Acts 2:41-47
41So those who accepted ▼▼tn Or “who acknowledged the truth of.”
his message ▼▼tn Grk “word.”
were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people ▼▼tn Grk “souls” (here an idiom for the whole person).
were added. ▼▼tn Or “were won over.”
The Fellowship of the Early Believers
42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, ▼▼sn Fellowship refers here to close association involving mutual involvement and relationships.
to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ▼▼tn Grk “prayers.” This word was translated as a collective singular in keeping with English style.
43Reverential awe ▼▼tn Or “Fear.”
came over everyone, ▼▼tn Grk “on every soul” (here “soul” is an idiom for the whole person).
and many wonders and miraculous signs ▼▼tn In this context the miraculous nature of these signs is implied. Cf. BDAG 920 s.v. σημεῖον 2.a.
came about by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and held ▼▼tn Grk “had.”
everything in common, 45and they began selling ▼▼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.
their property ▼▼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.
and possessions and distributing the proceeds ▼▼tn Grk “distributing them” (αὐτά, auta). The referent (the proceeds of the sales) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
to everyone, as anyone had need. 46Every day ▼▼tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.
they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, ▼▼tn Grk “in the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.
breaking bread from ▼▼tn Here κατά (kata) is used as a distributive (BDAG 512 s.v. B.1.d).
house to house, sharing their food with glad ▼ and humble hearts, ▼▼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.
47praising God and having the good will ▼▼tn Or “the favor.”
of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day ▼▼tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.
those who were being saved.
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