Christ and the Beginning of the Congregation

When Jesus told His disciples that He would build His congregation, He identified it as His own (Matthew 16:18). After His resurrection, He declared that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him and commissioned His disciples to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to observe everything He had commanded (Matthew 28:18–20). The commission gave the church both its work and the content of its teaching. The apostles were authorized to teach Christ’s commands, and those who heard them were expected to obey what they learned. Acts shows how that commission took shape in the lives of people who heard the good news, repented, and were baptized. The earliest account of their life together gives present-day congregations a biblical standard for examining how they teach, worship, care for their members, and appoint those who oversee them.

At Pentecost in Jerusalem, Peter stood with the eleven and publicly declared what God had done through Jesus. He recalled the powerful works known to his hearers, charged them with responsibility for Jesus’ execution, and testified that God had raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:14, 22–24, 32). In explaining Psalm 16:8–11, Peter drew attention to a fact his hearers could recognize. David had died and been buried, and his tomb was still among them. Peter explained that David had spoken prophetically about the resurrection of the Christ, and he then appealed to the apostles’ own testimony as witnesses that God had raised Jesus (Acts 2:25–32). He brought the argument to its point by declaring that God had made this Jesus both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). The congregation in Jerusalem began with people who heard that testimony and accepted its claim upon them.

Luke records that Peter’s hearers were pierced to the heart and asked what they should do. Peter called them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, and about three thousand persons who received his word were baptized that day (Acts 2:37–41). The order matters because Luke follows the account of baptism immediately with a description of what these people continued to do. Their response to the message carried into the way they spent their time, used their possessions, and treated one another. Luke closes the account by crediting the Lord with adding to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:47). The same passage that records about three thousand baptisms also describes believers learning together, opening their homes, and sharing with those in need, giving substance to what that increase meant.

Continued Devotion to the Apostles’ Teaching

Acts 2:42 says that the believers “continued devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers” (UASV). The Greek construction uses a past form of the verb “to be” with a present participle of proskartereō, a verb that conveys persistence or steadfast attention. Luke is describing an ongoing pattern of conduct following the baptisms he has just recorded. The people who had accepted Peter’s public testimony now gave sustained attention to the instruction of the apostles. They needed to learn what Jesus had commanded and how allegiance to Him bore on matters such as forgiving a brother, speaking truthfully, and responding to hostility (Matthew 5:43–48; 18:21–35). Christ’s commission called for that continued teaching because making disciples included teaching them to observe His commands (Matthew 28:19–20).

The apostles’ teaching drew its authority from Christ, who commissioned them and promised that the Holy Spirit would bring His words to their remembrance (John 14:25–26). Their testimony concerning His resurrection was foundational to that work, as the requirements for replacing Judas among the Twelve make clear (Acts 1:21–22). Congregations today receive the authoritative apostolic teaching through the Spirit-inspired Scriptures. A teacher serves that purpose when he explains what a passage says, shows how its immediate context establishes its meaning, and identifies the conduct it requires. For example, a teacher handling Matthew 18:21–35 must account for Peter’s question about forgiving his brother, the contrast between the two debts, and Jesus’ warning about forgiveness from the heart. That sequence gives a congregation grounds for understanding and applying the passage and allows hearers to check the teacher’s explanation against Christ’s words.

Fellowship That Met Real Needs

Luke shows what fellowship involved by describing the believers’ willingness to share their possessions (Acts 2:44–45). The Greek noun koinōnia denotes sharing or participation, and the conduct in the following verses gives that participation a concrete form. Believers sold property and possessions and distributed the proceeds according to need. The measure Luke gives for the distribution is the need of the recipient, so the account directs attention to the person who lacked something necessary. Barnabas later provided a specific instance of this generosity when he sold a field and brought the money to the apostles (Acts 4:36–37). Peter’s words to Ananias establish that the property remained his before the sale and that the proceeds were at his disposal afterward (Acts 5:4). The generosity in Jerusalem consisted of believers freely making their own resources available for the care of others.

The account of neglected widows shows the same responsibility from another angle. As the disciples increased, the Greek-speaking Jews complained that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution (Acts 6:1). The Twelve gathered the disciples and directed them to select seven qualified men to take responsibility for the matter, while the apostles devoted themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:2–6). The existence of the distribution showed that the congregation already recognized its duty to help, but the complaint identified people the existing arrangement was failing to reach. The response gave named men responsibility for seeing that the work was done and allowed the apostles to continue their own assigned work. A congregation that regularly assists members can apply the same principle by finding out whether a housebound widow actually receives help and by giving someone clear responsibility for following through.

Breaking Bread and Praying Together

The believers’ shared life also took place around their tables. Acts 2:46 records that they continued together in the temple and broke bread in their homes, taking their food with gladness and sincerity of heart. The mention of taking food makes ordinary shared meals explicit in that verse. Elsewhere, Luke uses the language of breaking bread when Paul takes food aboard a ship in the presence of the passengers and crew, which shows that the expression can refer to eating an ordinary meal (Acts 27:33–38). The shorter reference to breaking bread in Acts 2:42 leaves open whether Luke there includes observance of the Lord’s Supper. For that observance, the explicit instructions are found in Jesus’ words over the bread and the cup and in Paul’s account of what he received and delivered to the Corinthians (Luke 22:19–20; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26). Luke’s description of daily meals in Jerusalem gives those meals their own significance as occasions when disciples welcomed one another into their homes and shared what they had.

Prayer likewise belonged to the congregation’s regular life, and Acts records what the believers prayed for when the authorities threatened Peter and John. After the two apostles reported what the chief priests and elders had said, the believers addressed God together and recalled the words of Psalm 2:1–2 about rulers gathering against Jehovah and His anointed one (Acts 4:23–28). They then asked God to take notice of the threats and grant His servants boldness to speak His word (Acts 4:29). The request was specific to the responsibility they faced after hearing the report. Their prayer took its language and understanding of the opposition from Scripture and asked for help to carry out the work Christ had assigned them. Acts 2:46–47 also records praise in the ordinary course of the believers’ life together, so the account shows them turning to God in gratitude as well as under pressure.

Strengthening Disciples in Local Congregations

Acts 14:21–23 shows what happened when the good news took root in cities beyond Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas preached in Derbe and made many disciples, then returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch. Returning to Lystra carried particular weight because Paul had recently been stoned there and dragged out of the city by people who thought he was dead (Acts 14:19–20). On the return journey the two men strengthened the disciples and urged them to remain in the faith, speaking plainly about the hardships they would encounter on the way to entering God’s Kingdom. The warning prepared disciples to persevere when following Christ brought opposition from the same communities in which they lived. Luke places this encouragement alongside the appointment of elders, showing that the care of those who had believed was part of the work of establishing congregations.

Luke says that Paul and Barnabas “appointed elders for them in every congregation” (Acts 14:23, UASV). The two missionaries are the grammatical subject of the appointment, and the disciples in the various congregations are the people for whom the elders were appointed. Luke uses “elders” in the plural and speaks of appointment congregation by congregation, giving the oversight a local and shared character. His wording identifies who made the appointments in this account while leaving the details of any consultation with the disciples unspecified. The appointments were accompanied by prayer and fasting, and Paul and Barnabas committed the believers to the Lord in whom they had believed. The reference to their prior faith is fitting. The elders were appointed to care for disciples who already belonged to Christ.

Elders, Overseers, and the Work of Shepherding

Paul’s meeting with the elders of Ephesus clarifies what the appointed men were to do. From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the congregation (Acts 20:17). Speaking to those same men, he charged them to pay attention to themselves and to the whole flock, among whom the Holy Spirit had made them overseers, and to shepherd the congregation (Acts 20:28). Luke thus uses the designation “elders” for the men Paul summoned, “overseers” for the responsibility entrusted to them, and the verb “to shepherd” for the care they were to exercise. Paul immediately warned that men would arise from among them speaking distorted things to draw disciples after themselves (Acts 20:29–31). Watching over the congregation therefore required elders to attend to their own teaching and conduct as carefully as they attended to dangers from outside.

Paul gave Titus a corresponding instruction to appoint elders in every city, then explained what an overseer must be as God’s steward (Titus 1:5–9). The overseer must hold firmly to the trustworthy word as taught so that he can encourage others with sound teaching and correct those who contradict it. That qualification has practical force when, for example, a confident speaker begins circulating an interpretation that excuses conduct the passage condemns. An elder needs to identify the error, show from the passage why it is an error, and help those who heard it understand what faithful conduct requires. Peter also charged elders to shepherd the flock willingly and to become examples to those in their care, placing them under Christ, the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:1–4). An elder’s handling of disagreement, his willingness to hear a member’s concern, and his readiness to accept correction himself all give the congregation firsthand evidence of how he understands the charge to shepherd.

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