But in those days, the disciples multiplying in number, there arose a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews because their widows were overlooked in the daily ministration.
The church in Jerusalem was growing fast. Then came the first quarrel inside it — not an attack from outside, but one group of believers complaining about another over the daily care of widows. Who were these two groups? Was anyone really neglected? And why did the first trouble among Christians start over food and widows?
Persecution came from outside the church. This trouble came from inside it, and one writer says which is the greater danger.
Persecution of the Christian for Christ's sake is an honour from God (Phil. 1:29), and grace makes it a blessing to the church and a testimony to the world. The real danger is from within. It is greater still when the confidence of love gives way, to any great extent, to an evil eye and a discontented tongue. And so it was now.
Another writer sets the growing church of Acts beside the crowded earth of Genesis 6.
Scripture ties the multiplying of men on the face of the earth to all this corruption — just as in the history of the church. Acts 6:1. Murmurings and disputes began to arise when the number of disciples multiplied. These matching cases in Genesis 6 and Acts 6 tell us that man is never to be trusted, and that the more we get of him the worse things are.
The two names in the verse are often misunderstood. One writer explains who the Grecians were, and what the murmuring showed.
The same old thing, the unchanging flesh, shows itself among the saved and united company of believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The murmurings were on the side of the Grecians. Their complaint was against the Hebrews, that the Grecian widows were being overlooked. The Grecians were not, as some teach, Gentiles. They were Greek-speaking Jews, born in countries outside Palestine. That is why they were called Hellenists, or Grecians.
The "daily distribution" was the relief fund of a poor church. That fund is where the trouble began.
Poverty was from the outset a marked feature of the church in Jerusalem. To relieve it, the church kept up its daily ministry to the poor. Through this the enemy now sought to work and to sow division among the converts. A cry went up that the widows of the Grecian Jews were neglected in favour of the native-born Hebrews.
One writer weighs the wording of the verse closely.
"Their widows," they alleged, were being overlooked in the daily supply of needs. We are not told that this was really so, but that this is what they complained of. The poor "widows" are always remembered by God. The mouth of murmurers should be stopped, if the allegation were false.
The complaint also had a history behind it.
It does not say they were neglected, but that this was claimed. In fact, although grace was dominant over it here, there was always a certain jealousy existing between these two classes. You would expect the jealousy on the side of the Hebrews. Here it was on the side of the Hellenists — perhaps a reaction to knowing that such a spirit generally existed, which would give rise to the suspicions we actually see now.
A quarrel about food can look like a small matter. One writer refuses to treat it that way.
We cannot read further than the sixth chapter of Acts without finding the first symptoms of a disease. That disease has since grown into a raging and destructive epidemic. A murmuring arose among the Jewish converts to Christianity, because certain Greek-speaking widows were neglected compared with their Hebrew sisters. It might have seemed a small thing. In reality it meant a great deal.
The apostles did not argue the complaint down. Look at who they put in charge.
Here was an apparent difference of interests. The Spirit of God, through the apostles, corrected the trouble at once... So men appointed by God take charge of the whole matter of practical care. From their names it would seem they were all foreign Jews — the very class the complaint had come from. They took into the circle of divine love and care every needy saint, whether foreign or home-born. So the threatened trouble was averted.
- Growth. The trouble comes as the disciples multiply. Growth brought out what was already in the human heart.
- Grievance. Greek-speaking Jewish believers, not Gentiles, complained against the native-born Hebrews. The issue was the daily relief of widows.
- Guesswork. Scripture records the claim, not proof of it. Old suspicion ran between the two groups. And God never forgets widows.
- Gravity. A dispute over the widows' food was the first symptom of a disease that later spread far and wide.
- Grace. The men put over the fund seem to come from the complaining side. The answer to murmuring was to trust the murmurers with the care of everyone.
And the twelve, having called the multitude of the disciples to [them], said, It is not right that we, leaving the word of God, should serve tables.
The church in Jerusalem was growing fast, and Greek-speaking believers complained that their widows were missing out on the daily food. The twelve apostles called everyone together and refused to leave preaching for the tables.
This was the first crack in the young church, and jealousy was behind it.
The flesh showed itself in murmuring... Murmurings arose out of jealousy, the result of unbelief. It is the first indication of weakness and failure. This reminds us of the murmurings of Israel as recorded in the book of Exodus. The same old thing, the flesh that never changes, shows itself among the saved and united company of believers, in whom the Holy Spirit lives. The murmurings were on the side of the Grecians... The Grecians were not Gentiles, as some teach. They were Greek-speaking Jews, born in countries outside Palestine, and so were called Hellenists.
The apostles did not let the grumble grow. One writer sees who was behind it:
It was only a "murmuring" that arose, but the apostles did not wait for it to become a formidable outcry. They discerned that Satan's object in it was to divert them from the preaching of the Word to social service, so they took steps to end any possible objections.
The words "it is not right" say more than "we would rather not." The danger was that the tables would take over their whole ministry.
The money came from the disciples, so the apostles told them to choose men they could trust. But the apostles, acting for the Lord in good order, put those men over the work. It was not fitting or proper (the word used here allows a wider sense than the narrow one of "pleasing", or "our pleasure") that they should give up the word of God to serve tables. If they had carried on with that work, that is where it would have ended. In this way loving wisdom turns ungrateful complaints to good... Where the Lord gives, He chooses, as for all ministry in the word; where the assembly gives, they choose, as in this case.
The seven had a real job, but not the same one as the ministry of the word. Two of them went further.
They serve tables in contrast with the ministry of the word... they are appointed to quite another business, in contrast with the minister of the word. Two of them, to use Paul's language, gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in Christ Jesus. Out of their own zeal they set about serving in the synagogues and elsewhere. Philip goes to Samaria, giving up as a result his office — "this business" — at Jerusalem... That is, deacons were put over everyday matters so that others might be free to minister the word.
The whole company picked the men. One writer ties that to whose money it was.
In this business the church was to select its own officers; but then the business was the distribution of the funds and food that the church had itself provided. We never read that the church was asked to select or appoint its elders, overseers, or ministers of the Word. The grace and gifts they pass on do not come from the church but from God.
The same caution about money reappears later in Paul's own practice:
The preaching of the word is separated from the care of the poor. In this case the apostles wanted the people to choose those who might care for the widows. We shall see later on that the apostle Paul himself, with Barnabas, appointed elders. But when it was a question of money, neither the twelve nor Paul would take any part in it. They would not mix the divine service of the word with the handling of the money the believers gave.
The twelve kept two things: prayer and the ministry of the word. One writer notes that the order changes with the person.
So the apostles continued to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. For those who are taught, the Word comes first, because we pray rightly only as the Word teaches us. For those who minister, prayer comes first, for apart from prayer they will not speak the Word rightly.
- Discontent. Growth brought the first failure inside the church. Greek-speaking believers murmured that their widows went without. Jealousy showed that the flesh lives on even in a Spirit-filled company.
- Diversion. The apostles saw the murmur as a pull away from preaching. They acted before it grew into an outcry.
- Distinction. Serving tables is real service, but a different one. The seven took the everyday work so that others stayed free for the word.
- Delegation. The people chose the men, and the apostles put them over the work. The church picks who handles the church's money; God gives the gifts for the word.
- Devotion. The twelve held on to prayer and the ministry of the word. For those who serve, prayer comes first, or they will not speak the word rightly.
Look out therefore, brethren, from among yourselves seven men, well reported of, full of [the] [Holy] Spirit and wisdom, whom we will establish over this business
Acts 6 opens with a complaint: Greek-speaking believers said the daily food hand-out was skipping their widows. The apostles handed that job to seven men chosen by the church — and the bar they set for those men was high.
The apostles saw more in the grumbling than a quarrel over food. They moved before it grew.
It was only a "murmuring" that arose, but the apostles did not wait for it to become a loud outcry. They saw Satan's aim in it: to turn them from preaching the Word to social service. So they took steps to end any possible objection. They told the church to pick seven men for the work, men who were to be "of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom." These men were to handle it with a wisdom and honesty beyond all reproach.
Two things happen here. The disciples look out the men, and the apostles appoint them.
The money came from the disciples as a whole. So the apostles call on them to look out from among themselves brothers they could gladly trust. Yet it was the apostles, acting for the Lord in due order, who established them over the business… Loving wisdom turns ungrateful complaints into good. Where the Lord gives, He chooses, as for all ministry in the word; where the assembly gives, they choose, as in this case.
The same writer sets this beside two other patterns. The seven are not gifted preachers, and they are not elders.
The three principles are quite distinct. (1) The Lord chooses and sends those whom He gives as gifts to the church. (2) The apostle, or an apostolic man with an express commission, chooses or establishes elders. (3) The assembly chooses the administrators of its funds, and the apostles set them solemnly over this business.
The first test is what other people say about a man. One writer includes the people outside the faith.
Some would say that we are not to listen to the testimony of the world. God's Word says otherwise. The elder "must be well thought of by outsiders," and so it is here too. The world is a very good judge of an honest or a dishonest Christian. It usually gives a very fair and sound judgment on such a point. I have no objection to the judgment of the world in a matter like that.
Acts 6 set the pattern for a deacon's work.
From Acts 6 we learn that his special work is "serving tables." As the passage shows, this means meeting the bodily and daily needs of the assembly. The work of the overseer is different: it is concerned mainly with meeting spiritual needs. Even so, the deacon still needs spiritual qualifications.
So is some church work merely practical, and not spiritual?
There is no such thing as "everyday affairs" in the Church of Christ. All things are sacred. What an object lesson! A man must be filled with the Spirit to rightly minister to the needs of the saints. Let us remember this.
Notice who the church picked in the end.
Every man chosen came from the murmurers. Grace is the great cure for murmuring. It was the Greek-speaking Jews who murmured. And though they are not called deacons, the seven who did the work of deacons were all Greek-speaking. Not even four Greek-speaking and three Hebrews, but all Greek-speaking. What a lesson in the power of grace when it is active!
Two of the seven went on to do far more than hand out funds.
But deacons, like the seven, were not tied only to the service they were appointed to do. Those who have served well as deacons gain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. We see this in Stephen and Philip, who were two of the seven. God greatly honoured the one as a teacher of the truth. He used the other widely to spread the gospel where it had never yet reached.
- Complaint — the apostles met the murmuring over neglected widows at once. They saw a move to pull them away from the Word.
- Delegation — the apostles would not leave preaching the Word for social service. They handed the food and money to seven other men.
- Qualification — three tests: reputation others can verify, fullness of the Spirit, and wisdom. Practical work still demands a spiritual man.
- Choice — those who gave the money chose the men; the apostles appointed them. Gift and spiritual ministry come from the Lord, not from a vote.
- Outcome — grace picked all seven from the very group that complained. Two of them, Stephen and Philip, served well and gained a good standing and boldness.