Act 6:1-6 | TNotes | STEP | 6:1 The Greek-speaking believers were Jewish Christians who had lived elsewhere in the Greco-Roman world and probably observed some Greek customs. The Hebrew-speaking believers were more traditional Jews, native to Palestine, who spoke Hebrew or Aramaic and refrained from Greek customs. • their widows were being discriminated against: This injustice threatened the growth and development of the church with rumblings of discontent and had to be addressed.

c1 Tim 3:8-13►

‏ Acts 6:1-6

6:1 ^a The Greek-speaking believers were Jewish Christians who had lived elsewhere in the Greco-Roman world and probably observed some Greek customs. The Hebrew-speaking believers were more traditional Jews, native to Palestine, who spoke Hebrew or Aramaic and refrained from Greek customs.

• their widows were being discriminated against: This injustice threatened the growth and development of the church with rumblings of discontent and had to be addressed.
Summary for Acts 6:2-6: 6:2-6 ^b Wisely, the apostles called a meeting of all the believers to address the dispute. They recognized the seriousness of the problem, as well as their own priority of teaching the word of God. The solution was to select wise and Spirit-filled men to oversee the food distribution. The community accepted the apostles’ solution and chose good leaders from the ranks of the Greek-speaking believers (all of their names are Greek). These seven devoted themselves to this special ministry, allowing the apostles to spend their time in prayer and teaching the word.

• These seven men are sometimes called the first deacons because of the similarity of their role to the office of deacon (see 1 Tim 3:8-13 ^c). Although the Greek term translated “deacon” (Greek diakonos, “servant”) is not used here, a related Greek word is translated running a food program (6:2 ^d; Greek diakonein, “to serve”).