“And they
devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to
the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every
soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the
apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things
in common. And they were selling their possessions and
belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in
their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord
added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” –
Acts 2:42-47
(ESV).
(1)
Teaching from the apostles covered what they had learned from Jesus
in His three years with them and in the 40 days between His
resurrection and ascension.
(2)
Fellowship, Greek word koinonia, meant a close and harmonious
relationship, a sharing, a common purpose and devotion that binds
persons together.
(3)
Breaking of bread likely included both eating regular meals together
and having the solemn, memorial Lord’s Supper that Jesus had
instituted, saying, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
(4)
They prayed together. Their prayers were no doubt in the temple
and wherever they gathered in house meetings or in smaller groups.
(5)
They experienced awe (reverent fear) because of the signs
and wonders the apostles were performing through the power of the
Holy Spirit.
(6)
They had all things in common; they gave of their means.
This was accomplished as they sold their possessions and brought the
money voluntarily and without coercion to help with the needs.
Scholars would have us note that they still had their own homes and
that the giving up private property is not mentioned in this summary
account. Later, when Ananias and Sapphira came to claim they
had sold their property and were bringing all the money to offer in
the Lord’s work, their lives were required of them because they
told a lie; they pretended to bring all when they withheld part for
themselves (see Acts 5:1-11). (7) Praising and worshiping
God was a daily part of the believers’ activities. Luke does not
elaborate here, but they probably included the Old Testament
Scriptures, especially readings from the Psalms, Prophets and Wisdom
Literature.
(8)
Conversions occurred. “The Lord added…day by day those
who were being saved.” Because the believers’
hearts were right and their spiritual tasks done with zeal and focus,
God gave the increase in souls.
Scholars
believe (and there is both written and archaeological evidence for
this) that the “breaking of bread” mentioned in verse 46 is what
was called the agape feast, or love feast. It was a
banquet meal, usually in the evening, where the more financially able
furnished the food for the poor and they ate together, saying prayers
over each dish or course of the meal. The agape feast was
followed by the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion. However, later,
because of excesses, greed and discrimination against those partaking
of the meal, the agape feast was gradually separated from the
observance of the Lord’s Supper. By the time of church
historian Justin Martyr (150 A. D.), no mention is made of observance
then of the agape meal. A good exercise is for us to
examine the points of the Disciples’/Apostles’ (Early Church’s)
fellowship of believers. Are our fellowships in keeping with
this early pattern? Do we need to make adjustments? Let
us pray that our Christian fellowship will be God-pleasing instead of
just people-pleasing. When we please God, we will be blessed as
well.
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