Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Baptized in the name of Jesus
Guilt and grief stricken over their role in the Messiah’s unjust death, the crowd asked Peter what they needed to do. His answer would have sounded, in part, quite familiar. John the Baptist was well-remembered and revered. He told his Jewish listeners to be as Gentile proselytes and repent and be baptized. There were, however, two new and profound additions. The first was, be baptized “in the name of the Messiah, Jesus.” It would be in the very name of the One they had executed, that forgiveness of all their sins would be given. The second was the gift of the very Holy Spirit, whose power they were witnessing.(1) An amazing three thousand responded. The washing pools (mikvehs) around the Temple courts would be busy that day!
Devoted
The word for “devoted” means, “to persist in adherence to a thing; to be intently engaged in, attend constantly to…” (Strong’s Concordance). To understand the grace of the Messiah is to be persistently devoted to Him.
Apostle’s Teaching
Here is a rather lengthy quote from one of my very favorites, the late John R.W. Stott:
One might perhaps say that the Holy Spirit opened a school in Jerusalem that day; its teachers were the apostles whom Jesus had appointed; and there were 3,000 pupils in the kindergarten! We note that those new converts were not enjoying a mystical experience which led them to despise their mind or disdain theology. Anti-intellectualism and the fullness of the Spirit are mutually incompatible, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Nor did those early disciples imagine that, because they had received the Spirit, he was the only teacher they needed and they could dispense with human teachers. On the contrary, they sat at the apostles’ feet, hungry to receive instruction, and they persevered in it. (2)
Koinonia
Koinonia, usually translated “fellowship,” is a rich word that means far more than getting together. In a great Trinitarian benediction (2 Cor. 13:14), Paul prays, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (NIV)” That’s where koinonia begins, but it extends to our common life of mutuality in sharing with each other.
Breaking of Bread
This is a doubly suggestive phrase, and I think we can follow both suggestions. This became a way of speaking of the Lord’s Supper. It was also a way of speaking of a common meal. Yet, in the presence and fellowship of the Triune God and those for whom the Messiah died; no meal together is simply “common.” For many years, it seems, the Lord’s Supper was taken in the context of a larger meal. Table fellowship has always carried with it acceptance and friendship.
The Prayers
The earliest church seemed to be frequently in the Temple courts. Although they knew that Jesus was the fulfillment of animal sacrifices, Yahweh was worshiped and prayers to Him were offered. Those prayers were offered at 6:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., noon, 3:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. There were also additional morning and evening prayers. They were Jews who knew that Jesus called the Temple His Father’s House.
Everything in Common
Next week, I will discuss this passage and Acts 4:32-5:10 in greater detail. Now, let me address one interpretation and give a tease for next week. There are some who argue that the early church became Marxists.(3) They did not become Marxists, they became family. Especially, in the Messiah, one cares for and shares with sisters and brothers out of love and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
Luke never simply lists facts. In this summary of the earliest community of Jesus followers, Luke wants his readers (including us) to see an ideal to follow. Keep reading Acts, and we discover that the church had difficulty realizing this ideal, especially as the Spirit pushed the church to include uncircumcised, non-observant Gentiles. Reading the New Testament letters makes clear that the church, filled with folks like us, fell short of this ideal. Nevertheless, the ideal, presented here, calls us to reach for the Spirit’s joyful fellowship and a powerful shared life where the Lord adds daily those He is saving.
Tim Kelley
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1 See Acts 19:1-7 for just how important those additions were.
2 Stott, J. R. W. (1994). The message of Acts: the Spirit, the church & the world (p. 82). InterVarsity Press.
3 Reading Karl Marx back into the 1st century is called anachronistic. We’ll discuss Greek and Jewish ideas of communal societies next week