Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 2:47

"praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved." — Acts 2:47 (ASV)

Having favour with all the people.—The new life of the Apostles, probably in part their liberal almsgiving, had revived the early popularity of their Master with the common people. The Sadducean priests were, probably, the only section that looked on them with malignant fear.

The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.—Many of the better manuscripts omit the words “to the Church,” and instead connect “together” (which is the first word in Greek in Acts 3:1) with this verse, yielding a reading like: The Lord added together . . .

The verb “added” is in a tense that, like the adverb “daily,” implies a continually recurring action. “The Lord” is probably used here, as in Acts 2:39, in its general Old Testament sense, rather than as specifically referring to Christ.

Regarding the phrase “such as should be saved”—a meaning the present participle passive cannot possibly have—a better rendering is: those that were in the way of salvation; or more literally, those that were being saved, as in 1 Corinthians 1:18 and 2 Corinthians 2:15.

This verse is one of the few passages where translators may have been influenced by a Calvinistic bias. Another instance is Hebrews 10:38, where the translation “if any man draw back” is used instead of “if he draw back.”

It should be noted in fairness, however, that all versions from Tyndale onward, including the Rhemish, provide the same rendering of Acts 2:47. Wiclif alone offers nearly the true meaning: “them that were made safe.”