Was the Jerusalem Church in Acts Socialist?

 

Did the first church in Jerusalem practice socialism? Acts 2:44, 45 reads, "Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need." After reading that, a good friend said, "That sounds like socialism to me!" Was it? 

That's a difficult question to answer thanks to socialists who continually redefine words so that they win any argument by definition. Today, any concern for the poor is called socialist. By that definition, the first Jerusalem church was socialist. But must we accept the socialist definition? What are socialism and capitalism really? Who has the authority to define them?

The honest thing to do is to go back to the people who launched those systems. I do that here for capitalism. I haven't done that for socialism, so let me give a brief history of it. The first depiction of socialism appeared in Plato's Republic, which was inspired by Sparta. Plato required that the state own all property and the children. The state employed nannies who raised all children so that parents couldn't know who there children were and give them advantages over others. A philosopher would be the absolute monarch. 

How the Pilgrims became capitalists

This month children across the US will dress up as Pilgrims and Native Americans to honor Squanto, an Abenaki chief, who taught the Europeans to plant maize and kept them from starving. But here is the rest of the story. 

The Pilgrims had first sailed to the Dutch Republic to escape persecution in England. They remained there ten years but weren’t happy. They refused to learn the Dutch language because they wanted their children to retain their English culture. Lacking language and work skills (They had been farmers in England) limited them to labor in textile mills for what they considered low wages. But their children learned the Dutch language and absorbed Dutch culture. So, they set sail for the New World.

The Wisdom of God in the Torah Government

Opinions on the Torah law are polarized. Some ignore it completely. Others woodenly apply every law. Many will consider the religious laws to show how they relate to Christ and others emphasize the moral laws, such as the prohibition of coveting, applicable because they reflect God’s character that never changes. 

All sides miss the larger picture by fixating on the details, in other words, they miss the forest for the trees. God’s wisdom is displayed more in the structure of the Torah government than in the detailed cases, as wise as they are. For government, God gave Israel no human executive, legislature (which in Moses’ day was the king), or taxes. He gave Israel only judges, chosen by the people, to adjudicate the civil laws.