What the Early Church Can Teach Us About Generosity with Dr. Darrell Bock | FaithFi
September 16, 2026
What the Early Church Can Teach Us About Generosity with Dr. Darrell Bock
Faith & Finance with Rob West
“There was not a needy person among them.”
That remarkable statement in Acts 4:34 describes the early church's generosity. The first Christians freely shared what God had entrusted to them so their community's needs were met.
Their example can sound almost foreign in a culture that prizes independence and personal ownership. But according to Dr. Darrell Bock, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), the generosity we see in Acts reflects something much deeper than a particular financial system. It reveals what happens when people begin to see themselves, their possessions, and one another differently because of the gospel.
So what can the early church teach us about generosity today?
That remarkable statement in Acts 4:34 describes the early church's generosity. The first Christians freely shared what God had entrusted to them so their community's needs were met.
Their example can sound almost foreign in a culture that prizes independence and personal ownership. But according to Dr. Darrell Bock, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), the generosity we see in Acts reflects something much deeper than a particular financial system. It reveals what happens when people begin to see themselves, their possessions, and one another differently because of the gospel.
So what can the early church teach us about generosity today?
Hold What You Have With Open Hands
Money and possessions receive considerable attention throughout the Gospel of Luke, and Dr. Bock summarizes Luke’s perspective with a simple image: believers should hold what they own with loose hands.
The reason is stewardship. What we possess ultimately comes from God. We are not owners in the absolute sense but stewards responsible for faithfully managing what He provides.
That changes the question from, “What can I do with my money?” to, “How can I use what God has entrusted to me to serve Him and others?”
Open-handed stewardship does not mean possessions are inherently wrong. It means we refuse to grip them so tightly that they become unavailable when God gives us an opportunity to help someone else.
Generosity Flows From Spiritual Transformation
Acts places the extraordinary generosity of the early believers immediately after Pentecost and the Holy Spirit's coming.
That placement matters. Dr. Bock describes spiritual transformation as redirecting the focus of our lives. Instead of everything pointing inward toward ourselves and our own agendas, our attention begins moving upward toward God and outward toward others.
That transformation inevitably affects how we think about possessions.
We no longer view our resources merely as tools for our own comfort or even solely for the benefit of our immediate families. We begin recognizing that God may also use what He has entrusted to us to care for the people He places around us.
The early Christians understood themselves as an extended family—brothers and sisters united in Christ. When needs arose within that family, those who could responded.
Their generosity was not simply a financial practice. It was evidence of changed hearts.
Generosity Was Voluntary, Not Forced
Acts 2 and 4 have sometimes raised the question of whether the early church abandoned private ownership altogether. Acts 5 helps clarify the issue.
When Ananias and Sapphira sold property but misrepresented what they had given, Peter made clear that the property had remained theirs and that they had authority over the proceeds. Their sin was not keeping some of the money. Their sin was dishonesty.
That tells us something important about the early church's generosity: it was voluntary.
Believers were not compelled to surrender everything they owned. They chose to give because their hearts had been transformed.
That voluntary nature actually makes their generosity more remarkable. No one had to force them to care for one another. Their willingness reflected their character.
Wise Generosity Is Sustainable Generosity
The language Luke uses also suggests that believers were not necessarily liquidating all their possessions at once. Rather, they sold possessions as needs arose.
That implies discernment. Dr. Bock points to the contrast between Jesus’ encounter with the rich ruler and His encounter with Zacchaeus. Jesus instructed the rich ruler to sell everything, while Zacchaeus announced that he would give away half of his possessions and was commended for his response.
The lesson is not that every Christian must dispose of everything he or she owns. The larger principle is that our possessions should remain available to God.
Generosity should also be practiced wisely. Giving everything away immediately could leave someone unable to meet his own responsibilities and eventually dependent upon others. Faithful stewardship asks us to manage what God provides in a way that sustains generosity.
The goal is not reckless giving. It is a heart consistently ready to respond.
Christian Generosity Grows From Christian Community
Acts 4 says the believers were “one in heart and soul” before describing how they shared their possessions.
That connection is significant. Generosity becomes more natural when we genuinely view other believers as family.
Christians sometimes call one another “brother” or “sister,” but the early church lived as though those words were actually true. They knew one another closely enough to recognize needs and cared enough to respond when those needs arose.
That same connection appears elsewhere in Luke’s writings. When John the Baptist called people to produce fruit consistent with repentance, he gave an intensely practical example: If someone has clothing and another person is without it, the person who has enough should share.
Love for God and love for neighbor belong together. That is the same connection Jesus makes in the Great Commandment. A transformed relationship with God should eventually become visible in how we treat the people around us.
Meeting Needs Does Not Mean Everyone Has the Same Amount
Acts 4:34 says there was “not a needy person among them.”
That does not necessarily mean every Christian possessed exactly the same amount. The focus was on meeting genuine needs.
1 Timothy 6 says that if we have food and clothing, we should be content with these things. Dr. Bock suggests this provides a helpful lens for understanding Acts: the church made sure people had the necessities of life.
The goal was not financial uniformity. It was to ensure brothers and sisters in Christ would not be left without basic provision while others in the community could help.
That distinction matters. Biblical generosity is not primarily about making everyone's financial circumstances identical. It is about refusing to ignore genuine needs when God has given us the resources to respond.
Barnabas and the Importance of Our Motives
Acts places two dramatically different examples side by side.
Barnabas sells property and gives the proceeds to help others. Immediately afterward, Ananias and Sapphira attempt to appear more generous than they actually are.
The contrast exposes a serious danger: generosity can become something we perform for others' approval. Barnabas is presented positively because his generosity is genuine. Ananias and Sapphira seek the appearance of sacrificial generosity without the reality behind it.
The issue is ultimately one of the heart. Biblical generosity is not about appearing generous. It is about honestly surrendering what God has entrusted to us and responding faithfully when opportunities arise.
“Descriptive” Does Not Mean Irrelevant
Acts describes what the early Christians did rather than issuing a direct command that every Christian must sell property.
But we should be careful not to use the distinction between descriptive and prescriptive passages as an excuse to avoid the challenge of the text.
Biblical narratives frequently present examples intended to shape us. Barnabas is praised. The early church's generosity is celebrated. Their lives point us toward the kind of people Christians should desire to become.
The question, then, should not be, “How can I prove that I don't have to do what they did?” A better question is, “What does their example reveal about the kind of heart God desires to form in me?”
Acts does not give us a formula for how much property to sell or what percentage of our income to give. It gives us a picture of a community whose relationship with money had been transformed by its relationship with Christ.
What Could This Look Like Today?
Church benevolence funds can certainly help meet needs, but the generosity pictured in Acts is even more relational.
It requires believers to know one another. We should know the people God has placed around us well enough to recognize when someone is struggling. And when we discover a need, helping that person does not always require a formal church program.
Sometimes generosity is simply noticing. It may mean providing something someone lacks, helping a family through a difficult season, or using resources God has given us to ease another person’s burden.
Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Most of us devote considerable attention to our own well-being. Christian generosity asks us to become increasingly attentive to others' well-being, too.
A Question Worth Asking
The early church's generosity flowed from a deeper reality: these believers were united in Christ.
They held their possessions loosely because their ultimate treasure was found elsewhere. Their resources became tools for loving others rather than merely serving themselves.
Their example leaves us with a valuable question: Given the resources God has entrusted to me, how might I use them to bless someone else?
We do not need identical bank accounts, nor are we commanded to sell everything we possess. But followers of Jesus are called to become generous people—people whose hearts have been transformed by the gospel, who see fellow believers as family, and who hold everything God provides with open hands.
On Today’s Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:
I’m in my 70s and setting up a trust that will eventually divide my estate equally between my two daughters. One is financially responsible, but the other struggles to manage money. How can I structure her inheritance so she doesn’t receive it all at once and the money helps rather than harms her?
Remember, you can call in to ask your questions every weekday at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. You can also visit FaithFi.com to connect with our online community and partner with us as we help more people live as faithful stewards of God’s resources.
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