Acts 11:29

καθὼς ηὐπορεῖτό τις : only here in N.T., and the cognate noun in Acts 19:25, but in same sense in classical Greek; cf. Leviticus 25:26; Leviticus 25:28; Leviticus 25:49, and Wis 10:10 (but see Hatch and Red-path on passages in Lev.). “According to his ability,” so A. and R.V., i.e., as each man prospered, in proportion to his means. The expression intimates that the community of goods, at least in a communistic sense, could not have been the rule, cf. 1 Corinthians 16:2, but a right view of “the community of goods” at Jerusalem invokes no contradiction with this statement, as Hilgenfeld apparently maintains, Zeitschrift für wissenschaft. Theol., p. 506, 1895. On the good effect of this work of brotherly charity and fellowship, this practical exhibition of Christian union between Church and Church, between the Christians of the mother-city and those of the Jewish dispersion, see Hort, Ecclesia, p. 62; Ramsay, u. s., p. 52; Baumgarten (Alford, in loco). εἰς διακονίαν : “for a ministry,” R.V. margin, cf. Romans 15:31; 2 Corinthians 9:1, etc., Acta Thomæ, 56; “contributions for relief” Ramsay, see further below; on the construction and complexity of the sentence see especially Page's note, and Wendt. ἀδελφοῖς : not merely as fellow-disciples, but as brethren in the One Lord.