What Does Acts 2:42 Mean in the King James?
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse’s “fellowship” is a life shared in common, sustained through repeated practices.
THE MEANING
This verse describes a community whose life is held together by returning to teaching, sharing what is common, breaking bread, and prayer. Fellowship is visible in shared participation, so belonging has a shape you can see.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Belonging is only an inward feeling or a label, with no need for a shared life.
THE ROOT
κοινωνία
koinōnia
GROWS FROM
κοινός
koinos
Common; shared or held in common.
Koinonia grows from koinos, “common” or “shared,” and names participation in what people hold in common. Beside teaching, broken bread, and prayers, “fellowship” carries the sense of a concrete shared life, not only a warm feeling.
ALSO GROWS
koinōneō: To share or participate.
κοινωνέω
This verb makes the shared character of fellowship active: people take part in what they hold in common.
koinōnos: A partner or one who shares.
κοινωνός
A participant is joined to others through what is shared, giving fellowship the shape of mutual involvement.
THE PATTERN
A people is formed through repeated practices that keep instruction, gathering, and shared life in common.
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?THE THREAD
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?The word translated “communion” here is κοινωνία (koinōnia, sharing in common), the same Greek word translated “fellowship” in Acts 2:42. The shared life of the community connects directly to the bread they break: fellowship takes form in participation at the table.
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