[Thurs, 23 May] Acts 2:42-3:10 (748 words; 1/4)

The pouring out of the Spirit in the last days generates mass repentance, and, following that, a vision of life in the kingdom of God which is a foretaste of what is to come at the return of Christ. We see, in particular, joy, praising God together, and every need being met. 

Verse 42 gives us four basic things that this first community devoted themselves to: (1) the apostles' teaching (2) fellowship (3) breaking of bread (4) the prayers. This was surely the time when the apostles began to not only teach about the resurrection with many proofs from scripture, but to tell the whole story of Jesus beginning with the baptism of John to the time when Jesus was taken from them into heaven. In that oral culture, I can only imagine that these events formed the basic framework of the 'Jesus' story', and then within it the apostles told the miracle stories, the teaching, the parables, the confrontations, and then the climactic events in Jerusalem: the cleansing of the temple, debating the authorities, betrayal and arrest, the trials, the crucifixion, the burial, the resurrection and appearances, and then the commissioning of the apostles. No doubt also all these events were studded with references to scripture, which either served to foreshadow these events, predict them directly, or explain their significance. All of this preaching and teaching, which would have gone on for hours each day, would go on to form the New Testament itself, the form in which we as later believers devote ourselves to the teaching of the apostles.

I imagine also that during this time new songs and creeds were being formulated. Certainly these first Christians continued to worship as they always had, using the psalms and other scriptures -- indeed, "the prayers" which they were devoted to were the daily prayers which we see Peter and John attending in the next chapter. Jesus was the fulfilment of the scriptures, not the destruction of them! But as the fulfilment, he did bring a newness out of the old, and, as there was eventually a New Testament, so there were also new songs, new liturgies, new creeds (e.g. 1 Cor 11:23-26; 15:3-7; 16:22; Philip 2:6-11; Eph 5:14). 

Devotion to fellowship is at first glance self-explanatory, but should not be overlooked: the believer in Christ is included in the body of Christ (as Paul will later emphasise -- see 1 Cor 12:12-26; cf. Eph 4:1-6). Meeting together as believers is important for numerous reasons: it affirms the reality of the body of Christ; believers help to build each other up, confess and hear confessions, challenge and comfort, and so on. Although the Christian life may begin as one individual making his or her personal response to Jesus, it should not continue that way (i.e. in solitary individualism), and indeed cannot continue that way if it is to be healthy. The gift of the Holy Spirit is primarily for witness to Christ; therefore it is by the nature of the case a public, communal gift, whether that witness is given in the words of a testimony, or the testimony of a changed life and character. The one who believes in Jesus should not be alone -- not just because it is not optimal for that believer, but because it is more fundamentally not what a Christian is.

On the breaking of bread in v. 42, it is debated whether Luke is referring to the Lord's Supper or eating together more generally. Baptism and the Lord's Supper were the two essential rites of the early church, later to become known as 'sacraments'. But my guess is that Luke means food in general (see v. 46, and also 20:7, 11; 27:35-36), although the Lord's Supper may have been eaten regularly or on every occasion anyway.

Lastly, v. 43 says that "many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles." An example of this is given in chapter 3, where Peter commands a lame beggar to get up and walk in the name of Jesus. It is noteworthy that the activity of the early church still focuses on the apostles, on their teaching and on their miraculous deeds. These are 'signs' i.e. they are part of their witness to Jesus. There were those later on who wanted this kind of power for themselves (e.g. 8:9-24; 19:13-16). But the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and, as we shall see, speaking the truth (which is the glory of Jesus) will inevitably bring persecution.