The day of Pentecost, in all the centuries of its celebration, never had a greater significance than in the year AD 33. In this year, the feast day was to have an epoch-marking, world-altering importance that reached far beyond the boundaries of the nation. This first Lord's Day marked the beginning of a new dispensation, the fulfilment of Christ's promise (Jn 15.26), and the answer to Christ's prayer (Jn 14.16), as the Holy Spirit was given.
On that day, a new entity came into being. Scripture speaks of it as a building. The Lord Jesus had declared, "I will build my church" (Mt 16.18) and it was at Pentecost that that great construction project commenced. The Church is also spoken of as the body of Christ (Eph 1.23), and as that body came into being it was baptised in the Spirit in a way that was both unprecedented and unrepeatable (1 Cor 12.13). The Church is also spoken of as the bride of Christ (Rev 21.9), and, since the moment of her inauguration, her longing has been for the return of the Bridegroom. Since the glorious day of Pentecost, every individual who has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ has been integrated in the building, incorporated in the body, and included in the bride.
The inauguration of the church, the body of Christ, was a unique event. There would only ever be one body of Christ, only ever one bride. But there was another entity that came into existence on the day of Pentecost, which was only the first of many. That entity shared its name and its members with the Church, the body of Christ, but it was neither a microcosm nor a miniature of it. As the gospel spread, and as new converts were baptised and gathered together, these churches – or assemblies – were formed throughout the world. Scripture describes them as the "churches of God" (1 Cor 11.16; 1 Thess 2.14; 2 Thess 1.4) and the "churches of Christ" (Rom 16.16). The local church in Jerusalem was the first of many, and it set the pattern for countless others down through the centuries.
Thus, Acts 2.41-42 shares a fundamental importance with Matthew 18.20. The latter tells us what an assembly is; the former what an assembly does: "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers".
Notice that there were prerequisites for being added to the assembly. First of all, salvation was essential. Every one of the 3,000 individuals who swelled the ranks of the new church of God had gladly received the Word of God. Peter's message brought them face-to-face with their guilt for rejecting the Messiah, and their complicity in His death. They were "pricked in their heart" (v.37). But as they confessed their guilt, Peter unfolded the remarkable – almost incredible – grace of God that was still extended to them. Their belief and salvation gloriously contrast with the commencement of the dispensation of law, when "there fell of the people that day about three thousand men" (Ex 32.28). The assembly in Jerusalem was composed only of those who were saved.
Then those who had been saved were baptised. Baptism was then and is now a prerequisite for assembly fellowship. But, more than this, baptism is a prerequisite for a Christian life. It is not so much that the Bible does not contemplate an unbaptized believer taking his or her place in a local assembly: Scripture never contemplates the possibility of a believer who does not, at their first opportunity, obey the Lord in baptism. On the day of Pentecost, Jerusalem must have been full of damp and dripping men and women, for all who were saved were baptised before they were added.
Notice that they had to be added. They did not become part of the assembly at conversion, or upon baptism. Being added to the assembly – what Romans 16.2 describes as reception to the assembly – is a distinct step from conversion and baptism. This is one of the crucial differences between the Church which is His body and the local assembly. Salvation places me in the body; it does not automatically make me a member of a local church.
Reception, then, was a separate step, but it was also a significant one. Membership of this assembly was not for dilettantes. The believers in Jerusalem took their position seriously – "they continued stedfastly". The word "stedfastly" has connotations of selfless loyalty, sacrificial devotion, and courageous commitment. These believers were not playing church. Their devotion – practically expressed in the giving of their time, their homes, and their money (vv.44-46) – might well challenge us, and cause us to re-examine our own "stedfastness".
The stedfastness of these believers was expressed in their consistent continuation in the essential activities of an assembly. It is interesting to think about how we might have arranged this list. We might well have given the first place to the breaking of bread. Or, perhaps, we might have put fellowship first. But the Spirit of God puts neither of these at the top of the list. That position is given to "the apostles' doctrine". The assembly in Jerusalem was not a gathering of individuals on the basis of a shared social and cultural background. Nor was it merely a gathering of those who had been saved. Rather, it was a company of people bound together by a shared submission to the apostles' teaching and a common obedience to the Word of God.
It was this doctrinal basis that made fellowship real, and gave true significance to its declaration in the breaking of bread. To have fellowship – to "share in common" – with someone who did not accept the teaching of the apostles would have been impossible, and to break bread with someone not in the fellowship would have been a travesty. Doctrine had to come first.
The saints in Jerusalem on that glorious day did not have a problem with doctrinal disagreement. Sadly, the epistles reveal how short-lived that happy state of affairs was, and two millennia later we see the fruits of error in a baffling array of erroneous doctrine and unscriptural practice. Because they are Christ's, we love believers who do not follow the apostles' doctrine, but we can enjoy only a limited fellowship with them. And, if that agreement and consequent fellowship do not exist, it would be meaningless to break bread together. This being so, salvation and baptism are not sufficient conditions for reception to the local assembly. Obedience – practically, morally, and doctrinally – to the Word of God is essential. And because the assembly is not an open house for all believers regardless of their beliefs and practices, care must be taken in welcoming believers to the fellowship of the assembly. For this reason, we do well to imitate the practice of the assembly at Rome – and of the Apostle Paul – in expecting an unknown believer to bring with him or her a letter of commendation (Rom 16.1-2).
So we can learn much from the order of this list. But, as we do so, let us not miss the sweetness and simplicity of the practices outlined here. The assembly at Jerusalem enjoyed divine communication, as God spoke through His Word, and as believers spoke to God in prayer. It enjoyed unity, and fellowship. Many of these believers had been rejected by their families; they were opposed by their nation. But they had gained far more than they had lost – not just eternal life, but fellowship with other believers, expressed week-by-week, as they obeyed the command of their Lord. Nor was their unity limited to an hour-and-a-half on a Lord's Day morning. The unity of the believers was so real, so deep, that they "had all things in common" (v.44). The balance of New Testament revelation makes it clear that this sharing of possessions was an exceptional feature, but the unity it expressed was not, and should not be.
The world of the twenty-first century is immeasurably different from that of the first century. If Peter and Paul were to find themselves in a modern city they would soon learn that it was a strange and confusing place. But amidst the fumes and the noise, the advertising, and the gadgets, would they still find, by the grace of God, and in testament to the durability of the divine pattern, companies of those who continue stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and prayers? May we resemble that first assembly in Jerusalem, in the Person to whom we gather, the pattern we follow, and our passion for the local assembly where Christ meets with His own.
To be continued.
