In v. 42 the believers are said to have “devoted themselves” to four practices in their new life together. First was the teaching of the apostles. Just as the apostles had been instructed by Jesus, so they passed along that instruction to the new Christians. In keeping with Jesus’ teaching to them (chap. 1), this would have included such subjects as his resurrection, the Old Testament Scriptures, the Christian witness, and surely their own reminiscences of Jesus’ earthly ministry and teachings.

Four activities are listed in which they took part. These are generally regarded as four separate things, but a case can be made out that they are in fact the four elements which characterized a Christian gathering in the early church, and on the whole this is the preferable view.

The religious devotion of the early Christians was a daily affair. They met together in a spirit of unanimity in the temple

the apostles’ doctrine—“teaching”; giving themselves up to the instructions which, in their raw state, would be indispensable to the consolidation of the immense multitude suddenly admitted to visible discipleship.

breaking of bread—not certainly in the Lord’s Supper alone, but rather in frugal repasts taken together, with which the Lord’s Supper was probably conjoined until abuses and persecution led to the discontinuance of the common meal.

A biblical church is marked by teaching. Thousands of new converts needed to understand precisely how Peter linked Old Testament text with the ministry of Jesus. Theologians call it “Messianic Christology”. It became the core of New Testament doctrine.

The translation of the Greek term proskarterountes (TEV they spent their time in) is by no means easy, especially when it is necessary to relate this to the events which follow. In some languages one may use “they gave themselves to,” “they were eager for,” or “they were very desirous of.”

The learning from the apostles may be rendered as “to have the apostles teach them.”

Fellowship (a word which occurs only here in Acts) may refer either to the common spirit which the believers shared with the apostles, or, more likely, to the communal spirit which they shared with the total group, and which is described in verses 44–46.

It is generally agreed that these fellowship meals were common meals shared in by the early Christian community, and followed by the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

The prayers may be translated as “they prayed to God together.”

Fellowship (κοινωνιᾳ [koinōniāi]). Old word from κοινωνος [koinōnos] (partner, sharer in common interest) and this from κοινος [koinos] what is common to all. This partnership involves participation in, as the blood of Christ (

The activity of this early church was twofold. The believers first continued steadfastly (proskarterountes, “persisting in or continuing in”; cf. 1:14; 2:46; 6:4; 8:13; 10:7;

Continued stedfastly. Gr. proskartereō, “to persevere,” “to give constant attention to.” This takes the story beyond the day of Pentecost and includes the believers’ conduct in the days that followed (see on ch. 3:1).

The phrase ‘they were devoting themselves to’ is also translated ‘they spent their time’ [CEV, NCV, TEV], ‘they met constantly to’ [CBC; REB]. This verb means to continue to do something with intense effort, with the possible implication of doing so despite difficulty [LN]. It means to persist in doing something [BDAG]. ‘They were devoting themselves to’ can be translated as ‘they spent their time in’, ‘they gave themselves to’, or ‘they were eager for’, ‘they were very desirous of’ [TH]

An initial summary of the essential elements of Christian discipleship, elements the apostles had learned from their experience with Jesus: his teaching about his person and work (

The believers regularly listened to the apostles’ teaching and lived according to what the apostles taught [Bar, TRT]. Apostolic instruction is an important part of the new community and it continued to be at the center of church life later in Gentile contexts [BECNT, NAC, PNTC].

The second activity to which they devoted themselves was “the fellowship.” The Greek word used here (koinōnia) is one Paul often employed, but it appears only here in all of Luke-Acts. Its basic meaning is “association, communion, fellowship, close relationship.”

First, they are said to have been “together” (epi to auto).

It seems to depict the gathered community, with a strong emphasis on their unity.

Here two ideals for a community of goods seem to be combined. First is the Greek ideal of a community in which everything is held in common and shared equally.

Verse 45, however, speaks against the early Christian community adopting a practice of community ownership. The imperfect tense is used, indicating that this was a recurrent, continuing practice: their practice was to sell their property and goods and apportion the proceeds whenever a need arose. This is much more in keeping with the Old Testament ideal of community equality, of sharing with the needy so that “there will be no poor among you” (

In Jerusalem the temple was the primary place where crowds would be found, and there the Christians went to bear their witness (3:11–12; 5:21, 42). If the temple was the place of witness, homes were the place for fellowship.

A distinctive feature was the way in which the believers lived together and practised some kind of joint ownership of possessions. What this means is made clearer in verse 45 where it appears that people sold their possessions so that the proceeds might be used to help the needy.

Their work also included learning how to live and love together. They sold their possessions and made sure everybody had plenty. Communism? Absolutely not—this was voluntary, contemporary, and discretionary.

Continued together in close fellowship includes the same Greek expression which was rendered “in all” (1:15) and “in one place” (2:1). The meaning of the phrase here seems to be that they were drawn together in Christian fellowship (see NEB “all whose faith had drawn them together”) rather than that they were all living in one place (see JB “the faithful all lived together”).

Verse 45 indicates that they only gave up something when there was a specific need within the Christian community;

Shared their belongings may be rendered in some languages as “They brought together what they owned and used them together,” “each one’s things belonged to all of them,” or “they gave to one another what was needed.”

It was not actual communism, but they held all their property ready for use for the common good as it was needed (4:32). This situation appears nowhere else except in Jerusalem and was evidently due to special conditions there which did not survive permanently. Later Paul will take a special collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem.

So devoted to one another were those in the first Christian fellowship that wealthy believers sold their possessions to help care for the necessities of the poor members. Christian love manifested itself in a social program of material support for the poor

Together. This may refer either to the physical gathering together of the believers or to their unity of spirit.

When a physical or spiritual need became known in the church, action was taken to address it (

Communism teaches that possessions should be distributed to everybody equally, so that nobody will have more than anyone else. Here, the disposal and distribution of the possessions of the early church was based on need.

This early experiment in “community” was not successful (cf. 4:32–5:11). This is not meant to be a universal principle, but an attempt at a loving, mutually supportive community or faith.

For the Christian community, fellowship and unity of purpose are salutary only when rooted in fellowship with Christ and in the unity of his Spirit. The structure of Acts should remind us of this—the unity of the Christian community derives from and is guided by the gift of the Spirit that lies at the heart of its life together.

Their common life was marked by praise of God, joy in the faith, and sincerity of heart. And in it all they experienced the favor of the nonbelievers and continual blessings of God-given growth.

On the giving end, they expressed their joy by praising God for his presence in their life together (v. 47). On the receiving end, they experienced the favor of the nonbelieving Jewish community in Jerusalem. God responded to their faith and blessed the young community, adding new converts daily.154 Indeed, as with the young Jesus, so it was for the growing church—favor with God and favor with humanity (

A final comment notes that the evangelistic activity of the church continued daily. As the Christians were seen and heard by the other people in Jerusalem, their activities formed an opportunity for witness. Once again Luke refers to the process of becoming a Christian as being saved, i.e. from belonging to the sinful people around who were under God’s judgment for their rejection of the Messiah (2:40, cf. 2:21).

And the Lord—that is, JESUS, as the glorified Head and Ruler of the Church.

added—kept adding; that is, to the visible community of believers, though the words “to the Church” are wanting in the most ancient manuscripts.

. What happens to believers who worship, work, and witness for their Lord? The Lord grows the church. Let’s not miss the order—first godly relationships with each other, then growth.

Added to their group may be expressed in a number of different ways, for example, “caused the group to be bigger by these,” “put them into the group,” “made them a part of the group,” or “counted them also as part of the group.”

Those who were being saved must be understood in light of every day. The meaning of the verb phrase were being saved is temporal and not theological, that is, Luke is not concerned in this passage to present a theory of salvation as a progressive experience; rather he is saying that day after day the Lord kept adding to their group those people who became believers. Those who were being saved may be shifted into the active, for example, “those whom God was saving.”

Added (προσετιθει [prosetithei]). Imperfect active, kept on adding. If the Lord only always “added” those who join our churches. Note verse 41 where same verb is used of the 3,000.

Those that were being saved (τους σωζομενους [tous sōzomenous]). Present passive participle. Probably for repetition like the imperfect προσετιθει [prosetithei]. Better translate it “those saved from time to time.” It was a continuous revival, day by day. Σωζω [Sōzō] like σωτηρια [sōtēria] is used for “save” in three senses (beginning, process, conclusion), but here repetition is clearly the point of the present tense.

the Lord was adding every day This demonstrates that the Lord is ultimately responsible for building His community of believers. The early Christians responded to His actions by proclaiming the good news of Jesus and living with love and joy.

Not all the Jews received the witness to the Messiahship of the resurrected Jesus, but even those who rejected it looked upon the early Christian fellowship with great favor. The result was that the Lord was daily adding to the new fellowship those who received the witness, and the Christian community received them as fellow believers.

The Lord. The church recognized that the great accessions to the faith were due to the Lord and not to themselves.

Added. Rather, “was adding,” or “kept adding,” giving the idea of continuity beyond the day of Pentecost. This is strengthened by the use of the word “daily.”

“the Lord was adding” This is an IMPERFECT ACTIVE INDICATIVE. The Bible emphasizes the sovereignty of God. Nothing happens apart from God’s will. Nothing surprises God. However, this OT way of asserting monotheism (i.e. one causality) has been misunderstood. I would like to insert two Special Topics, one on the need for balance and one on covenant. I hope this brings light, not heat!

QUESTION—Who does ὁ κύριος ‘the Lord’ refer to?

1. This refers to the ‘Lord God’ [AB, Bar, BECNT, NAC]. It is the ‘Lord God’ who calls people to himself in v. 39, so it is the Lord God who adds to his community [BECNT].

QUESTION—What did the Lord do day by day?

Corresponding to what the believers did day by day, the Lord added the number of believers to the group day by day [TRT]. The Lord himself was continuing to draw people/call the saved into the fellowship of the redeemed community [Bar, EBC, NAC, NICNT, PNTC, TNTC]. The Lord was saving people from eternal punishment for their sins [TRT].