“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,” (Acts 2:46)

For all of those willing and able to set me straight on all of this about breaking bread in Acts, please feel free to comment on the last few posts. I’m trying to figure out how we decide when “breaking bread” in Acts refers to the Lord’s Supper and when it refers to a common meal. In the last post, I asked for help with Acts 20:7. Lots of people believe that this is one of the most important verses in the Bible; it consistently makes its way into tract after tract, proving that the Lord’s Supper must be taken every Sunday and only on Sunday.

So what do we do with this verse? Acts 2:46. It’s threatened my Sunday-only mindset, so now is the time for people to bring me back to orthodoxy.

In Acts 2, the brand-spanking new church is meeting in the temple. They apparently aren’t holding their church assemblies in homes nor church buildings. It would have been very difficult, if not impossible, for thousands of them to take the Lord’s Supper together in the temple. They would have met together in the temple, then separated into individual homes to take the Lord’s Supper… just like this verse describes! Don’t let the fact that it was in homes get in your way.

The best evidence also indicates that the early church took the Lord’s Supper in the context of a meal (yes, I know that’s debatable; feel free to give evidence to the contrary, just don’t say “as 1 Corinthians 11 says,” unless you’ve found something new in that passage). So the “received their food” wouldn’t be out of place, either.

What makes us conclude this passage is not about the Lord’s Supper? Please don’t be shy about giving reasons. I honestly, sincerely, truly want to know. If you know someone who knows reasons why Acts 20:7 is the Lord’s Supper and Acts 2:46 isn’t, please send them here. I consider this an important point and would truly appreciate any insights toward resolving this.

Acts 20:7   On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

How many doctrines hang on this verse? I can think of several (okay, maybe not on this verse alone, but much literature cites this verse when speaking of these doctrines):

1. Sunday as the day of meeting.
2. Lord’s Supper every Sunday.
3. Lord’s Supper only on Sunday.

I’ll continue asking the question I’ve asked in the last two posts: how do we know this is the Lord’s Supper, over against, for example, Acts 2:46? That seems like a pretty important thing to me, especially considering the weight we’ve hung on this one verse. There’s got to be some people that read this blog that believe this verse refers to the Lord’s Supper and teaches the things I list above. Will no one step forward?

I’ll be out of the country until next Tuesday, but I wanted to try to spur some more discussion on this. Let’s simplify it. Give me your view on the following passages:

(1) Acts 2:42   And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
A. Lord’s Supper B. Common Meal C. Could be either

(2) Acts 2:46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
A. Lord’s Supper B. Common Meal C. Could be either

(3) Acts 20:7   On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
A. Lord’s Supper B. Common Meal C. Could be either

(4) Acts 20:11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.
A. Lord’s Supper B. Common Meal C. Could be either

(5) Acts 27:35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat.
A. Lord’s Supper B. Common Meal C. Could be either

Keep those pitchforks sharp and those torches burning… but save them for a week.

In the meantime, help me with this study. Here are the passages in Acts that refer to “breaking bread.” How do we decide which ones are the Lord’s Supper and which ones are a common meal?

Acts 2:42   And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Acts 2:46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

Acts 20:7   On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Acts 20:11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.

Acts 27:35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat.