“And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.”
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food - the 'Hellenistic Jews' (Hellēnistai) were Greek-speaking Jews, often from the diaspora; the 'Hebraic Jews' (Hebraioi) were Aramaic-speaking Palestinian Jews. The complaint is not doctrinal but practical: the widows of Hellenistic background are being neglected in the 'daily distribution' (diakonia, service). This reveals that the church's communal life, described in Acts 2:44-45 as spontaneous sharing, requires institutional structures to function justly.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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