By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children let us not love with words and tongue but with actions and in truth? 1 John 3:16-18
“Here John is saying that because God, out of tender mercy for humanity and out of love for us, sent us the most inward treasure of His riches, the dearest of His jewels, His only Son, for our atonement, then we also should show love to one another. And how much more then should we place our temporal treasures before each other for the common use in common community. If one does not have that much love for the others, how can he be so shameless as to hope to enjoy the love of God, who gave his most precious son for us? If you want to have part in the love of God, so that He will give you part in the possessions of heaven along with all of His children, how then can you hang on to your own little beggar’s bag, which you will not here give over to the children of God, to have it in common with you and you with them? Are they not worth it to you?”
Peter Walpot (1521-1578) in “True Yieldedness and the Christian Community of Goods” excerpts from sections 117-118 in Daniel Liechty Early Anabaptist Spirituality (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994) 178-179.