Acts 4:32

δέ marks no contrast between the multitude and the Apostles; it introduces a general statement of the life of the whole Christian community, cf. Acts 15:12; Acts 15:30. On St. Luke's frequent use of words expressing fulness, see Acts 4:32. Deissmann, Neue Bibelstudien, p. 59 (1897), points out that in the inscriptions πλῆθος with a genitive has a technical significance, not only in official political life, but also in that of religious communities, cf. Luke 1:10; Luke 19:37; Acts 2:6, but especially Acts 15:30; so too Acts 4:32; Acts 6:2; Acts 6:5; Acts 15:12; Acts 19:9; Acts 21:22, where the word = not Menge or Masse, but Gemeinde. καρδία καὶ ψυχὴ μία : it is difficult to distinguish precisely between the two words, but they undoubtedly imply entire harmony in affection and thought according to a common Hebrew mode of expression; cf. passages in the LXX in which both ψυχή and καρδία occur as here with μία, 1 Chronicles 12:38; 2 Chronicles 30:12 (Wetstein); but in each passage the Hebrew word is the same, לב, and it would include not only affection and emotion, but also understanding, intelligence, thought; cf. Philippians 1:27; Philippians 2:2; Philippians 2:20. “Behold heart and soul are what make the together!” Chrys. δύο φίλοι, ψυχὴ μία, Plutarch, cf. instances in Blass, in loco, from Aristotle and Cicero. Grotius comments “erant ut Hebræi loquuntur כאיש אחד ”. καὶ οὐδὲ εἷς, “and not one of them said,” R.V., i.e., not one among so many; cf. John 1:3. οὐδὲ ἕν, “not even one thing”; cf. Romans 3:10; see above on Acts 2:45 and J. Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., in loco. On the difference between the classical and N.T. use of the infinitive after verbs of declaring, see Viteau, Le Grec du N. T., pp. 51, 52, 153, 155 (1896); except in Luke and Paul the infinitive tends to disappear, whilst these two writers retain the more literary usage.