And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
We have looked at what it means to devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship. Now we will look at what it means to devote ourselves (give ourselves to, persist in) the breaking of bread.
The first question we must answer is this: Does it mean eating full meals together or observing the Lord’s Supper? After much study, I believe it means eating religiously significant, regular, hunger satisfying meals together.
Evidence
Acts 2:42 indicates that the early Christians were just as devoted to the breaking of bread as they were to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship and prayer. These are the four legs to the table. Therefore, the breaking of bread is religiously significant, meaning that it holds spiritual importance for Christians as they endeavor to trust in and follow Christ together.
Acts 2:46 indicates that it was regular. “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes…” They practiced the breaking of bread “day-by-day.” The NIV translates this phrase as “every day” and the King James translates it “daily.” The breaking of bread was not an occasional, special event. Rather it was a regular routine.
When I write that it was a “hunger satisfying” meal, I mean that it was not merely a symbolic ritual. It was a physical meal with physical food adequate for satisfying physical hunger. What we do with crackers and tiny cups is a symbolic ritual. Though it satisfies spiritual hunger, it does not satisfy physical hunger.
The way bread breaking is referred to in other passages supports this view. Virtually every other use has to do with normal meals (Mark 6:41; Luke 24:30-35; John 21:13; Acts 20:7-12). Acts 27:33-38 is a particularly intriguing example.
As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.) And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.
Note that this bread was broken for 276 hungry sailors, many of whom were surely not believers. Based on Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, he would never have observed the Lord’s Supper in such a way.
The Breaking of Bread in Jewish Tradition
In Jewish households, it was common for the head of the house or the host of the dinner to grab bread, say a prayer of thanksgiving, and literally break the bread, handing a piece to each participant in the meal. This practice invested every meal with religious significance. It joined all present into conscious fellowship around their shared need (hunger) and their shared Provider (God). The closest contemporary practice in our culture is the carving of the Thanksgiving turkey. It is often done by the head of the house as the meat is served to each participant in the meal after a prayer of thanksgiving.
I believe this is the sort of practice Acts 2:42 is referring to. Christians getting together regularly (even daily!) to share a common meal, breaking bread in a way that acknowledged their shared need and Provider, in both the physical and spiritual senses. This custom was infused with much deeper meaning for those who believed in Christ since they had received Christ as the bread of life, broken for them.
Early Church Communion Compared to Our Version
One reason why it is unclear whether Acts 2:42 refers to regular meals or Lord Supper observances is that the way they practiced the Lord’s Supper bears little resemblance to the way we do it now. Most scholars agree that it usually (if not always) took place in the context of a full meal. After all, it was instituted during a multi-course Passover meal (Matthew 26:17-30). Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 11 seem to have in view a full meal in which there was enough food present for the greedy to potentially be gluttonous and get drunk.
Covenant Theological Seminary president Byran Chapel writes,
A first-century Christians accustomed to the New Testament love feasts would probably guffaw in amusement if told that our thimbles of wine and wafers of bread reflected the practices of the early church. But it is not simply the amount of bread and wine that differentiates our Communion from that of the early church. In the Bible, the Lord’s Supper was practiced as a means of uniting the church around a common meal. People of different races, regions, and pasts came together to share their food, funds, prayers and homes. They had to work past their differences, prejudices, and antipathies to engage in eating, conversation, and worship in the same space. How much of the meal was simply socializing and how much was distinguished as a symbolic ritual we don’t really know. What is plain is that the meal was a meal and not just a ceremony—or, at least, the ceremony was in the context of a meal.” (Christ-Centered Worship, page 293)
More concisely, he writes,
Translating such biblical practice into the distribution of quarter-sized wafers and plastic thimbles of juice…must be understood as a symbolic paraphrase of the original supper. (Christ-Centered Worship, page 291)
The early Christians were not devoted to sitting in pews and partaking in symbolic bits of bread and sips of juice. They were devoted to the breaking of bread.
Why Breaking Bread is Still about Meals
While studying this, I expected to find that eating meals together was simply their culturally appropriate expression of a deeper principle for which we would perhaps find other expressions. It is true that the table was naturally more central to ancient Mediterranean life than it is in our culture. But, as times have changed, nothing has replaced shared meals for providing a regular rhythm of stopping, facing each other, conversing and sharing our common need (hunger) and common Provider (God). We have no equivalent to the table but the table.
Yes, our world has developed in such a way that we are often too busy to share meals together. But remember who is in charge of this world. This is in a sense Satan’s domain, and wouldn’t it be just like him to subtly erode such a rich source of God’s blessing for the church.
The Symbolic Paraphrase
Chapel said that our version of the Lord’s Supper is a symbolic paraphrase of the original supper. I believe it is also a symbolic paraphrase of our version of Christianity itself. We like to follow Christ in bite-sized bits that we can control and contain. We like to be Christians so long as it doesn’t overflow into our lives too much. “I’ll be the church, for one hour per week.” “I want to fellowship with other believers, but not in my home.” “I’ll be cordial with folks in the lobby, but I’m not interested in having them over to my house or opening up my life to them.” “I’ll be the church, but only the bite-sized church.”
This is not the Christianity of the Bible. The Christianity of the Bible is all consuming, infiltrating every aspect of your life. This means that it is invalid to include church activities as part of the juggling routine along with work, family and hobbies. Rather, church is who you are as you juggle those other things.
I think this is frustrating for us because we want our spiritual practices to be microwavable. We want to give little bursts of time to our hearts and see instant results. We want to insert ourselves into the church, press the “1 Hour” button, and see fruit of the Spirit grow. But Christianity is a Crockpot religion. You must soak in these things. You can’t experience fellowship unless you soak in the presence of your brothers and sisters. This is how the church slowly cooks into reality. It’s like leaven in bread, spreading and expanding subtly.
The more I pray through a vision for our church, the more mundane that vision becomes. As much pressure as I receive to lead Dulin’s Grove to outwardly impressive programs, the Holy Spirit seems relentless in keeping me focused on these unseen aspects of our church. Maybe one day we’ll give Elevation a run for their money. But right now, God seems to be saying to us, “For now, you need to learn how to love one another in genuine Christian fellowship. Try eating together before you start building the Tower of Bebel.”
Devoting Ourselves to the Breaking of Bread
Remember the verb in Acts 2:42. They devoted themselves to these things. They gave themselves over to them. They persisted in them. This requires a fairly dramatic priority shift in our culture. It means we have to admit that we can’t do and be everything and that some things, good as they may be, are not as important as being the church.
While researching for this sermon, I read about a family that decided to view themselves as a perpetual “host family.” Every week they planned a meal for 12 each Sunday. They worked all week to fill every chair with whomever they could invite. Another idea might be to tithe your meals, giving two meals per week to the purpose of Christian bread-breaking (maybe a lunch break and a weekend dinner).
Think of what these small steps could lead to. It could, over time, dissolve the isolation we experience. I can’t tell you how many of my counselees have dealt with their struggles alone because they didn’t realize that several others in the church were dealing with the same thing. It could lead to us living out all the “one-anothers” we’re called to as Christians. It could even lead to us sitting together at church on Sundays! (Usually, our folks scatter and spread out across the entire sanctuary.)
Conclusion
We must keep in mind what generates and fuels bread-breaking Christian fellowship. It’s more than ingesting food together. It is trusting and following Jesus, and sharing our common need and Provider regularly in the rhythm God has given us in our daily meals.
Discussion Starters
- First, take a few moments to share your high and low from the week so far (In other words, what are one good thing and one not so good thing that have taken place in your life?).
- Read Acts 2:42-47. Based on just the context of this paragraph, do you think the breaking of bread in verse 42 is referring to a regular meals, special observances of the Lord’s Supper or some combination of the two? Why?
- Divide up the following passages among the group to be read aloud. Observe how this same phrase is used: Mark 6:41; Luke 24:30-35; John 21:13; Acts 20:7-12; Acts 27:33-38. Does this additional information lead you to believe the breaking of bread in Acts 2:42 is referring to regular meals, special observances of the Lord’s Supper, or some combination of the two? Why?
- What other scriptures can you find that might help clarify what Acts 2:42 means by the breaking of bread? How do these passages affect your conclusions about the breaking of bread? (For example, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 is an important passage in this debate.)
- If our memories were completely wiped clean of our past experiences with communion observances, and we only had the Bible to work from, how would you go about observing communion?
- Based on all of this discussion, what do you suppose it means to devote oneself to the breaking of bread?
- What are some practical steps you will take to further devote yourself to the breaking of bread?
(Picture from The Jordan Collective)
