Bible Explorations

with J. Michael Smith (8/20/26)

THE OBVIOUS

The first thing we notice is that there is some sort of cause and effect happening here.  Peter has given a mighty speech, and it is having an effect on those who are listening.  He has just finished giving a narrative about Jesus, and now the crowd is eager to know what they can do in response.  

Peter doesn’t hesitate.  He challenges them to repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit.  “And bring the kids along with you.”  He reinforces his stories about Jesus with several compelling arguments to convince and motivate.  He exhorts them to separate themselves out from the “current generation,” a bold assertion that this new community must NOT blend and disappear into the prevailing culture.  

God stirs about 3000 people to step forward and volunteer to be a part of this new way, this new community, this new opportunity.  

The effect of Peter’s words is the formation of a community—people who are learning together, eating together, praying together and enjoying each other’s company.  The enthusiasm, the sense of belonging, and the powerful yearning to belong are obvious.  Plus, there is a feeling of surprise at what is happening,  An unexpected synergy.

The apostles are at the center of it all, filled with the Holy Spirit.  They are outperforming expectations.  People can see the hand of God in what they are doing and hear the voice of God in what they are saying.

People’s behavior starts to change in surprising ways.  In contrast to human selfishness, people are now keen to share with one another.  They are even selling and giving away their stuff in order to fuel this movement of generosity.  

Finally, a great spirit of “togetherness” is sweeping people along, attracting new participants and partners day by day.  This conspicuous togetherness spreads into public spaces, such as the temple, and into private spaces, such as people’s homes.  The open spirit of this emerging community is creating goodwill with the broader public.  And there is food, lots of eating together. 

 THE LESS OBVIOUS

1. The context of this passage in the book of Acts.  After the four gospels have covered the drama of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, the Book of Acts continues with the narrative of Jesus’ first followers, post-resurrection. In Acts so far: After his resurrection, Jesus appears physically to his followers over the course of forty days.  He has conversation with them, eats with them, talks about Scripture with them, and gives them instructions.  And then he disappears into the sky on Day 40. 

Now left “alone,” the disciples busy themselves by selecting Mathias to replace Judas as one of the twelve.  And together with a group of women and with the family of Jesus, everyone is praying quite a bit.  

And then, on the 50^th day after Jesus resurrection, the whole band was gathered together in a room, about 120 of them in all, when all of the sudden a gust of wind filled the whole house with the Holy Spirt.  It felt like jets and tongues of fire.  The followers of Jesus immediately began telling stories about God, speaking in various languages.  Everyone who heard them, including people who spoke languages from Europe, Africa, and Asia, understood what the followers of Jesus were saying, each in their own native tongues.

Peter gave a long speech, mostly talking about Jesus—how he did good, taught truth, and challenged people to make changes in their lives.  He also talked about how Jesus was martyred for his actions—at the hands of religious and governmental leaders. He also proclaimed that this very day God was in the process of setting right all the wrong that had been done to Jesus, and that what God was doing was monumental and was going to change the world.

In this context, the people beg Peter to tell them what they should do.

• This passage contains a mother lode of theological terms that are at the heart of Christian faith, each one the theme of whole sermons, devotionals, pieces of art, works of music, and shelves of books:  repentance, baptism, the name of Jesus, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, God’s promise to us and our children.  One could preach twenty years of sermons on Acts 2 and never repeat a single sermon.  The eleven verses at the end Acts 2 are simply too rich to digest in one sitting.  But any interpretation of the text requires that all its rich theological concepts be running in the background.

•  This narrative was first written down in Greek.  Several of the Greek words have a nuance and a richness that doesn’t always come through in translation.

1. In v. 40, skoe-lee-AS:  sometimes translated “crooked.”

Also wicked, peevish, morose, perverse, unfair

• In v. 42, did-ak-SAY:  sometimes translated “teaching.”

Also instruction, doctrine, a cohesive and comprehensive body of material

• In v. 42, koi noe NEE ah:  sometimes translated “fellowship.”

Also participation, community, aiding and assisting one another

• In v. 44, koi NAH:  sometimes translated “in common.”

Also belonging equally to several, ordinary things, not just religious items

• In v. 45, KRAE-an:  sometimes translated “need.”

Also necessary things, wants and desires

• In v. 46, pros kar te ROON tes:  sometimes translated “spent much time.”

Also devoted, persistent, intensely engaged in, attending constantly to

• In v. 46, ho mo thu ma DON:  sometimes translated “together.”

Also with one mind, together all at once, in harmony, unanimously 

• In v. 46, ah fe LOT ae mi:  sometimes translated “generous” or “sincere”

Also sincerity, simplicity, authenticity

1. In v. 47, KA rin:  sometimes translated “goodwill.”

Also having favor, pleasing to others, enchanting, gracious, well-thought-of

• The passage begins with the people being pierced in the heart (v. 37).  This is a poetic phrase to indicate that they felt a sudden flush of empathy.  Peter has just told them the story about how unjustly Jesus had been treated by the authorities.  In contrast to the Pharaoh’s hardened heart in the story of the Exodus, this crowd responds with empathy—they are pierced to the heart.  This flush of empathy is critical to the response that will follow:  “What should we do?!”  

• How to be saved from a crooked and perverse generation?  (v. 40)  This is a perennial question, confronting conscientious people in every era throughout human history.  It is as loud and urgent today as always.  In Deuteronomy 32:5, we read that the only people Moses was given to work with was a “blemished…twisted, and perverse generation.”  And yet he was called to lead them to the promised land.  How do we reconcile our fears and anger with our generation—maintain our own integrity in the midst of this generation—and yet still successfully lead them toward God’s promises?  

• In a zero-sum mentality, the way to make sure you have enough is to gather to excess, hang on to what you have, protect it, lock it, hide it, preserve it, and give it away sparingly.  But scripture lays the groundwork for a counter-intuitive strategy. When manna falls from heaven, people only gather what they need for a single day. (Exodus 16)  Jesus teaches us to only ask for bread for the current day. (Matthew 6:11)  A mortal farmer is exposed as a fool when he builds barns to hold his grain when the stomachs of his neighbors are empty. (Luke 12: 13-21)  A starving widow is only able to save the life of her son and herself when she shares her last ounces of flour and oil with the prophet Elisha. (2 Kings 4: 1-7)  Jesus commands his followers to give to those who beg and loan to those who ask. (Matthew 5:42) Jesus also says to store up treasures in heaven, not this world.  (Matthew 6: 19-21)  Individuals described in Acts 2 are following a long standing tradition in the Bible—giving away in order to increase the total prosperity of everyone.  Isaiah 58: 7-12:  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless into your house; when you see the naked to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?  Then your light shall shine forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly…then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am”…if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted.”  Communities of faith operate according to counter-intuitive sets of rules.

• The “breaking of bread” appears in both vv. 42 and 46.  This has a double meaning.  On one hand, it is the beginning of a ritual that imitates Jesus.  An insider’s signal that we are the ones who act like him.  Throughout the gospels, we read time after time of Jesus breaking bread, in settings both intimate and public.  

The idiom, “breaking of bread” also has a more common meaning:  eating together. Christian community emerges from the table:  breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, coffee, tea, drinks…  Eating together forms the setting for sharing stories, working through arguments, making peace, offering comfort….  

• A significant literary shift is taking place in the early passages of Acts, seen most clearly at the end of chapter 2. Throughout the gospels, the protagonist is Jesus of Nazareth.  But after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the protagonist becomes the body of Christ, the church, in other words.  From now on, the church will imitate Christ, not only in “the breaking of bread,” but in every other way as well.  The church will take on the role of teaching, healing, praying, proclaiming, forgiving, gathering, inspiring, feeding, exorcising, and challenging the authorities.  The apostles, from Peter and John and James to Paul will be the midwives making this transition.  The literary craft of Acts will assist the reader in making this move—a seamless transition from Jesus of Nazareth to the church.  Throughout, the Holy Spirit is dynamic and ever present. 

CONCLUSIONS

This passage is a picture of the church before it became an institution.  There are as yet no church buildings, no bishops or pastors, no committees or programs, no church budgets, no volunteers, no doctrinal disputes or power struggles.  The church will very soon find itself plunged into these institutional matters.  But in this passage, we see the pure communal church, just as we see “pure” creation in the first and second chapters of Genesis.  This picture of the church at the end of Acts 2 continues to stand as an ideal, a challenge, and a corrective for the church into our own day.