41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Acts 2:41-42 (ESV) 中文
Conviction sets in
Peter’s preaching about who Christ is using OT prophecies along with personal testimony by the apostles of the resurrection of Jesus is complete. He has reminded them, “You crucified Him!” The crowd responds to the Spirit’s conviction and Peter tells them to repent and be baptized – which they did.
Recipe for growth
And boy, do they respond! Not just a few here and there. No way. 3,000 of them are saved by the work of the Holy Spirit….in one day. [Note: some commentators believe “day” could refer to a time period, not a 24 hr day.]
And beyond that, “Think of how this touched lives beyond that one day. Many of the 3,000 were undoubtedly pilgrims who came to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. They expected something special from God, but not anything like this. Many in this crowd went back home, traveling far from Jerusalem, taking the good news of Jesus Christ with them.” (enduringword.com)
Now what?
This raises some interesting challenges for a church that is just being born. How do you baptize all of them?! Or, what do they do now? To answer this, Luke tells us they “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching”. This refers to the 12 identified in the last chapter (Acts 1:15-26), all of whom had been with Jesus, seen the miracles and the resurrection. These were now automatically the preachers and pastors for 3,000+ people! No formal Bible School training. They had to hit the ground running.
This new church also devoted themselves to the fellowship which included the breaking of bread and the prayers. “The fellowship (Gr. te koinonia) refers to sharing things with others…this fellowship was distinctive… Even though their fellowship included material goods, its primary reference must be to the ideas, attitudes, purposes, mission, and activities that the Christians shared.” (planobiblechapel.org)
Dr. Constable continues, “The believers’ persistence in these activities demonstrated their felt need to learn, to encourage one another, to refocus on Christ’s death, and to praise and petition God (1:1).”
RЯeflection
- What is so wonderful about this is Who did the work? What did the apostles do? They were obedient, stayed together, and prayed in faith. But the Spirit did all the “heavy lifting”. We’ll see this more clearly later. How does that change your perspective on your role in the salvation of others?
- When we fellowship, what do we do? Do we listen to preachers, share a meal and pray? Is there benefit to imitating the early church? Should we share a meal at church and pray together afterward? Leave your comments.
