Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 2:42

"And they continued stedfastly in the apostles` teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers." — Acts 2:42 (ASV)

And they continued steadfastly.—The one Greek word is expressed by the English verb and adverb. As applied to persons, the New Testament use of the word is characteristic of Saint Luke (Acts 2:46; Acts 6:4; Acts 8:13; Acts 10:7), and peculiar to him and Saint Paul (Romans 12:12; Romans 13:6; Colossians 4:2).

The apostles’ doctrine.—Four elements of the life of the new society are dwelt on:

1. They grew in knowledge of the truth by attending to the teaching of the Apostles. This, and not the thought of a formulated doctrine to which they gave their consent, is clearly the meaning of the word. (See Note on Matthew 7:28.)
2. They joined in outward acts of fellowship with each other, acts of common worship, acts of mutual kindness and benevolence. The one Greek word for fellowship later diverges into the sense of what we technically call “communion,” as in 1 Corinthians 10:16, and that of a “collection” or contribution for the poor (Romans 15:26; 2 Corinthians 9:13).
3. The third element was their practice regarding the breaking of bread. Saint Luke uses this phrase, we must remember, in the sense which, when he wrote, it had acquired in Saint Paul’s hands. It can have no meaning less solemn than the commemorative “breaking of bread,” of 1 Corinthians 10:16. From the very first, what was later known as the Lord’s Supper (see Note on 1 Corinthians 11:20) took its place with baptism as a permanent universal element in the Church’s life. At first, it would seem, the evening meal of every day was such a supper. Later the two elements that had then been united were developed separately: the social into the Agapae, or Feasts of Love (Jude 1:12, and—though here there is a variant reading—2 Peter 2:13), the other into the Communion, or Eucharistic Sacrifice.
4. The fourth element was prayers. Prayer, in like manner, included private as well as public devotions. These may have been the outpouring of the heart’s desires; but they may also have been what the disciples had been taught to pray, as in Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:1, as the disciples of John had been taught. The use of the plural seems to indicate recurring times of prayer at fixed hours.