What made the early church a dynamic community of the gospel? No doubt, the Holy Spirit was (and continues to be) the primary driving force who propelled the followers of Jesus to declare and to live out the truth of the gospel in their personal lives and their life together. The coming of the Spirit upon the gathered disciples gave birth to the church. And the continuing work of the Spirit formed the church to be the body of Christ in the world. Jesus told his disciples: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1.8 NIV). The rest of the Book of Acts (especially in chapter two) bears witness to this phenomenon.
Yet the human element in this whole process must not be overlooked. When the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost birthed the new church, the writer of Acts informs us concerning the believers: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2.42 NIV).
“They devoted themselves.” This phrase highlights the Spirit-empowered initiative to engage in specific activities as a community. The new believers were not coerced by others. They took it upon themselves to take specific action in keeping with their devotion to Christ. Furthermore, the phrase carries the idea of being persistent or persevering in what they chose to do. It was not a temporary or fleeting spiritual fad.
To what did they devote themselves? What is described is not an individualistic kind of faith that is exclusively focused on one’s own growth. The picture painted for us is that together the believers sought to grow in their understanding of and putting into practice the “apostles’ teaching”; together they built a type of mutuality and intimacy that was an expression of their unity in Christ (“fellowship” and “breaking of bread”); together they sought the Lord’s guidance and provision in “prayer.”
All this was not about meeting their own needs. This was about becoming a living testimony to the world of what the gospel was all about. As a result, we are told that this Spirit-empowered, gospel-driven community was “enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2.47 NIV). In becoming this kind of community they were also fulfilling their assignment to be Christ’s witnesses to the whole world.
—Keith Y. Jainga