wonderful and strikingly paradoxical way of life.

They live in their own native lands, but only as temporary residents. They share in all things as citizens, and yet endure all things as foreigners. Every foreign land is their homeland, and every homeland is foreign to them.

They marry and have children, just like everyone else, but they do not expose their infants. They share their meals in common, but not their beds. They are in the flesh, but they do not live according to the flesh. They spend their time on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, and yet in their own lives they surpass the laws.

They love everyone, yet are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and yet they are brought to life. They are poor, yet they make many rich. They lack everything, yet they abound in all things.

They are dishonored, yet they are glorified in their dishonor. They are slandered, yet they are vindicated. They are reviled, and they bless in return. They are insulted, and they respond with honor. They do good, yet they are punished as evildoers. When they are punished, they rejoice as though they had been given new life.

They are attacked by the Jews as foreigners and persecuted by the Greeks, yet those who hate them cannot give any reason for their hostility.

Epistle to Diognetus – Chapter 6

To sum it all up in one word: what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world.

The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded within the visible body, and Christians are known to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible.

The flesh hates the soul and wars against it, even though it has suffered no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying its pleasures. In the same way, the world hates the Christians, even though it has suffered no injury, because they oppose its pleasures.

The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and its members too; Christians likewise love those who hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet it holds the body together; Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, yet they hold the world together.

The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; Christians live as sojourners among perishable things, while looking forward to the imperishable in heaven. The soul is made better when it is ill-treated with regard to food and drink; so too Christians, though punished day by day, increase more and more.

God has assigned them this great position, which it would be unlawful for them to forsake.

Epistle to Diognetus – Chapter 7

As I said before, the teaching they have received is not some earthly discovery. It is not a human philosophy that they carefully guard, nor have they been entrusted with any ordinary human mysteries.

Instead, the Almighty God himself—the Creator of all things, the invisible God—has sent from heaven the truth and the holy, incomprehensible Word, and has firmly established him in their hearts.

He did not send, as one might suppose, some servant or angel or ruler, or one of those who manage earthly affairs, or one of those entrusted with heavenly government. Rather, he sent the very Maker and Creator of the universe himself—the one by whom he made the heavens, the one who enclosed the sea within its proper limits, whose ordinances all the elements faithfully keep, from whom the sun has received the measure of its daily course, whom the moon obeys when commanded to shine in the night, and whom the stars obey as they follow the moon’s path.

He is the one who has arranged and ordered and subjected all things to himself—the heavens and everything in them, the earth and everything in it, the sea and everything in it, fire, air, the abyss, the things in the heights, the things in the depths, and all things in between.

This is the one he sent to them. Was it, as one might imagine, to exercise tyranny or to inspire fear and terror? Far from it. He sent him in gentleness and meekness.

As a king sends his son who is a king, so he sent him. He sent him as God. He sent him as a man to men. He sent him as Savior. He sent him seeking to persuade, not to compel—for force has no place with God. He sent him as one calling, not as pursuing; he sent him as one who loves, not as one who judges. For he will send him as Judge when he comes again, and who shall be able to endure his appearing?

Epistle to Diognetus – Chapter 8

But who among men ever knew what God is before he came? Or who among those now living is able to understand him at all?

Or do you accept the empty and foolish doctrines of those who are called philosophers? Some of them said that fire was God—calling “God” the very element they themselves will one day enter—others said that water was God, and still others pointed to some other of the elements created by God.

Yet if any one of these is worthy of acceptance, then by the same reasoning every other created thing could equally be declared to be God. These are nothing but the astonishing and deceptive tricks of charlatans.

In truth, no man has ever seen God or made him known. God himself has revealed himself. And he has revealed himself through faith, by which alone it is granted to us to see God.

For God, the Lord and Creator of all things, who made everything and assigned to each its proper place, showed himself to be not only a friend of humanity, but also extraordinarily patient. He has always been, still is, and always will be kind and good, free from anger, truthful, and the only one who is perfectly good.

He formed in his mind a great and inexpressible purpose, which he communicated to his Son alone.

As long as he kept and guarded this wise counsel hidden, he seemed to overlook us and to have no concern for us. But when, through his beloved Son, he revealed and made known the things that had been prepared from the beginning, he bestowed upon us every blessing at once—so that we might share in his benefits, see them, and take part in his service.

Who of us would ever have expected such things? He knew all these things within himself together with his Son, according to the close relationship that exists between them.

Epistle to Diognetus – Chapter 9

Having planned everything in advance together with his Son, God permitted us in the former time to be carried along by our own unruly impulses, led away by pleasures and desires exactly as we wished. This was not at all because he delighted in our sins, but because he patiently endured them.

Nor did he approve of that season of unrighteousness; rather, he was creating the present time of righteousness. In this way, having been convicted in the former time by our own deeds as unworthy of life, we might now by the kindness of God be made worthy. And having clearly shown that it was impossible for us in ourselves to enter the kingdom of God, we might through the power of God be made able.

But when our unrighteousness had reached its full height and it had become perfectly clear that its recompense would be punishment and death, the time came which God had appointed to manifest at last his own goodness and power.

O the exceeding kindness and love of God! He did not hate us, nor thrust us away, nor remember our iniquities against us.

Instead, he was long-suffering and patient with us. In his mercy, he himself took upon himself our sins. He gave his own Son as a ransom for us: the Holy for the lawless, the Innocent for the wicked, the Righteous for the unrighteous, the Incorruptible for the corruptible, the Immortal for the mortal.

For what else could cover our sins except his righteousness? In whom could we, the lawless and ungodly, be justified except in the Son of God alone?

O sweet exchange! O unsearchable work! O unexpected blessings! That the iniquity of many should be hidden in one righteous Man, and the righteousness of one should justify many who are lawless!

Having therefore shown us in the former time that our own nature was incapable of attaining life, he has now revealed the Savior who is able to save even what was impossible.

Epistle to Diognetus – Chapter 10

If you also long to possess this faith, you will first receive the knowledge of the Father. For God loved humanity, for whose sake He made the world. He subjected all things in it to them. He gave them reason and understanding. To them alone He granted the privilege of looking up to Him. He formed them in His own image.

To them He sent His only-begotten Son. To them He has promised the kingdom in heaven, and He will give it to those who love Him.

And when you have gained this knowledge, with what joy do you think you will be filled? How will you love Him who first loved you so greatly? And if you love Him, you will become an imitator of His kindness.

Do not be surprised that a person can imitate God. It is possible, if God enables it.

For it is not by ruling over our neighbors, nor by trying to dominate those weaker than ourselves, nor by being rich and acting violently toward those beneath us that anyone becomes an imitator of God. None of these things reflect His true greatness.

Rather, whoever takes up the burden of his neighbor, whoever is superior in any way and is willing to help the one who is lacking, whoever shares with the needy the things he has received from God and in doing so becomes like a god to those who benefit—this person is an imitator of God.

Then, while you are still on earth, you will see that God lives and rules in the heavens. Then you will begin to speak of the mysteries of God. Then you will both love and admire those who are punished because they refuse to deny God. Then you will condemn the deceit and error of the world when you truly understand what it means to live in heaven.

You will look with contempt on what people here call death, when you fear the real death that is reserved for those condemned to the eternal fire—the fire that will torment until the very end those who are handed over to it. Then you will admire those who endure momentary fire for the sake of righteousness, and you will consider them blessed when you understand the nature of that other fire.

What a fascinating letter!

In a period of 90-100 years since the first disciples, since this part of Acts we are reading occured, lets’s see what remained…

Let’s boil this down:

Wonders and signs

No

All were together and shared

No

They sold things and gave to the poor

Partial: Chapter 10,”…sharing with the needy the things he has received from God…”

Daily they went to temple

No: There is a separation from the Jews

Praising God

No: In contrast, they reject how Jews and Gentiles worship

Earning the goodwill of people

No: The letter actually stresses the opposite in Chapter 5: Christians are “unknown and condemned,” “persecuted by all,” “slandered,” “reviled,” “insulted,” and “punished as evildoers,” even though they “love everyone” and “do good.” Far from seeking or earning the goodwill of the world, they are hated by it precisely because they oppose its pleasures.

Daily they added to their numbers the saved

No

Broke bread at home with generosity

Yes: “They share their meals in common, but not their beds.”

No specific ritual, creed, or formal “to-do list” is prescribed to become a Christian

The Epistle to Diognetus never asks Diognetus a direct question such as “Would you like to become a Christian?”

What the letter does say (in the closing section of Chapter 10) is this:

“If you also long to possess this faith, you will first receive the knowledge of the Father.”

It then explains the natural outcome of possessing that faith:

You will be filled with joy.

You will love Him who first loved you so greatly.

You will become an imitator of His kindness — not by ruling over others or acting violently, but by taking up the burden of your neighbor, helping whoever is lacking, and sharing with the needy the things you yourself have received from God. In doing so you become “like a god” to those who benefit from your help.

That is the only practical guidance the letter gives Diognetus about what possessing the Christian faith looks like. There are no commands to be baptized, to sell possessions, to attend meetings, to perform any ceremony, or to do anything else beyond receiving the knowledge of the Father through faith and then living it out in concrete acts of mercy and generosity toward others.

Strangers on earth yet citizens of heaven, we imitate the God who sent His Son not to dominate with power but to redeem with love, by becoming like Him to others through generous sharing.

Acts - The Early Community