A Prep Guide for Session Three with Dr. Allen R. Hilton - Peril and Persistence Christian Courage amid Opposition

Sep 27, 2026

A prep guide for Session Three with Dr. Allen R. Hilton explores how early Christians in Jerusalem navigated resistance and risk in their church life. It frames Christian courage amid opposition by contrasting contemporary assumptions of safety with historical examples of persecution. The guide then grounds its claims in Luke’s language from Acts, emphasizing communal sharing of goods and the “single heart and soul” of believers, and connects these ideals to ancient Greek and Roman philosophical portrayals of friendship and community.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

A Prep Guide for Session Three with Dr. Allen R. Hilton

Open – Faith and Risk

Part One – Original Bliss

Communal Sharing in Acts 2.42-47 and Acts 4.32-35

Friendship Ideals in Greek and Roman Thought

The Sequel Jesus Continued in the Book of Acts PERIL AND PERSISTENCE Christian Courage amid Opposition A Prep Guide for Session Three with Dr. Allen R. Hilton Open – Faith and Risk Being Christian in the U.S. feels pretty safe. In secular company, there’s the occasional sidelong glance that says,“You believe that stuff?!” And some American church-goers imagine that barring prayer in schools or forbidding a nativity in the town square or, in the case of an admirable young NFL football star called C.J. Stroud, having gratitude to Jesus edited out of your interview at publication – that these sorts of resistance constitute persecution. And in a way they may. But this use of the “P” word would surprise Coptic Christians in Egypt, where 128 were killed for their faith in 2017. ( The Guardian, Jan 10, 2018) . It also might raise the eyebrows of Chinese Christians, whose churches have been bulldozed by the government,(Council on Foreign Relations, Oct 11, 2018), have been forced to remove all Christian symbols from their own homes or lose public services (Christianity Today, Nov 17, 2017), and are often arrested for singing hymns together in public parks (Christianity Today, Oct 17, 2017) . So how would a 21st-century Christian in the United States or another religiously tolerant nation be called to take risks for God? We’ll look for answers to this question as we observe the earliest Christians navigating their first months and years of church life in Jerusalem. Part One – Original Bliss We saw last session that Luke’s language to describe common everyday life in the ﬁrst Chris􀆟an community mirrors ancient utopian visions about the way people ought to live together. I want here to supply you with the texts that ground this claim, a couple of which you saw on slides. Twice in the ﬁrst ﬁve chapters of Acts, Luke highlights their custom of sharing their material goods with one another. Within a summary in 2.42-47, he writes,“All the believers were in the same place and they had all things in common. They were selling both their property and their belongings and were distribu􀆟ng them to all of the people as they had need (2 .44- 45) .” Again in 4.32-35, a Luke summarizes,“the whole number of those who had believed were of one heart and mind, and not even one person was calling anything among his belongings his own, but all things were in common.” These descrip􀆟ons may sound idyllic or awful to you, depending on how you look at the world; but for many ancient philosophers the vision of shared goods and common life described Eden or nirvana – the ideal form of Greco-Roman philosophical friendship – and Luke knew that. Ancient authors o􀅌en idealized the beginnings of human community by sugges􀆟ng that “in those days” private property did not exist. o Greece. Plato’s Critias pictures the military class during the earliest days of Athens in these terms: “It was supplied with all that was required for its sustenance and training, and none of its members possessed any private property, but they regarded all they had as the common property of all.” Plato elsewhere expands this vision to include the en􀆟re city, decrying private wealth as counter-produc􀆟ve to both harmony and produc􀆟on in his utopian community. (Republic 420C-422B; and Laws 679B-C) . o Rome. The poet Ovid depicts an ancient Golden Age when people needed no armies or na􀆟ons or borders, because they lived coopera􀆟vely with one another and with the earth.“The earth herself, without compulsion, untouched by hoe or plowshare, of herself gave all things needful. And people, content with food which came with noone’s seeking, gathered the arbute fruit, strawberries from the mountainsides, cherries and berries hanging thick upon the prickly bramble, and acorns fallen from the spreading tree of Jove.”(Metamorophosis 1.88) The ancient philosophical topic of friendship provides a second subject that produces language that resembles Luke’s. • A biographer named Diog

FAQs

What question does the guide say 21st-century Christians should consider?

It asks how a 21st-century Christian in the United States (or another tolerant nation) would be called to take risks for God.

Which passages from Acts does the guide use to discuss communal sharing?

It highlights Acts 2.42-47 about believers sharing goods and Acts 4.32-35 describing believers’ unity in heart and mind with all things held in common.

How does the guide connect Luke’s description to ancient philosophical ideas?

It argues that Luke’s portrayal of shared goods and the “single heart and soul” echoes Greek and Roman ideals of friendship and ideal community, with examples from writers like Plato, Ovid, and Aristotle.

Sep 27, 2026

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