historical perspectives: from the hasmoneans to bar kokhba in light ...

COMMUNITY OF GOODS 149
The two Greek words for the goods that were sold, Kirniocia and
can both mean "possessions" in a general sense but each has
a more precise meaning. cognate with the verb "to
obtain (for oneself)," frequently refers specifically to real estate, so
farms and houses: in 5:1 Ananias sells a that, in the following
verse, is referred to as a or "farm." The second expression,
cognate with the verb in its sense of "belonging to," can
mean specifically "chattels." The intention is thus to emphasize that
all possessions of all kinds were sold. Such an intention would support
the interpretation that this passage describes a radical self-divestment
of property, rather than the sale of a piece from time to time.
There is no expressed subject for the second verb,
Commentators have supposed that it is the same as for the first verb,
so that those who sold their goods also divided the proceeds, whereas
in the parallel in 4:34b-35 they brought the prices obtained and
laid them at the feet of the apostles, who then redistributed them.
However, there is no necessity to carry the subject of the first verb
over to the second; grammatically, the second subject can just as
well be an indefinite "they used to divide." Codex Bezae (D) reads:
"and they used to divide them every day . . .," whereas
most other witnesses have this expression in the following verse. Since
Codex Bezae is here supported by the Old Latin (it} and two patristic
witnesses, Speculum and Pseudo-Augustinus, the question arises
whether this may not be the original WT (although it is not accepted
as such by Boismard-Lamouille). It does at least correspond to the
"daily distribution" mentioned in Acts 6:1, in which the Hellenists'
widows were neglected, or so they complained.
b) The AT of v. 44a differs in two respects from the corresponding
WT. First, instead of the present participle of "believe" ,
with its emphasis on the continuing state of the believers, it has the
aorist participle which is found also in 4:32 and
emphasizes rather the act by which they became believers, that is
to say, came into the community of believers. Second, it omits the
verb "were," which means that the adverbial expression
verb "were," which means that the adverbial expression
must be read as qualifying either the immediately preceding participle
or the following verb "had (all things common)." It is likely
that the change is intended to modify subtly the sense of the adverb
3rd ed., rev. and expanded (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans and Leicester: Apollos,
1990), 132; C. K. Barrett, The Acts of the Apostles, ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark,
1994), 169.