Acts 2:42–47

The Fellowship of the Early Believers

2:42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship,93 to the breaking of bread and to prayer.94 2:43 Reverential awe95 came over everyone,96 and many wonders and miraculous signs97 came about by the apostles. 2:44 All who believed were together and held98 everything in common, 2:45 and they began selling99 their property100 and possessions and distributing the proceeds101 to everyone, as anyone had need. 2:46 Every day102 they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts,103 breaking bread from104 house to house, sharing their food with glad105 and humble hearts,106 2:47 praising God and having the good will107 of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day108 those who were being saved.

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93	sn Fellowship refers here to close association involving mutual involvement and relationships.
94	tn Grk “prayers.” This word was translated as a collective singular in keeping with English style.
95	tn Or “Fear.”
96	tn Grk “on every soul” (here “soul” is an idiom for the whole person).
97	tn In this context the miraculous nature of these signs is implied. Cf. BDAG 920 s.v. σημεῖον 2.a.
98	tn Grk “had.”
99	tn The imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive (“began …”). Since in context this is a description of the beginning of the community of believers, it is more likely that these statements refer to the start of various activities and practices that the early church continued for some time.
100	tn It is possible that the first term for property (κτήματα, ktēmata) refers to real estate (as later usage seems to indicate) while the second term (ὑπάρξεις, huparxeis) refers to possessions in general, but it may also be that the two terms are used together for emphasis, simply indicating that all kinds of possessions were being sold. However, if the first term is more specifically a reference to real estate, it foreshadows the incident with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1–11.
101	tn Grk “distributing them” (αὐτά, auta). The referent (the proceeds of the sales) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
102	tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.
103	tn Grk “in the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.
104	tn Here κατά (kata) is used as a distributive (BDAG 512 s.v. B.1.d).
105	sn The term glad (Grk “gladness”) often refers to joy brought about by God’s saving acts (Luke 1:14, 44; also the related verb in 1:47; 10:21).
106	tn Grk “with gladness and humbleness of hearts.” It is best to understand καρδίας (kardias) as an attributed genitive, with the two nouns it modifies actually listing attributes of the genitive noun which is related to them.
107	tn Or “the favor.”
108	tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.

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