In the early days of the Christian church, there was a period in which the members shared all that they had in terms of land, clothing , food, and money. This is described in Acts 4: 32-35. Some, today, claim that the sharing that took place in those early days made the church a communist society. Furthermore, they assert that because of that, today’s church should embrace communism.

For sure, the actions of those early Christians were noble and inspiring. It was feasible too due to the small size of the church; for this, it must be remembered, was the beginning of the church in Jerusalem. It was a special, unique time in the church’s early history. But while what happened then is an ideal that we can all pray to achieve, in terms of selflessly sharing; those early circumstances were by no means a requirement for the church as a whole. Other early churches operated differently. For instance, the Thessalonian church was told by the Apostle Paul that if a man isn’t willing to work, he should not eat (2 Thessalonians 3: 10).

The question though is, can the Jerusalem church in Acts be described as communist? I say “no.” For one thing, communism is about class warfare and the evil of property. There’s no indication that the church considered material ownership to be immoral. And the early church wasn’t about the poor and/or or oppressed working class violently revolting against the rich in order to rule. It was about love for God and each other that caused all to freely share.

Furthermore, communism is about the state controlling all resources. That wasn’t the case with the early Jerusalem church. Jewish civil authority nor the occupying Roman authorities forced the Christians to give to each other. Neither did the apostles force them. The sharing was voluntary.

Moreover, communism is bereft of the spiritual. It is philosophically and forcefully atheistic. 

Though the early Jerusalem Christian activities were certainly communal, the applications of communism was foreign to them, and is certainly antithetical to Christianity.