What Does Acts 2:46 Mean?
And they, holding fast day by day with one passion in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, took their food with gladness and singleness of heart.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,THE KEY
“One accord” names a shared passion that travels from the temple into everyday meals at home.
THE MEANING
Shared devotion takes shape across gathered sacred space and ordinary homes. Daily meals carry that same passion in gladness and an open, unpretentious heart; sacred life reaches the table.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Spiritual life is confined to formal worship; the verse places shared devotion in homes and daily meals too.
THE ROOT
ὁμοθυμαδόν
homothymadon
GROWS FROM
θυμός
thymos
Heat, passion, or inward impulse; in other contexts, anger.
“with one passion” in this verse is homothymadon. The Greek word joins the sense of “same” with passion or inward heat, describing more than simply the absence of disagreement. Here that shared impulse appears both in the temple and around household bread.
ALSO GROWS
thymos: Heat, passion; also anger.
θυμός
This is the inward force carried by “one accord”: a shared intensity rather than mere agreement.
prothymia: Eagerness, readiness.
προθυμία
This related word shows the same root’s sense of inward drive, illuminating the active devotion expressed in the verse.
προσκαρτεροῦντες
proskarterountes
GROWS FROM
καρτερέω
kartereō
To remain steadfast or persevere.
“holding fast day by day” in this verse is proskarterountes. “Continuing daily” describes persistent attention, not a single gathering. This word family links the community’s shared life to steady devotion that holds across days and settings.
ALSO GROWS
karteros: Strong, steadfast.
καρτερός
The related adjective gives the quality behind their ongoing presence.
proskartereō: Persist, remain devoted.
προσκαρτερέω
This verb family connects daily gathering with sustained commitment.
THE PATTERN
Shared devotion becomes visible when inward unity reaches ordinary, common life at the table.
A Song of degrees of David. Look, how good and how sweet it is for brothers to settle also together!And it happened, as he lay down at table with them, that he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and handed it to them.For there is one bread, and we, being many, are one body, since we all share in the one bread.THE THREAD
These all held fast with one passion in prayer and pleading, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.Acts 1:14 uses the same Greek word, ὁμοθυμαδόν (homothymadon), meaning “with one passion.” There it names shared prayer; here, that shared passion extends into recurring meals and daily life.
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