Tomorrow, at Communion Presbyterian Church, during the Adult Sunday School class, we'll be talking about Chapter 26 of the Westminster Confession of Faith ("Of the Communion of the Saints"). David Dickson, in his excellent commentary on the Confession, writes this concerning the Communion of the Saints [emphases added]:
Doth not the communion of saints, which they have one with another, take away or infringe the title or property, which each man hath in his own goods and possessions?
Well then, do not the Anabaptists err, who affirm, that the goods and possessions of the saints ought to be in common?
Yes.
By what reasons are they confuted?
1st, Because in the time of the primitive church, no man was obliged out of necessity to deliver his goods. Neither did believers lose their right and property which they had to them, Acts 5:4.
2nd, Because the eighth command, which is of perpetual use to all men, supposeth a distinction and propriety of goods. For it all goods were common, it were impossible to steal.
3rd, Because there should be no giving of alms, there should be no hospitality, which is contrary to the apostle, Eph. 4:28; Heb. 13:2.
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