Why did the early church devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching first (Acts 2:42)?
Question 0025
The book of Acts gives us a snapshot of the earliest Christian community in Jerusalem, immediately after the Day of Pentecost. Three thousand people had just been baptised. The church had suddenly grown from a small band of disciples to a substantial movement. And Luke tells us how they lived: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
Four elements are listed: the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. These became the marks of authentic Christian community. But notice the order. Teaching comes first. Is that significant? I believe it is.
The Foundation of Everything Else
Teaching comes first because it is foundational to everything else. Without right understanding, you cannot have right worship, right fellowship, or right practice. The Christian life is not anti-intellectual. It begins with truth.
Consider what had just happened. Peter had preached a sermon explaining the significance of Jesus—His death, His resurrection, His exaltation as Lord and Christ. The crowd was “cut to the heart” and asked, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). Peter told them to repent and be baptised. Three thousand responded.
These new believers needed to understand what they had committed to. They had confessed Jesus as Lord, but what did that mean? Who exactly was Jesus? What had He accomplished? How should His followers live? What did the Hebrew Scriptures say about Him? What were the implications for their daily lives? All of this required teaching. And not just any teaching—the apostles’ teaching. These were men who had walked with Jesus for three years. They had been commissioned by Him to make disciples and teach them “to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). Their teaching carried unique authority.
The Greek Word
The word “devoted” is προσκαρτερέω (proskartereo), meaning to persist in, to continue steadfastly, to be devoted to. It’s a strong word. This wasn’t casual attendance at occasional lectures. It was committed, ongoing, persistent engagement with the teaching.
The same word appears in Acts 1:14 describing the disciples’ prayer before Pentecost: “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.” It suggests intensity, determination, priority. These believers made the apostles’ teaching a priority. They didn’t dabble in it. They devoted themselves to it.
The Content of the Teaching
What did the apostles teach? We get glimpses throughout Acts. They taught that Jesus was the promised Messiah, that His death was planned by God for our salvation, that He rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, that He would return, that forgiveness of sins was available through Him, that the Holy Spirit had been poured out on all believers.
They also taught practical matters: how to live in light of these truths, how to relate to one another, how to navigate relationships with the broader Jewish community, how to deal with sin in the community, how to handle money, how to care for widows.
The apostles were not just sharing inspirational thoughts. They were laying down the doctrinal and ethical foundations of the Christian faith. This is what Jude later called “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). There was content. There were truths to be believed and obeyed.
Why Teaching Comes First
Several reasons explain why teaching holds this primary position.
First, truth precedes practice. You cannot live rightly if you do not think rightly. Sound doctrine produces sound living. Confused theology produces confused ethics. The early church needed to know who Jesus was before they could worship Him properly. They needed to understand grace before they could extend it to others.
Second, community requires common convictions. Fellowship (κοινωνία, koinonia) is not merely socialising. It is sharing in common. But what do Christians share in common? The gospel. The faith. The truths revealed by God. Without shared convictions, there is no true fellowship—just a group of people who happen to be in the same room.
Third, teaching protects against error. From the very beginning, the church faced false teaching. Acts records disputes about circumcision, about the inclusion of Gentiles, about the role of the law. Without clear apostolic teaching, the church would have fragmented into competing factions. Sound doctrine preserved unity.
Fourth, teaching sustains perseverance. The early church faced persecution. Believers needed to know why their faith was worth suffering for. They needed deep roots in truth to withstand the storms. Shallow believers with shallow understanding will not endure.
The Apostles’ Unique Role
It’s worth pausing to consider why Luke specifies “the apostles’ teaching” rather than simply “teaching.” The apostles occupied a unique position in redemptive history. They were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection. They had been personally commissioned by Him. They were the foundational teachers of the church.
Paul writes in Ephesians 2:20 that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” The apostles laid the foundation. Others build on it. Their teaching has unique, normative authority.
Today we have their teaching preserved in the New Testament. When we read Matthew, John, Peter’s letters, Paul’s epistles, we are receiving the apostles’ teaching. The early church devoted themselves to this teaching in person; we do so through Scripture.
Implications for Today
What does this mean for us? First, teaching should be central to church life. We should not marginalise the ministry of the Word. Preaching, Bible study, theological instruction—these must remain priorities. A church that neglects teaching will inevitably drift.
Second, we should be devoted to learning. Not passive recipients but active seekers. The early believers didn’t just show up; they devoted themselves. They were hungry. They wanted to understand.
Third, we should test all teaching against apostolic doctrine. The apostles are no longer physically present, but their teaching is. When we hear preaching or read books, we should ask: Does this accord with what the apostles taught? Does this align with Scripture?
Fourth, we should recognise that teaching is foundational to everything else. Our worship, our fellowship, our service, our evangelism—all of it flows from right understanding of the truth. Invest in knowing Scripture. Invest in sound theology. It will shape everything else.
The Pattern Continues
This pattern continued throughout the early church. Paul instructed Timothy: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13). He told Titus that an elder must “hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9).
The priority of teaching was not a first-generation phenomenon. It was built into the structure of church leadership. Elders were to be “able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2). The church was to continue “in the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42, KJV).
Conclusion
The early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching first because truth is foundational. Everything else—fellowship, worship, prayer, service—flows from and is shaped by what we believe.
We live in an age that often prizes experience over truth, feelings over doctrine, activity over study. But the apostolic pattern points in a different direction. Know the truth. Understand the faith. Ground yourself in Scripture. And from that foundation, all of life can be built.
May we, like those first believers, devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching. For it is in knowing the truth that we are set free.
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42
Bibliography
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- Longenecker, Richard N. “Acts.” In The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, rev. ed., vol. 10. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007.
- Marshall, I. Howard. The Acts of the Apostles. Tyndale New Testament Commentary. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1980.
- Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.
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- Toussaint, Stanley D. “Acts.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 1983.
