10:16 cup of thanksgiving. The cup of wine that Christians drink during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (see Mt 26:27–28; Mk 14:23–24 and note on 14:24; Lk 22:20). Drinking the wine of the Lord’s Supper as an act of faith is a claim of personal participation in the benefits of Christ’s shed blood. bread that we break. The loaf of bread that is broken and eaten during the Lord’s Supper (see Mt 26:26; Mk 14:22; Lk 22:19 and note). participation in the body of Christ. The sense is similar to Paul’s statement concerning participation in the blood of Christ.

42 Luke begins describing the early church by telling us that the believers in it were distinguished by their devotion to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship with one another, to "breaking of bread," and "to prayer." The verb translated "devoted" connotes a steadfast and single-minded fidelity to a certain course of action (cf. its use in 1:14 regarding devotion to prayer by the 120 in the upper room and in 6:4 regarding the apostles' resolve, in the context of the Hellenistic widows, to center their attention on prayer and the ministry of the word).

"The apostles' teaching " refers to a body of material considered authoritative because it was the message about Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed by accredited apostles. It undoubtedly included a compilation of the words of Jesus (cf. 20:35), some account of his earthly ministry, passion, and resurrection (cf. 2:22-24), and a declaration of what all this meant for humanity's redemption (cf. 1Co 15:3-5)—all of which was thought of in terms of a Christian "tradition" that could be passed on to others (cf. 1Co 11:2; 1Th 2:13; 2Th 2:15; 3:6). The number of references to teachers, teaching, and tradition within Acts and the letters to the churches (cf. Ro 6:17; 12:7; 16:17; 1Co 11:2; 14:26; 2Th 2:15; 3:6; Jas 3:1), and the frequent linking of prophets and teachers in the NT (cf. Ac 13:1; 1Co 12:28; 14:6; Eph 4:11), suggest that the creative role of prophecy in the early church was balanced by the conserving role of teaching. Undoubtedly the early congregation at Jerusalem, amid differences of perspective and along with a lively eschatological expectation, had a general "sense of center" provided by the teaching of the apostles.

Luke's reference to "the fellowship" implies that there was something distinctive in the gatherings of the early believers. With the influx of three thousand on the Day of Pentecost and with daily increases to their number after that (cf. 2:47), they must have had some externally recognizable identity. Perhaps in those early days others thought of them as a "Synagogue of Nazarenes" and gave them a place among other such groups within the mosaic of Judaism. But the Christian community was not just a sect of Judaism, even though they continued to observe Jewish rites and customs and had no intention of breaking with the nation or its institutions. They held to the centrality of Jesus of Nazareth in the redemptive program of God and in their worship. Their proclamation of Jesus as Israel's promised Messiah and the Lord of the human race set them apart in Jerusalem as a distinguishable entity.

Just what is meant by "the breaking of bread" in v.42 has been vigorously debated. Suggestions are a type of Jewish fellowship meal, a paschal commemoration of Christ's death, or an agape feast that emphasized the joy of communion with the risen Lord and of fellowship with one another. Here and in 20:7 Luke may well have had in mind the full Pauline understanding (1Co 10:16; 11:24), but elsewhere he uses this term for an ordinary meal (cf. Lk 24:30, 35; Ac 20:11; 27:35; likely also 2:46). Yet it is difficult to believe that Luke had in mind here only an ordinary meal, since he places the expression between two such religiously loaded terms as "the fellowship" and "prayer." Undoubtedly "the breaking of bread" was an occasion for joy, love, and praise because it was connected with Jesus. Probably it should also be understood as subtly connoting the passion of Christ, even though the full theology as described by Paul had not yet come into focus.

References to "prayer" are frequent both in the summary statements and the narrative of Acts (see 1:14, 24; 4:24-31; 6:4, 6; et al.). Just as Luke has set up in Luke-Acts the parallelism between the Spirit's work in relation to Jesus and the Spirit's work in the church, so he also sets up the parallelism between prayer in the life of Jesus and prayer in the life of the church. His use here of both the definite article and the plural in "the prayers" suggest formal prayers, probably both Jewish and Christian. The earliest believers not only viewed the old forms as filled with new content, but also in their enthusiasm they fashioned new vehicles for their praise.

10:16 The cup of blessing refers to the third of the four cups of wine at the Passover meal, and was likely “the cup after supper” of Luke 22:20.10:22 Idolatrous activity amounts to a confrontation with God. The quotations “sacrifice to demons and not to God” (v. 20) and provoke the Lord to jealousy (v. 22) are from Moses’ “Song of Witness,” which adds historical solemnity to the warnings (Deut. 32:16, 17).