Acts 2:42

The Fellowship of the Early Believers

2:42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, ¹  to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ² 

Acts 2:45

2:45 and they began selling ³  their property ⁴  and possessions and distributing the proceeds ⁵  to everyone, as anyone had need.

[2:42]  ¹ sn Fellowship refers here to close association involving mutual involvement and relationships.

[2:42]  ² tn Grk “prayers.” This word was translated as a collective singular in keeping with English style.

[2:45]  ³ 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.

[2:45]  ⁴ tn It is possible that the first term for property (κτήματα, kthmata) refers to real estate (as later usage seems to indicate) while the second term (ὑπάρξεις, Juparxeis) 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.

[2:45]  ⁵ tn Grk “distributing them” (αὐτά, auta). The referent (the proceeds of the sales) has been specified in the translation for clarity.