In the Book of Acts there are special passages that, as it were, sum up everything said before, and at the end of the second chapter of the book we see exactly such a passage. It would seem that, considering how much happened during the time described in the first chapters of the book, this summary should have concerned some...
In the Book of Acts there are special passages that, as it were, sum up everything said before, and at the end of the second chapter of the book we see exactly such a passage. It would seem that, considering how much happened during the time described in the first chapters of the book, this summary should have concerned some fundamentally important things - for example, the Ascension or Pentecost, since in the end those very events determined the existence of the Church itself.
But the author of the book speaks about something else: he simply tells about the life of the Church at that time, about the process of its existence, its dwelling in the world - and its dwelling in the Kingdom. It is no accident that the passage speaks of the breaking of bread, prayer, and fellowship with the apostles. This was the life of the Kingdom in the early Christian Church, and so it remains today. Nothing new was invented, and nothing new could have been invented, because the Savior Himself defined this life during the Last Supper.
But community life was more tightly knit than ours is today. Of course, the text hardly speaks of some common life like that characteristic of medieval monasteries, which often resembled large dormitories. Such forms of shared life were not very characteristic of Jewish life.
But there was something else: a community fund, replenished by generous donations from wealthy brothers, a community fund from which everyone in need could receive help. Of course, the Synagogue in every age was also marked by charity. But here, it seems, there is something more than charity as such - here there is poverty in the sense in which the prophets spoke of it, poverty as a spiritual state and not as a material condition. The recognition of the simple fact that everything belonging to you is yours only conditionally, until it becomes more needed by one of your brothers. The understanding that unconditional ownership on earth does not exist - here there is only the right of use, determined by concrete circumstances, circumstances that require us to consider nothing our own and to use everything that is needed. And this is the projection of the life of the Kingdom into society, a life where there is nothing of one's own; and if there is, then it is a lost life. Whoever wants to keep his life for himself loses it, as the Savior Himself says, but whoever gives it to Christ, making it part of the Kingdom, receives it back in a fullness unimaginable in an untransformed world.
The community life of the first Christians was a kind of practice in the life of the Kingdom. After all, it is better to get used to the new life as early as possible, so that later, when the Kingdom is revealed in all its fullness, one may enter it as naturally as possible for a fallen person.
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2:37 They said to the apostles, Brethren - They did not style them so before.
2:38 Repent - And hereby return to God: be baptized - Believing in the name of Jesus - And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost - See the three - one God clearly proved. See Act 26:20.The gift of the Holy Ghost does not mean in this place the power of speaking with tongues. For the promise of this was not given to all that were afar off, in distant ages and nations. But rather the constant fruits of faith, even righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Whomsoever the Lord our God shall call - (Whether they are Jews or Gentiles) by his word and by his Spirit: and who are not disobedient to the heavenly calling. But it is observable St. Peter did not yet understand the very words he spoke.
2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort - In such an accepted time we should add line upon line, and not leave off, till the thing is done. Save yourselves from this perverse generation - Many of whom were probably mocking still.
2:41 And there were added - To the hundred and twenty.
2:42 And they continued steadfast - So their daily Church communion consisted in these four particulars:
- Hearing the word;
- Having all things common;
- Receiving the Lord's Supper;
- Prayer.
Ye diff'rent sects, who all declare, Lo here is Christ, and Christ is there; Your stronger proofs divinely give, And show me where the Christians live!2:43 And fear came upon every soul - Of those who did not join with them: whereby persecution was prevented, till it was needful for them.
2:45 And sold their possessions - Their lands and houses; and goods - Their movables. And parted them to all as any one had need - To say the Christians did this only till the destruction of Jerusalem, is not true; for many did it long after. Not that there was any positive command for so doing: it needed not; for love constrained them. It was a natural fruit of that love wherewith each member of the community loved every other as his own soul. And if the whole Christian Church had continued in this spirit, this usage must have continued through all ages.To affirm therefore that Christ did not design it should continue, is neither more nor less than to affirm, that Christ did not design this measure of love should continue. I see no proof of this.
2:46 Continuing daily - breaking the bread - in the Lord's Supper, as did many Churches for some ages. They partook of their food with gladness and singleness of heart - They carried the same happy and holy temper through all their common actions: eating and working with the same spirit wherewith they prayed and received the Lord's Supper.
2:47 The Lord added daily such as were saved - From their sins: from the guilt and power of them.