After seeing a glimpse into what the first New-Covenant Church’s worship looked like, Luke now takes us to see how the fellowship (communion) at the Altar was lived out in the lives of those first Christians.
Communal Life of the Christians
Read Acts 2:44-45
- What did the intense spiritual unity among the first Christians lead to?
The “possessions” (ktemata) the Christians sold normally referred to land, not items. We see this understanding shown more clearly in the Septuagint (Hosea 2:15 [vineyard], Joel 1:11 [field], and Sirach 28:24 [property]) and later in Acts 5:1 [property]).
Note St. Luke’s word usage: The koinonia (Lord’s Supper) led the Christians to share all things in common (another form of the word koinonia). This sharing could have two meanings:
- They put what they had into a centrally managed “fund,” giving up all rights to it.
- The first Christians still owned what they had, which they then put to be commonly used. This understanding makes more sense because of what later takes place in Acts, chapters 4-5.
- What do you think would happen if spiritual disunity were to arise in such a setting?
Read Acts 2:46-47
- Where did the Christians go for “the prayers”?
- What does this say about how they viewed the Temple and what it was to become?
- Yet, what do they not do there (despite the size of the Temple complex)?
The first Christians “broke bread” in their homes. The breaking of bread refers to shared meals (also known as agape meals) with fellow Christians. That usually included the Lord’s Supper, as well. Before churches were built, Christians celebrated the Lord’s Supper in homes, usually in connection with such a common meal (Acts 20:7-8, 1 Corinthians 11:17-22).
- Who caused the Church to grow in number?
Peter heals a crippled man
After Pentecost, Luke said that many “wonders and signs” were being done through the Apostles. Here, Luke gives a fuller account of that taking place.
Read Acts 3:1
- What were Peter and John going to do?
The Apostles, being Jewish, observed the regular Jewish hours of prayer, just as believers had done for centuries (Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10). The first Christians brought the practice of having designated times of prayer into the early Church. That’s why in our hymnal we have Morning Prayer, Matins, Vespers, Evening Prayer, and Compline. Those “prayer offices” were meant to be used above and beyond the services of Word and Sacrament, not instead of them.
Read Acts 3:2-8
- Who did the healing? (vs. 6)
- What two titles did Peter use when referring to Jesus so all would know to which Jesus he was referring?
For those who witnessed the crippled man’s healing, they saw a sign that the messianic age had arrived. As Isaiah had foretold: “Then the lame will leap [hallomai] like the deer” (Isaiah 35:6). Note that Luke used a rare Greek word, hallomai, to describe the man’s jumping, which was the same word in the Old-Testament Greek Septuagint. “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. Then you will go out and leap [okirtao] like calves let out of the stall” (Malachi 4:2).
- What then was God doing through Peter’s healing of the crippled man?
- In verse 2, the word translated as “alms” is also the Greek word for mercy. How does that understanding help change how we can respond to events in our lives?
Read Acts 3:9-10
- Whom did the people praise?
Peter preaches to the gathered crowd
Read Acts 3:11-21
- Whom does Peter say healed the crippled man? (vs. 12-13)
- How does Peter link Jesus to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
- How could Peter say with authority that Christ fulfilled what the Old-Covenant prophets had foretold? (vs.17)
- What does Peter first do in this sermon, accuse them with the Law or comfort then with the Gospel?
- What does Peter preach after his stern word of Law? (vs. 19-21)
- How does Peter’s preaching “style” follow what Jesus said to His Apostles about preaching in Luke 24:47 (repentance into the forgiveness of sins is to be preached in His name)?
Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3:14)
When Peter referred to Jesus as holy and righteous, he wasn’t simply using adjectives to describe characteristics of Jesus. Instead, Peter was using Old-Covenant titles–the holy one, and the righteous one–to point to whom Jesus was and is.
We find Scripture using the title “Holy One” for Aaron the priest (Psalm 106:16) and Elisha the prophet (2 Kings 4:9).
Scripture uses the title “Righteous One” to describe Noah (Genesis 6:9, Sirach 44:17).
Thus, Peter was pointing to the Israelites that what Jesus came to do was from God. He fulfilled the role of priest and prophet. Like Noah who was righteous in a corrupted word, Jesus even fulfilled what it meant to be righteous. In the way that someone could see Noah as the father of life in the post-flood world, Jesus fulfilled that idea in all its fullness.
- How then would the Law that Peter preached impact the people?
- Peter then called Jesus “the Author of life.” By using “author,” what point is Peter making?
Times of Refreshing (Acts 3:20)
In the Scriptures, the idea of bring refreshed has at its root the idea of being cooled off by a refreshing wind. We find this usage in Genesis 8:11, describing the “breathing space” granted after the plague of the frogs. However, when we look later in the Old Testament, we find the idea of such “wind” (which is the same word as Spirit) bringing refreshment during two main times.
Relief from work
Exodus 23:12: [God speaking to the people of Israel:] “For six days you will do your work. But on the seventh day you are to rest, so your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave as and the foreign resident may be refreshed.
Refreshment came as God’s people refrained from work to rest. More specifically, this was to be brought into the Sabbath rest that God has established for His people. The people we refreshed during worship; worship was their rest, not their work.
Refreshment that came from food and drink
Judges 15:19: Then God split a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he was refreshed.
2 Samuel 16:14: The king and all the people with him arrived exhausted [at the Jordan River], where he [David] refreshed himself [context: by eating and drinking].
- Within a New-Covenant context, where does a refreshing wind (Spirit) come together with the Sabbath rest of worship and eating and drinking?
- After Peter mentioned the “times of refreshing” in his sermon, he said “that he [God] may send the Christ appointed for you.” How then was Christ being sent tied to “times of refreshing”?
- However, what is the final revelation of Christ that Peter points his listeners toward? (vs. 22)
Peter quotes the Old Testament
Peter now moves from titles and other Old-Testament connections to Jesus and uses quotations to show Jesus as the fulfiller of the Old Covenant.
Read Acts 3:22-26
- Peter first quotes and adapts Deuteronomy 18:15-16a, 16 with Leviticus 23:29. What was Peter saying about Jesus? (vs. 22-23)
- Peter used the Old-Covenant expression of being “cut off” (ESV: destroyed) from the people. What point was he making that a Jew could easily understand about what it meant to reject Jesus? (vs. 23)
- What point does Peter then make about what the prophets stated in the Old Testament books outside the Torah (5 books of Moses)? (vs. 22)
- The expression “The Law and the Prophets” was a shorthand way to refer to the entire Old-Testament scriptures. What was Peter asserting about whom the Law and the Prophets testified?
- If the Israelites were the “sons of the prophets,” then what made sense for them to do concerning the prophets?
- Who is the “offspring” whom Peter mentions in verse 25?
In verse 25 Peter quoted Genesis 22:18 from the Septuagint. However, he changed two parts of that verse to tailor it to his listeners.
- He changed the reflexive verb form (will bless themselves, which could also “mean will be blessed”) with a very clear passive (will be blessed),
- He changed the word for Gentile/nations (ethnee) to family (patriai).
- Considering the context of “works righteousness” within Judaism, what point did Peter’s use of the passive voice make?
- By using “family,” how was Peter making the message more personal?
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