Between Good Reputation & "Hellenism": An Exposition On Acts 6:1-3.

Text: "Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists,...therefore, brethren seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom..." (Acts 6:1-3).

INTRODUCTION:

The book of the Acts of the Apostles gives a vivid description of Jesus' ascension. At departure, He left the apostles with a promise of the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon them. In fulflling this promise, the infilling of the Holy Spirit-the impetus that would drive them to be His witnesses beyond the Jewish frontiers, came on them on the Day Of Pentecost. This was in chapter 2. Acts of the Apostles is also a highlight of the role of the Holy Spirit in empowering believers, starting with the hitherto timid apostles, who had now become emboldened by the unusual, but promised outpouring.

The Holy Spirit equally reinforced the effectiveness of prayer in the early church and chronicled so, the oppositions faced by the early christians, and how multiple victories were wrought in the process. The Acts of the Apostles, by extension, is copious on the role largely played by the Holy Spirit- in healing, deliverance, salvation, church growth, and ultimately, the spread of the gospel. In the meantime, the authorship of the Acts of the Apostles has been ascribed to Luke the physician- also a companion of apostle Paul.

GOOD REPUTATION:

Our reputation is the general belief people hold about us. It's a perception. For example, being seen as trustworthy and kind, could qualify for "good reputation." The scriptures say, " if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, temperate, sober minded...moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and snare of the devil" (1 Tim.3:7). Good reputation earns trust and confidence in the public space and governance. Good reputation, could, on the long run, become a yardstick for recommendation to a higher office where important national matters are considered. Hence, beyond the aspiration to bishopric, good reputation largely is an essential benchmark in the public purview. Little wonder, it became one of the requirements to seat at the table in this "council of Hellenism."

HOLY SPIRIT:

With the expansion of the church, it was not unlikely that certain challenges would surface. Such was not unexpected, in any growing or large human assemblies, even in our contemporary times. An instance was that of Simon the sorcerer, in our July submission. His effrontery was quickly checked by Peter, by the power of the Holy Spirit in him, (Peter). There and then, Simon turned a new leaf and accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, (Acts 8: 20-25). Another of such character was Bar - Jesus. While Simon held sway in Samaria, Bar-Jesus, or Elymas, as his name translated, encountered Paul and Barnabas, in Paphos, on the island of Cyprus. This was on their first missionary journey. In his base, right there in Cyprus, Bar-Jesus combined sorcery with false prophecy, as his major stock- in-trade. His effort to prevail on the Roman proconsul (administrator), Sergius Paulus, from following "the way" proved abortive. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul rebuked him sharply, "...for perverting the ways of the LORD" (Acts 13:10) and placed him in a state of blindness for a short while, "..and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time" (Acts 13:11).

In these two and several instances, preceded by the influx of the power of God in Acts 2, the power of the Holy Spirit was undoubtedly at work in an unquantifiable manner. Armed with this power, the early church did much exploits in the midst of an unprecedented fiercest oppositions and challenges. Right after the Pentecost experience, the Holy Spirit swung into action, in the disciples. It was a period that witnessed a sudden surge of souls in the early church. Healings and deliverance, on large scale, took place pari passu with the growth of the church. The lame man at the beautiful gate in Acts 3, being one of the early beneficiaries of the healings perfected by the Holy Spirit. Within the scope of Acts 6:1-3, ( our focus text), it was no surprise that the Holy Spirit was considered as one of the criteria to settle the dispute between the Jews and the Hellenists. Beyond this, the need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to do exploits and overcome the power of darkness, in our dispensation, and fulfill ministry, cannot be overemphasized! It is simply a MUST!

WISDOM:

Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge in a way that aligns with the will of God, having righteous living in focus. Wisdom requires discernment and sound judgement that will ultimately honor God and benefit the generality of others. Wisdom that is from above is Godly wisdom that we need to navigate this complex world successfully, "but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy" (Jam.3:17). In essence, the wisdom we are talking about is not a worldly type, that manipulates. The wisdom here, is such that would really be heaven-deployed that will silence and suppress any wrong motives and human manipulations, in addressing the issue at hand. The seven that made it through the final selection process, must not be bereft of this divine quality. In a broader sense, the proposed seven-man committee in Acts 6:1-3, to resolve the Jewish- Hellenists impasse, MUST have Godly wisdom inherent in them.

THE HELLENISTS: WHO THEY WERE!

As said earlier on, there came a time of contention between the Hebrews and the Hellenists occasioned by the Hellenists' complaint that their widows ( the Hellenists ), were neglected in the daily distribution of food. To resolve this knotty issue, it was suggested by the twelve that seven men of : good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, must be appointed for a final resolution.

THE HELLENISTS:

At this point, we may want to pause and ask who the Hellenists really were? How did they come to be? And how did they impact the early church? And what actually informed their complaint against the Hebrews?

Simply explained, the Hellenists were the Jews of the diaspora. Historically, they were the Jews that Nebuchadnezzar deported to Babylon, after he conquered Jerusalem, in 597 BC. While in exile in Babylon, they were forced to embrace the Babylonian culture holistically, by a way of naturalization. To really enforce the Babylonian culture, the king passed instructions that the some of the young men, ..."in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king's palace..." (Dan.14). To ensure full integration, the chief of the eunuchs did a change of name for the young boys, by proxy: "Daniel: Belteshazzar, to Hananiah, Shadrack; to Mishael, Meschach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego" (Dan.1 :7). In this tensed environment, Daniel refused to compromise.

By 331, Alexander the great conquered Babylon. Power automatically changed hands. With this conquest, Alexander established the Hellenistic kingdoms. This was the actual advent of the Hellenistic period. It was a period that saw a fast spread and embrace as well as a natural adoption of Greek language, mode of dressing, ideas, and culture, by the Jews of the diaspora. Since there were no other options available for them, they sunk deep into the prevailing environmental culture and language. Over time, they gradually lost their mother tongue -the Hebrew language.

The overall assimilation of the Greek ways of life is called HELLENISM. Hence, by nationality, they became HELLENISTS, whose widows complained of being neglected in the daily distribution of foods, (Acts 6:2). In order to satisfy their liturgical need, Alexander the Great, (the Hellenism influencer), instructed that the Hebrew Bible be translated to Greek language. This gave rise to what is called the SEPTUAGINT, the Greek version of the Old testament. The Septuagint was written in Alexandria, Egypt, on the orders of king Ptolemy II. It was written by seventy elders. Consequently, it is usually written in Roman numerals LXX, where L is 50, X is 10, and X is 10, meaning 50+10+10= 70. The appointed seventy elders wrote independently of one another and yet arrived at identical translations.

However, it is not unlikely we come across a different tradition suggesting the Septuagint was written by seventy-two elders. That account could also be true to an extent, in its own right. This is based on the premise that the said tradition argued that six elders, each from the twelve tribes were commissioned to write the Greek translation of the bible. This means 6x12 = 72. However, it is my choice to stick to the seventy translators considering the fact that the original Roman numeral recorded seventy (LXX). In the meantime, while the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the VULGATE is the latin version of the entire scriptures, both Old and New Testaments.

CAVEAT:

The need to satisfy the curiosity of our christian audience, Sunday School students, and several others, informed this particular submission. What, if as a pastor, preacher, or Sunday School teacher, a member is curious to know who the Hellenists were, having come across it, as it were in Acts 6 ? And such member or probably our inquisitive children ask us similar questions out of their thirst for knowledge, what would be our disposition at this unexpected question? The answer here is tied to 2 Tim.2:15, "be diligent / study to show thyself approved of God." Truth be told, we are in the days that peoples' curiosity about the gospel and the truth behind it, is growing at high velocity. Hence, we need to be prepared to take our rightful position in giving the appropriate answers, not as "fanatics", rather, as someone who is adequately informed of his faith.

If left unattended, with no adequate care taken, the gospel, and its evolution, might be watered down, and facts distorted in the process. It behoves on all christians to be up and doing, rise to the task, to put things in the right perspective. And one of the major ways for this is to do extensive study, as we pray simultaneously. The need to get informed as christians and preachers is of utmost importance. We are in the days that the desire to learn, unlearn, and re-learn should be a matter of priority. To this end, in our future editions, as the Spirit directs, we might possibly delve into topics and individuals such as : The Maccabean Revolt- spearheaded by Judas Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanes, The Protestant Reformation (Sale of Indulgences, Purgatory), spearheaded by Martin Luther in 1517, and his 95 Theses, The Renaissance, The early Church Fathers, The Apologists, The Didache and a host of others.

DISCLAIMER:

While Google may arguably be a source with ample materials on the subject under discussion, (Hellenism, Acts 6:1-3), the fact remains that with particular reference to this very submission, the sources are largely from years of academic rigors, traced to reflections on lecture notes, term papers, discussions, handouts, researches and library consultations of encyclopedias, on the subject. This dates back to a period of almost four decades. And for the records, Google came much more later in 1998. This repudiates the erroneous statement that education is a scam!

SIDEBAR:

• The Acts of the Apostles by extension, is copious on the role largely played by the Holy Spirit- in healing, deliverance, salvation, church growth, and ultimately, the spread of the gospel.

  
  

• The need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to do exploits and overcome the power of darkness, in our dispensation, and fulfill ministry, cannot be overemphasized! It is a MUST!

  
  

• The need to get informed as christians and preachers is of utmost importance. We are in the days that the desire to learn, unlearn, and re-learn should be a matter of priority.

  
  

• The sources are largely from years of academic rigors, traced to reflections on lecture notes, term papers, discussions, handouts, researches and library consultations of encyclopedias and other relevant texts on the subject. This dates back to a period of almost four decades.

CONCLUSION:

Until we arrived at Acts 6:2, there probably was never a written record of a slot in the scripture, of a situation, that had a need for a reconciliation or mediation, on matters that leaned on discrimination of whatever sort, as the Hebrew - Hellenists issue. Here in Acts 6, there was a situation that bothered on "discrimination", which had to be nipped in the bud to ensure the aggrieved party was "fairly" treated. In settling this major national deadlock, it was proposed that seven men be sought out . For the supposed men to get to the final selection process, three mandatory criteria were proposed. These were good reputation, Holy Spirit and wisdom.

Obviously, there is a correlation between the three criteria: meaning that good reputation combined with the Holy Spirit would give a good balance. And Holy Spirit with tainted reputation is a waste of heaven's resources in the life of the chosen. In essence, the fact that a vessel is spirit-filled does not guarantee good reputation! We are in the days that we see instances of the spirit-filled, on some occasions, compromising their reputations to political biases and abuse of offices, sexual misconducts and sexual immoralities, financial gravitations, and what have you.

Being pious and full of the Holy Spirit with no wisdom to handle the expressions of such, amounts to exercise in futility. It does more harm than good if at any given situation, messages received under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit are not communicated well enough, to the concerned, using the wisdom of God. It becomes more disastrous when such messages touch on very sensitive life situations, even at the national level.

The overall crux of this discussion is, what if for any reason, there is a request that a few and selected people are needed to seat on an important national matter(s), would they find any "believer" that would have what it takes?- a balance of good reputation, infilling of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom, all combined, to handle national / global volatile situations... I hope so. Nevertheless, we can take a cue from 2 Tim. 3:17, "that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." May God find us so doing at His coming. Amen!

PRAYER OF SALVATION:

Peradventure you want to accept the LORD as your Savior, please, pray thus: LORD JESUS, I repent, confess, and forsake all my sins and surrender my life to You. From this day, I accept You as my LORD and Savior. Wash me clean with Your blood and accept me as Your child. Amen!

NOTE: Please, be my guest at my autobiography launch on Saturday September 13th, 2 pm EST.

PRAYERS:

• LORD, please help me to maintain a good reputation in this perverse generation.

  
  

• LORD, I pray that Your Holy Spirit shall NOT depart from me.

  
  

• LORD, give me the wisdom that is from above to live above board in this dispensation.

  
  

• LORD, grant me a seat among the "few" that would determine important matters that bother on national and global issues.

  
  
  
  

  © August 2025

  My Landmark year

  
  

  Being the 47th Edition Of Our Monthly Bulletin

  From The Desk Of

  Olusegun A Emosu (The Blessed, The Chosen, & The Favored)

  B.A (Hons), M .A (Ilorin), MBA (Arizona)

  
  

  The Redeemed Christian Church Of God,

  Rehoboth Parish,

  2244, Panola Rd, Suite 2, (3 D Complex),

  Lithonia GA 30058.

  
  

  rehobothparish2020@yahoo.com

  www.rccgrehobothatl.org

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