Acts 2:47

praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.

The Word of God which had been preached with such power and followed up with such earnest exhortations, did not remain without fruit. By the working of the same Spirit whose miraculous power was exhibited before their eyes, some of the people present, a considerable number of the hearers, received the Word by faith, they accepted Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah and they were baptized. The Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ served for the strengthening of their faith in the Word of the Gospel, and for the confirming and sealing of their salvation in Christ, of which Peter had testified. It is immaterial whether this great number of people that were thus added to, that joined the ranks of, the disciples, were baptized by immersion (the necessary facilities being present in Jerusalem, as the defenders of immersion declare) or not, since the mode of Baptism is not prescribed in Holy Scriptures. There are a good many arguments of probability against immersion. But be that as it may, the fact is that these people were added to, received into, the Christian Church by the Sacrament of Baptism, their number being about three thousand souls. The souls that are won for Christ are thereby added to His Church.

Luke now sketches a picture of the first Christian congregation of Jerusalem, with the nucleus of the apostles and the hundred and twenty disciples, and with the three thousand Pentecost converts as the body. The growth of the Church was not only in numbers, but also in faith and charity. The members of the congregation continued, persevered, with great fidelity and devotion, in the teaching, in the doctrine of the apostles. These men, set and ordained by Christ as the teachers of all Christendom, were at that time the teachers of the congregation at Jerusalem. And their doctrine was the doctrine of Christ; they taught what they had heard from Christ; their word was the Word of God. By remaining steadfastly in this Word, the disciples also preserved fellowship. They were united in the same faith and love toward their Lord and Master; they were in communion with one another and in union with Christ and the Father, a wonderful, blessed intimacy, by which they were attached more closely to one another than brothers and sisters according to the flesh. Each one felt the most solicitous concern for the joys and sorrows of the other. Their intimate fellowship was expressed in the breaking of bread. If this expression does not refer exclusively to the celebration of Holy Communion, it certainly does not exclude the Sacrament. See 1 Corinthians 10:16. It plainly does not refer to an ordinary meal, and was probably used by Luke to describe briefly the common meal which the believers connected with the celebration of the Lord's Supper in the early days of the Church. And as the believers heard the Word, as they observed the Eucharist, so they also were diligent, assiduous, in public prayer. By common prayer, praise, and thanksgiving the disciples of Jerusalem manifested their brotherly fellowship and their unity of spirit. All these facts could, of course, not remain hidden from the people of the city, even if the members of the congregation had intended it so. The Christians' mode of living was a continual confession and admonition to all the inhabitants of the city. The result was that many of the Jews, as many as came into contact with the believers, were filled with a great fear; the solemn awe which the miracles and signs of the apostles inspired was augmented by the relevance demanded by their blameless living. The presence of God and the exalted Christ, through the manifest working of the Spirit, in the midst of the congregation, had to be admitted by all that came into contact with them. And this awe served the spread of the Gospel as well; it acted as a curb upon the hatred of the Jews, hindering them from showing any open manifestation of their enmity. It was God's intention that the young plant of His Church was to enjoy a peaceful growth for a season.

Meanwhile the brotherly love of the disciples showed its power in their life and works. They were together; their hearts and minds were directed to their common cause, a fact which naturally caused them to meet as often as possible, either in the Temple or in private houses, and not only for public services, but also for social intercourse in a true Christlike spirit. And they held all things in common; they did not practice communism, they did not abrogate the right of private property. Not the possession, but the use and benefit of the goods was common. See chap. 4:32. Every member of the congregation considered his property as a talent of the Lord, with which he was to serve his neighbor. In many cases this brotherly love effected still more. Their possessions and goods, all their property, they sold and divided the proceeds among all the brethren, just as the needs demanded it. That was not a law proposed or enforced by the apostles, but a free manifestation of true charity. The well-to-do Christians were willing and eager to make these sacrifices when it was evident that this was the only way in which the needs of the brethren could be supplied. There was none of the supercilious aloofness which now characterizes the intercourse of the rich with the poor. Such expressions of love had seldom, if ever, been seen on the earth before. And all this was done without any attempt at ostentation. As a matter of course, the believers, with one accord, in full unity of the spirit, held their public meetings in the Temple, where they had an opportunity to testify to the other members of their nation concerning the hope which animated them. And not only were daily meetings held in the Temple, but they also met from house to house, mainly for the celebration of the Holy Communion and of the common meal known as the Agape, where they partook of food together with great gladness or exultation and incidentally with all simplicity of heart. The richer members were not indignant over the fact that the poorer brethren were partaking of the food provided by their bounty, nor did they deem it beneath their dignity to sit at the same table. And the poor members possessed nothing of poverty's foolish pride on account of being obliged to accept the largess of others. They were all united in that one great work, to give praise to God for all the gifts which He had bestowed upon them. No wonder that they found favor with all the people. Every honest, upright Jew would naturally esteem the believers for the simplicity, purity, and charity of their lives. And the confession of the mouth being seconded and confirmed by the evidence of works, the result was that additions to the number of the believers were daily recorded. But Luke expressly states that the Lord added such as should be saved to the congregation. The conversion of every person is the Lord's doing all alone, and is the result of His gracious and good will for the salvation of sinners. Note: The congregation at Jerusalem throughout is a shining example to the Christian congregations and to the believers of all times. If that same love for the Word of God, for the use of the Sacrament, if that same unselfish charity toward the brethren were evident in our days, every congregation would stand out in the same way. And such is the will of Christ, the Head of the Church.

Summary. The miracle of Pentecost is followed by a long and powerful sermon of Peter, setting forth Jesus as the Lord and Christ, whose effect is seen in the sound establishment of the first Christian congregation at Jerusalem.