6:1 the Grecians. The “Grecians” were not ethnic Greeks, but Greek-speaking Jews, presumably with ties to the Jews of the dispersion. The “Hebrews,” on the other hand, were natives of Israel itself, and spoke Aramaic.

6:1 daily ministration. The words “ministration” and “serve” (Acts 6:2) are cognates in the Greek to the word which later became rendered as “deacon.” The seven men here chosen (Acts 6:3) are not actually called “deacons” in this section, but it is probable that their activities later became codified into an actual office. Every local church would need leaders to handle the more mundane matters in order to free its pastoral leadership for prayer and for the study and preaching of the Word (Acts 6:4). In any case, the spiritual requirements for these seven, as well as those of the later office of deacon (I Timothy 3:8-12) were little different from those for the pastors who were apparently identical with bishops and elders (see I Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). The deacons could, and did, engage in spiritual as well as mundane ministries as time permitted.