‘And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those who were being saved.'
And this continued on day by day, meeting in the Temple, meeting at each others homes, and sharing their food together, and they were full of gladness, being singlehearted towards each other and in living out what they believed. All that now mattered to them was what God wanted. The result was that all the people who lived round about them were impressed by their lives and became well disposed towards them. And daily more people were becoming Christians, and the word of Christ was spreading. These were entering the sphere of the ‘saved', those who had found forgiveness and had become right with God.
It should be noted that they worshipped in the Temple but broke bread at home. They did not expose their most sacred fellowship to the world, even the Temple world. They were not seeking to draw attention to their behaviour, only to their message.
‘Gladness.' Here was one thing that distinguished them. They had come under the Kingly Rule of God, so that the heavy hand of Rome no longer troubled them. In a dissatisfied world they had found joy and satisfaction.
‘The Lord added to them day by day those who were being saved.' The phrase ‘epi to auto', here translated ‘to them' regularly in LXX means ‘together'. There is the stress on their not only being added, but added in oneness.
One thing, however, stands out to us. While they were certainly establishing their base they seemed in no hurry to go outside Jerusalem, and the main witness and overseeing of the new church appears to have lain wholly with the Apostles. The result will shortly be a recognition that something extra needed to be done if everything was to proceed efficiently. While everything might appear idyllic, their outreach and scope was fairly limited. What had not to happen was that it became a phenomenon localised to Jerusalem. However, there was no reason to worry. God would shortly see to that.