Being a Community

Acts 2:41-47

What should a community of God aspire to?

Unity

Peace

Joy

Praise God

Related Passages

Acts 4:32–37 NLT

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.

Acts 5:12–16 NLT

The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

how growth and development progressively took place through the preaching of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, they highlight the fact that God was building a new community and not simply dealing with individuals in isolation

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

positive example of the earliest community of Christians

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

a model of what could happen when people were bound together by a belief in the gospel, an understanding of its implications, and an enjoyment of its blessings

What did they do when they got together?

Ministry to each other

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

Luke is giving a description of the ministry of these disciples to one another in a variety of contexts, not simply telling us what happened when they gathered for what we might call ‘church’

Devoted themselves to the apostles teaching

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

devoted themselves (ēsan proskarterountes) to the apostles’ teaching

Devoted themselves to the fellowship

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

devoted themselves to the fellowship

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

The koinōn- words in Greek normally mean ‘to share with someone in something’ above and beyond the relationship itself, or ‘to give someone a share in something’

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

The sharing of goods came to include the distribution of food to the needy in their midst (cf. 6:1–2) and was certainly not restricted to formal gatherings of the believers. It may be best, therefore, to give koinōnia its widest interpretation in 2:42, including within its scope ‘contributions, table fellowship, and the general friendship and unity which characterized the community’.

Devoted themselves to the breaking of bread

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

They also devoted themselves to the breaking of bread

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

The reality of Christian fellowship was expressed from the earliest times in the ordinary activity of eating together. But these meals were doubtless given a special character by the fact that they were associated with teaching, prayer, and praise

Devoted themselves to prayer

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

Finally, they devoted themselves ‘to the prayers

Devoted themselves to praise

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

an enduring sense of awe inspired by the consciousness that God was at work in their midst, so that they were witnesses of the final drama, and indeed participants in it’

The Acts of the Apostles C. The Community Created by the Spirit (2:41–47)

It is important to note that this sharing of possessions was voluntary and occasional

Important Definitions

Devoted - extremely loving and loyal

to give oneself entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause.

Wholehearted commitment to God, to another person or to a task. God’s people are encouraged to show such commitment.

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament προσκαρτερέω

In connection with persons it means “to be loyal to someone

Apostles

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament 1. The Greek Usage.

A common feature of all these meanings is their predominantly passive character. In none of them do we find any suggestion either of initiative on the part of the ἀπόστολος or of authorisation linked with the mission. The most that can be said is that the word denotes the quality of being sent, unless we are to regard it as no more than a stereotyped term.

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament 1. The Greek Usage.

the basic element is obviously the quality of being sent; the idea of authorisation is not the point at issue and is quite secondary

Teaching

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament διδαχή

with a strong tendency to restrict it to the fact

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament διδαχή

it is finally God who speaks in the teaching of Jesus and the apostles. This means that there is on the one side both a formal and a material distinction from the Greek concept of teaching