Acts chapter 5 then 6

vs 41

I think we get this picture of them jumping and dancing away, but I'm sure they were in a lot of pain too. I'm sure their rejoicing was at least partly a comforting force to them in the face of the physical adversity they had suffered.

Where's your formal equivalence now? The two formal translations use 'his', but the functionals seem to both follow the greek 'the' (of course, the TR translation might be different).

vs 42

This must have been where door-knocking was invented. Seriously, I wonder if cults like the JWs and Mormons use this verse to back up their evangelism.

The message here seems to be "If all they're going to do is flog us, they're basically encouraging us to preach in their temple!" Good for the apostles.

Ch 6

vs 1

This verse shows me just how formal the KJV is even against the NASB. On the other hand, I find the inclusion of the footnote in the TNIV special - explaining a cultural-historical context, which isn't usually done outside measurements and such.

It's interesting that the body has grown so much that there can now be divisions - between cultural groups, for example. Were the Hellenist Jews' widows really being left out? If so, why? Because they just weren't on the list by accident? Or because of prejudice? Remember, this might be the early church, this might be pure closest-to-Jesus Christianity, but it's still full of people. We saw with Annanias and Sapphira that there are still sinners in the group, so it is possible that discrimination is taking place.

vs 2

And here we have it - the thing that makes culture civilised and grow - a division of labour. Now how do we read this - are the Apostles saying that preaching the word is better than waiting on tables, and so requires their attention? Or are they saying that they are the ones gifted to share the word, and so it is inefficient for them to serve people's physical needs directly? The word is literally arestos, 'pleasing', or desirable. Assuming they mean 'pleasing to God', then 'not be right' isn't a bad functional translation. If they meant 'pleasing to us', then they should have just said 'waiting on tables is for plebians'.

vs 3

I have heard people say of this verse "Look at the conditions that the Apostles put on serving in the church! Do you have such high standards for the people who do menial jobs in your church? Do you require the person who cleans your toilets to be full of the Spirit and wisdom?"

I think that attitude neglects the importance that this ministry had to the church at the time. The provision for the needy was probably the primary ministry the church at the time had to its members. Just like my church at the moment - building a bigger church building is currently very important to the church, so we want to make sure those in charge of it are full of the Spirit and are wise.

vs 4

Note that for the sake of word ministry (and don't forget prayer!) they don't just give the job over, they give the responsibility over too. These people might still be accountable to the apostles (everyone was I assume), but the apostles can now say "All complaints about food now go to these 7 guys" and concentrate on the spiritual stuff. Division of responsibility is so important.

vs 5

Some people have made points that all these names are Hellenistic - so basically the church, made up of Hellenists and Hebrews picked all Hellenists. I don't know that we can make such an assumption though. I mean, even the Hebrews were pretty Hellenised. They could have had greek names.

But a convert! Woah! Big step there. These guys were never afforded the same rights under Judaism. So for Christians to include him is a big change from the status quo. It begins...