May 9th, 2020

Our Easter journey continues in the book of Acts. Although at the end of the Easter season, the focus will be on Acts 2 and Pentecost, this Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Easter, we continue in the book of Acts with a reading from the sixth and seventh chapters [6:1-9; 7:2a, 51-60]. This is one of the very few times that the reading is from three different places. With such a text, it is easy to lose the context. A simple bible study suggestion for this Sunday might be to read Acts, chapters 5 through 8.

What can we say about these seven ‘deacons’ who are installed at the beginning of chapter 6? The first thing to say is that they are never called deacons! Philip is eventually called an evangelist though (see Acts 21:8). And it may not be a coincidence that the first mention of ‘evangelizing’ in the book of Acts is found in the verse right before Acts 6:1. This is the important word ‘gospel’, but as a verb. (Without the division of chapters, it is easier to see the context.)

Here is that text of Acts 5:42 in a somewhat-literal translation:

        And every day in the temple and from house to house, the apostles did not cease            teaching and evangelizing the Christ Jesus.

Incidentally, the very last time this important word ‘gospel’ appears as a verb in Acts is at 17:18, and that will be part of the Acts text for this next Sunday.

It would be good at this place and time to remember that the word ‘gospel’, in the Old Testament, meant the delivery of important news from one significant place to another, such as from the battlefield to the king. The messenger would deliver the news of victory or defeat. In other words, this is very important stuff being said.

This context may put the problem of these Hellenistic widows being ‘overlooked’ in a different light. (By the way, the word ‘overlooked’ is a literal translation, and the Greek word is found only here in the New Testament; its use may hint at a unique situation; and it is a good thing also to know that the word ‘Hellenistic’ is a description of a Greek-speaking Israelite.) Many people have understood this overlooking to mean that these women are simply without food. This is certainly possible. But what could ALSO be happening is that, because they are widows, they are without a man of the house to be the religious leader for them. And because they speak Greek, they may be wanting to hear some Greek words about Jesus.

The twelve disciples were probably giving Jewish-Christian widows a LOT more words than they were giving the Hellenistic widows. Could this be the meaning of being ‘overlooked’?

The job of these seven is not given in any detail, but they all have Greek names. The twelve called together the multitude of disciples and said it in this way, that they do not want to ‘leave behind’ (an even more literal translation would be to ‘leave down’; the ESV has ‘give up’) the word of God and serve tables.

The use of ‘word of God’ is interesting here. It is used primarily in the early chapters of Acts, and this is when there is more of a Jewish context. Eventually the phrase, the ‘word of the Lord’ will be used in Acts, and it is usually used within a more non-Jewish context.

If you are interested in learning more about this, in Acts 13 there are multiple uses of both phrases ‘word of God’ and the ‘word of the Lord’. Below are the verses, the phrase used (either ‘word of God’ or ‘word of Lord’), and its context. Another bible study idea would be to read through this entire chapter.

13:5 word of God … what was announced in the synagogues to the Jews
13:7 word of God … what an ‘intelligent’ man wanted to hear
…
13:44 word of Lord (but ‘word of God’ in some manuscripts) … what ‘all the city’ assembled together to hear
13:46 word of God … what Paul and Barnabas had first said to the Jews
13:48 word of Lord (but ‘word of God’ in only a few manuscripts) … what was glorified by the nations [This is certainly unusual, to glorify the WORD of the Lord rather than simply the Lord; this may be the reason there are some more differences between the various manuscripts.]
13:49 word of Lord … what was carried through all the country

Some of the manuscripts have the other option (of ‘word of God’) two times above, and this alternative may be for a more Jewish reader. If this Jewish emphasis of a manuscript is of interest to you, please check out volume 1 of the 4-volume work, The Message of Acts in Codex Bezae, by Josep Rius-Camps and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, published by T & T Clark in 2004, pages 37-40.]

Hopefully a careful look at chapter 13 was helpful in seeing that the use of ‘word of God’ is closer to what the twelve disciples did with Jesus, while the ‘word of the Lord’ is what those who are sent out are doing with the non-Jews.

The twelve do not want to ‘leave behind’ the words that they were speaking with Jewish-Christian widows. If they would go to the Hellenistic widows’ homes, they were probably not saying as much as when they were in Jewish widows’ homes. In a sense, they may have felt as though they were just 'serving tables'.

What are these seven men called to do? If it is simply to hand out food, why did Stephen get into so much trouble? It seems that these seven are given a very serious task, and sometimes, some serious tasks have to do with some serious words.

The following quote clarified that perspective for me, that the women may have wanted to hear more words about Jesus, and, more specifically, words in the Greek language. I was reading The Development of the New Testament Canon by William Farmer and came upon this statement which I had not heard before [and which may be termed ‘the Farmer Principle’—I have yet to find it articulated elsewhere]:

         The first evident need for writing down the words of the Lord may have been in               connection with the need for the oral tradition to be translated in a reliable way               into languages other than that spoken by Jesus, or other than that spoken by                    Christian prophets speaking in the spirit and name of Jesus (published by Paulist               Press, 1983; page 50).

Many have proposed that there was writing going on before this event in Acts 6, and that is certainly a possibility. But chapter 6 of the book of Acts may not only point out the growth of people within the Church, but also the growth of the written text. A reliable Greek text could be used to convey the events of a reliable Savior to the ‘overlooked’ (and ‘Greek’) widows. The Lord does not overlook anyone—even if they describe themselves with quotation marks! And we know what great growth would ultimately come from that undertaking of a written text. Thank God—the LORD—for the New Testament!