Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Acts 6:1–3
“The twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty’” (vv. 2–3).
During the earliest days of the new covenant church, the community of believers grew steadily, as we have seen in texts such as Acts 2:46–47 and 5:14. As people multiply, however, problems often multiply as well. Today’s passage tells us about one of the first troubles in the church and how the Apostles addressed it.
Luke writes in Acts 6:1 of a dispute between the “Hellenists” and the “Hebrews.” The Hellenists and Hebrews both came from a Jewish background, but the Hellenists spoke Greek and were more comfortable with certain aspects of Greek culture and living outside Judea than the Hebrews, who spoke Hebrew and who preferred to live in the Holy Land. Because of the linguistic and cultural differences, friction was bound to arise. The Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because “their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” In the ancient world, widows often lived in poverty because they did not have husbands to provide for them. In the church’s earliest days in Jerusalem, Christian widows received financial assistance from the church (e.g., see 1 Tim. 5:3–16). This assistance came from the “daily distribution” (Acts 6:1), which was apparently a benevolence fund from which widows received assistance. Believers of means, such as Barnabas, contributed to this fund, which was administered at first by the Apostles (see 4:32–37).
At this point in church history, the Hellenist widows were apparently being overlooked in the distribution of resources and the Hebrew widows were being supported. This does not seem to have been the result of any prejudice on the part of the Apostles but rather was due simply to administrative oversight. In short, there were not enough men in leadership to care for the needs of the church, and the Apostles could not effectively teach and care for the material needs of the people at the same time. Rather than maintaining a church structure that was falling short, the Twelve called the church to appoint qualified men to take care of the physical needs of the church so that the Apostles could focus on the spiritual needs of the people (Acts 6:2–3). This newly called group of men would “serve tables” and make sure that all the widows were cared for.
The term deacon does not appear in this text, but the church has traditionally seen in Acts 6:1–7 the foundations of the office of deacon. Together, the deacons compose the diaconate, which is tasked with attending to the material needs of the church.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
It’s worth noting from Acts 6:2–3 that not just any man can be a deacon but only one who is properly qualified, full of the Spirit and wisdom. Matthew Henry comments: “The persons [chosen for office] must be duly qualified. The people are to choose, and the apostles to ordain; but the people have no authority to choose, nor the apostles to ordain, men utterly unfit for the office.”
For further study
- 1 Chronicles 26:20–32
- 1 Timothy 3:8–15
The bible in a year
- Numbers 28–29
- Mark 9:2–29
- Numbers 30–33
- Mark 9:30–10:34