<p>2:44 <i>And all that believed were together and had all things common</i><i>- </i>3:1 goes on to explain the summary of Acts 2:42. The new converts continued listening to the teaching AV &ldquo;doctrine&rdquo; of the apostles and continued in fellowshipping with them- not in the technical sense of being &ldquo;in fellowship&rdquo; as opposed to being &ldquo;out of fellowship&rdquo;; for this would require us to read into the text our usage of those terms. They continued &ldquo;hanging out&rdquo; with the apostles, continued in their presence and company, as eager students with their teachers. The Greek for &ldquo;fellowship&rdquo; is <i>koinonia</i>, and the root word <i>koine </i>occurs in Acts 2:44- they had all things &ldquo;in common&rdquo;. This is how they fellowshipped or common-ed together; they pooled their possessions and had them in common, or, as the AV will have it, in &ldquo;fellowship&rdquo;. In fact, the idea of <i>koinonia </i>or&nbsp;&ldquo;fellowship&rdquo; in the New Testament is most commonly used about the sharing of material&nbsp;resources rather than theological agreement (Rom. 12:13 &ldquo;contribute&rdquo;, Gal. 6:6 &ldquo;share all good things&rdquo;, Phil. 4:15 and throughout 2 Corinthians in the context of appealing for assistance or fellowship for the poor saints at Jerusalem). Acts 2:46 then speaks of how they attended the temple together, and broke bread in homes. This is the further explanation of how the new converts are described in Acts 2:42 as continuing in the apostles&rsquo; teaching they went to the temple to hear it, as this was likely the only venue large enough to hold the crowd, and they continued in breaking of bread- by doing it in homes. For there was no church building available to do this as a group of 3000. And the nature of the &ldquo;breaking of bread&rdquo; is further defined in Acts 2:46- it involved a joyful eating together. The breaking of bread was therefore in the form of a collective meal, continuing the connection established by Jesus between His open table collective meals, and the &ldquo;breaking of bread&rdquo; in memory of Him. Acts 2:42 speaks of the new converts continuing together in &ldquo;<i>the</i> prayers&rdquo; (ESV and Gk.). Acts 3:1 goes on to define what this meant in practice- Peter and John went into the temple at the time of prayer. What they had in common was praying together in the Jewish temple prayers. But those prayers were attended by many Jews who didn&rsquo;t believe in Jesus. What that goes to show is that you can perform a religious act of fellowship with unbelievers, but enjoy true Christian fellowship with God&rsquo;s true people who are amongst them. From the very start, Christianity started with an &ldquo;open&rdquo; attitude to fellowship with the unbelieving Jews. If there really is some guilt by association principle to be operated in Christianity, surely we&rsquo;d expect to see it outlined right at the start.</p><p>We can now summarize the above in tabular form:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=444 valign=top>            <p>Acts   2:42</p>            </td>            <td width=445 valign=top>            <p>How it   worked out in practice</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=444 valign=top>            <p>And   they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine teaching</p>            </td>            <td width=445 valign=top>            <p>Having   heard the basic Gospel and having been baptized, they continued hearing the   apostles&rsquo; teaching, as the apostles obeyed the great commission- to preach   the basic Gospel, baptize, and then teach further (Mt. 28:19,20). Acts 2:46   therefore speaks of how they attended the temple together in order to learn   more from the apostles&rsquo; teaching</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=444 valign=top>            <p>And   fellowship (<i>koinonia</i>)</p>            </td>            <td width=445 valign=top>            <p>Acts   2:44- they had all things &ldquo;in common&rdquo;, Gk. <i>koine</i>.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=444 valign=top>            <p>The   breaking of bread</p>            </td>            <td width=445 valign=top>            <p>Acts   2:46- this involved a joyful eating together in house groups</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=444 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;<i>The</i>   prayers&rdquo; (ESV and Gk.).</p>            </td>            <td width=445 valign=top>            <p>Acts   3:1 defines what this meant in practice- Peter and John went into the temple   at the time of prayer.</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><p>The unity between believers at the breaking of bread is brought out in Acts 2:42, where we read of the new converts continuing in:<br />the teaching of the apostles, <br />the fellowship<br />the breaking of bread<br />the prayers.<br />It could be that this is a description of the early order of service at the memorial meetings. They began with an exhortation by the apostles, then there was &ldquo;the fellowship&quot;, called the <i>agape</i> in Jude 12, a meal together, and then the breaking of bread itself following Jewish Passover tradition, concluded by &ldquo;the prayers&quot;, which may have included the singing of Psalms. The performance of this feast was a sign of conversion and membership in the body of Christ. This is how important it is.</p><p>Some of the Roman leaders initially pushed the idea of Plato, that all land should be state owned and be given up by individuals to the state. Yet Acts 2:44; 4:32 use language which is directly taken from Plato&rsquo;s <i>Republic</i>: &ldquo;All things common&hellip; no one called anything his own&rdquo;. The early church was seeking to set up an idealized alternative to the Roman empire &nbsp;</p>