“Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” —Paul the Apostle, AD 55, First Corinthians 16:2
“And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.” —Luke the Evangelist, Acts 20:6-7
The First Day of the Week
Christians, around the world, gather on the first day of each week to worship God and celebrate the holy eucharist. We do this because we have been so taught by Christ and His apostles and encouraged to perpetuate the practice by our bishops since the very beginning(1).
It may appear that the first written record the New Testament gives for a Christian fixed day of worship is the Acts of the Apostles, written by the Evangelist Luke, where he introduces the believers at Troas meeting on the first day of the week to keep the eucharist (Acts 20:6-7). This event would have taken place in the spring of AD 58, during Paul’s third missionary journey. However, that would be incorrect, because Paul instructed the church at Corinth, three years earlier (AD 55), to bring their offerings for the poor saints of Jerusalem(2) each first day of the week, so there would be no need for collections when he came to them (1 Corinthians 16:2). The idea communicated here is: at each of their weekly meetings. We see, then, the Christians’ fixed time for corporate worship was The First Day of the Week.
There is witness from secular sources of this day of corporate worship in the regions of Troas and Asia from Pliny’s letter to Trajan(3) (Epp. x. 96), in which he describes the Christians as meeting on “a fixed day,” for what he calls a sacramentum (the Syriac understanding of “beaking bread” is seen by them translating it, "to break the eucharist”; the Arabic version, "to distribute the body of Christ.”) at break of day, and again in the evening to partake of a simple and innocent repast (the love feast). This was Paul’s third visit to the city. Who was the first pastor or bishop of the church at Troas is not certain; perhaps Carpus, of whom mention is made in 2 Timothy 4:13(4). At the end of the first and the beginning of the second centuries, in the times of Ignatius, there were brethren at Troas, from whence he wrote his epistles to the churches at Smyrna, and Philadelphia, and who are saluted in them by the brethren at Troas; in the third century, several martyrs suffered here, as Andreas, Paulus, Nicomachus, and Dionysia a virgin: in the "fifth" century, Pionius, bishop of Troas, was present at Constantinople at the condemnation of Eutyches, and afterwards he was in the council at Chalcedon; and even in the "eighth" century mention is made of Eustathius, bishop of Troas, in the Nicene council. My point for mentioning these things is to underline the richness of Troas’ contribution to early Christianity.
Luke writes that the Christians at Troas met on the first day of the week to celebrate the eucharist; this was the spring of AD 58. We know that this was the “fixed day” appointed for their corporate worship because Paul’s party arrived on the second day of the week (Monday) and tarried until the Christians of that place came together to break bread, a full six days later; then they departed on the seventh day [Acts 20:6]— on Monday.
One would be amiss, however, to assume that Sunday worship was 25-28 years (the time from Pentecost AD 30 to Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians, and/or his third visit to Troas, AD 58) in being established. Holy Scripture gives a clear picture that it was Christ, Himself, that established a first day of the week gathering for His followers by inaugurating the rhythm of days through His post resurrection appearances to His disciples. John records the two first day of the week gathers of the disciples in Jerusalem, where Christ appeared in their midst (John 20:19 and 26 respectively). The first appearance was the day of the resurrection (Thomas was absent), the second was “after eight days” (Thomas was present). Actually, according to our method of counting, it would be seven days - not eight. The Jews considered any part of a day as one day. Whereas, we would not count one day until the next day, not so with the Jew. The first day, i,e, that Sunday of the first appearance is counted as day one; so, then, counting Sunday as day one and Monday as day two, the following Sunday would be day eight. The phrase “after eight days” means after the eighth day had arrived. (Understanding this type of reckoning time helps the Bible reader to grasp how Jesus was actually in the grave three days(5) between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.)
The First Day of the Week was established by the Holy Spirit throughout the holy Scriptures as being a very special day in Yahweh's accounting of time. Two of Israel's appointed times, Feast of First Fruits and Feast of Weeks, always occur on The First Day of the Week, and are, themselves, Sabbaths. A third, the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) terminates with a special Sabbath that always falls on The First Day of the Week. Latter we will see how the fulfillment of these Old Covenant figures necessitates a First Day of the Week time of worship the saints of the New covenant.
The First Day of the Week was established by the Holy Spirit throughout the holy Scriptures as being a very special day in Yahweh's accounting of time. Two of Israel's appointed times, Feast of First Fruits and Feast of Weeks, always occur on The First Day of the Week, and are, themselves, Sabbaths. A third, the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) terminates with a special Sabbath that always falls on The First Day of the Week. Latter we will see how the fulfillment of these Old Covenant figures necessitates a First Day of the Week time of worship the saints of the New covenant.
We see, then, how the Old Covenant First Day of the Week events presaged the New Covenant’s fulfillment of former types and shadows; namely, the resurrection of the Savior on the very day of the Feast of First Fruits and the birth of the Lord’s Church on the very day of the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) AD 30. (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1; cf. 20:19.) One should not, then, think it a strange thing for the Lord’s church to have as its day of primary worship the First Day of the Week.
Historians find the practice of the First Day of the Week worship among Christians as being universal from the beginning, with no hint of controversy(6); unlike, for example, the related Quartodeciman Controversy(7). One would reason that since the controversy over which day to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ is so famously recorded that a controversy over which day for Christians to meet in corporate worship could not have gone unnoticed.
One hears much noise from seventh day Christians about Rome’s influence in changing the day of worship. Of course, this is just so much nonsense. In the 2nd. 3rd, or even 4th centuries the church of Rome lacked jurisdictional authority to impose a novel universal change of Sabbath rest from the seventh day to the first, or to obtain universal Sunday worship, had it, in fact, been introduced after the Christian church had spread throughout the known world — as our opponents assert. Bauckham states that there is no record of any early Christian group which did not observe Sunday, with the exception of a single extreme group of Ebionites mentioned by Eusebius of Caesarea (who, among other blasphemies, denied the virgin birth and deity of our Savior); and that there is no evidence of Christians worshipping on the seventh day sabbath and then substituted Sunday for the sabbath in the early centuries(8).
Before we move from the consideration of The First Day of the Week, we should consider the misunderstanding and misinformation propagated among that segment of Christians who wish to keep the Jewish Sabbath, but lack an understanding of the biblical languages. When such ones review the Greek text for Acts 20:7 they see:
Ἐν δὲ τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων συνηγμένων ἡμῶν κλάσαι ἄρτον; “and on the one of the sabbath (Grk. sabbatōn) they having been assembled [to] bread bread.”
From this the unlearned declare that it was not The First Day of the Week, but the first Sabbath from unleavened bread.
What one sees is a Koine Greek idiom where “sabbath” or “sabbaths” (σαββάτων [sabbatōn] Acts 20:7) is used for week. The cardinal numeral “μιᾷ” (mia) “one” is used here for the ordinal prōtē “first.” The definite article “τῇ” (tê) before the cardinal numeral “μιᾷ” (mia) makes this clear. Literially: “the one of the week.” See Mark 16:9 below. (See A.T. Robertson Grammar, p 671.)
Truly, the fact that, literally, every accepted English version of this text renders “Ἐν δὲ τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων” as “one the first day of the week” should lay heavy on their minds that all scholarship is in agreement on this understanding.
Below I have given three texts where σαββάτων or σαββάτου (i.e. “sabbath”) is used as an idiom for “week.”
Acts 20:7
Ἐν δὲ τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων En de tē miai tōn sabbatōn
Ἐν δὲ τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων En de tē miai tōn sabbatōn
And-on the one (first) of the week
Mark 16:9
Ἀναστὰς δὲ πρωῒ πρώτῃ σαββάτου, (transliteration: Anastas de prōi prōtē sabbatou)
And-having arisen early on [the] first [day of the] week
Ἀναστὰς δὲ πρωῒ πρώτῃ σαββάτου, (transliteration: Anastas de prōi prōtē sabbatou)
And-having arisen early on [the] first [day of the] week
1 Cor 16:2
κατὰ μίαν σαββάτου (transliteration: kata mian sabbatou)
κατὰ μίαν σαββάτου (transliteration: kata mian sabbatou)
every first [day] of a week …
New King James: “Now on the first day of the week, …"
New International Version: “On the first day of the week, …"
New American Standard Bible: “On the first day of the week, …”
Revised Standard Version: “On the first day of the week, …"
New Living Translation: “On the first day of the week, …"
Young’s Literal Translation: “On the first day of the week, …"
Word Studies in the New Testament, M.R. Vincent says, "The noun "Sabbath" is often used after numerals in the signification of a week.”
The Greek sabbaton (σαββάτων), or sabbatou. (σαββάτου) is never translated as “the Sabbath day” in these passages. the word is used in these contexts (as Greek scholars overwhelmingly agree) to denote a “week” (Perschbacher, 1990, p. 364), “a period of seven days” (Danker, et al., 2000, p. 910; cf. Thayer, 1962, p. 566).
John Lightfoot states: “The Jews reckon the days of the week thus; One day (or the first day) of the sabbath: two (or the second day) of the sabbath;” etc. (1859, 2:375). Maccoth alludes to those who testify on “the first of the sabbath” concerning an individual who stole an ox. Judgment was then passed the following day—“on the second day of the sabbath” (Lightfoot, 2:375; Maccoth, Chapter 1). Bava Kama describes ten enactments ordained by a man named Ezra, including the public reading of the law “on the second and fifth days of the sabbath,” and the washing of clothes “on the fifth day of the sabbath” (Lightfoot, 2:375; Bava Kama, Chapter 7).
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This has been the first of three chapters on Sunday as the biblical day for Christian corporate worship. Be sure to continue the series at the links provided here:
Chapter Two, "The Eighth Day"
Chapter Three, "The Lord's Day: Sunday"
Apostolically Speaking,
☩☩ Jerry L Hayes
(Mar David Ignatius)
Apologia is a polemical work of apologetics in the defense of Christian sacred days. Our focus is Sunday worship, Easter and Christmas. There has been little written in the line of a strong apologia for the observance to the traditional times. Bishop Hayes offers his work "Apologia, A Defense of Christian Sacred Days" to meet that need. This book establishes why Christians have observed Sunday as their primary day of worship right out of the gate. Also, within the pages of "Apologia" the reader will discover the true meaning of the terms 'Easter" and "Christmas". Both terms have come under sustained attack in recent years from an element that is antagonistic to traditional Christianity. Bishop Jerry L Hayes comes to the defense of historical Christianity in this work that is destined to become a classic. We know you will want to recommend "Apologia, A Defense of Christian Sacred Days" to all your friends and family.
Order your personal copy today from the link provided here:https://www.amazon.com/Apologia-Defense-Christian-Sacred-Days/dp/1099666589/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Apologia%2C+Hayes&qid=1558905902&s=books&sr=1-1
Read more essays from the pen of the Bishop on Christian holy days at the links provided here:
Defending Easter
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/04/defending-easter.html
Sunday Worship (A Discussion With Amú)
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/05/sunday-worship-discussion-with-amu.html
End Notes
Order your personal copy today from the link provided here:https://www.amazon.com/Apologia-Defense-Christian-Sacred-Days/dp/1099666589/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Apologia%2C+Hayes&qid=1558905902&s=books&sr=1-1
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT BY PURCHASING MY BOOKS FOR YOUR LIBRARY. -JLH
Be sure to listen and subscribe to the Bishop's Podcast: Apostolic Bishop, at:
Read more essays from the pen of the Bishop on Christian holy days at the links provided here:
Defending Easter
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/04/defending-easter.html
Sunday Worship (A Discussion With Amú)
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/05/sunday-worship-discussion-with-amu.html
The Sign of Jonah, Defending Good Friday
End Notes
1 1. Hebrews 10:25, 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.
2 2. There were a few different events that lead to the need for help. First, Jerusalem suffered severely during the famine in the reign of Claudius, the mother church in Jerusalem had experienced persecution and affection at the hands of the Jews, plus, not to be ignored was the circumstance where the believers in Jerusalem, upon joining the church, gave their passions to the apostles to distribute as needed: in short a communistic manner of living. As a result all were soon poor. By reason of these things the Christians in that place were in need. Paul was raising funds throughout all the Gentile church for their relief.
3 3. Pliny the Younger, the Roman governor of Bithynia et Pontus (now in modern Turkey) wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan around 112 AD and asked for counsel on dealing with Christians. The letter (Epistulae X.96) details an account of how Pliny conducted trials of suspected Christians who appeared before him as a result of anonymous accusations and asks for the Emperor's guidance on how they should be treated
4 4. 2 Timothy 4:13, The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments
5 5. Matthew 12:39-40; Matthew 27:63; John 2:18-22.
6 6. As is true with rejection of infant water baptism, the same is true with the rejection of Sunday worship among Christians: neither can be found before the appearance of the Anabaptists in central Europe. This is true in spite of how much this element wishes to rattle its chains back to the time of the apostles.
7 7. Quartodecimanism (from the Vulgate Latin quarta decima in Leviticus 23:5, meaning fourteenth) refers to the custom of early Christians celebrating Passover beginning with the eve of the 14th day of Nisan . The Quartodeciman controversy arose because Christians in the churches of Jerusalem and Asia Minor observed the death and resurrection on the 14th of the first month (Nisan (postexilic), Aviv/Abib (preexilic)) no matter the day of the week on which it occurred, while the churches in and around Rome changed to the practice of celebrating the resurrection on the Sunday following Nisan 14, calling it "the day of the resurrection of our Saviour.
8 8. Bauckham, R.J. (1982). "Sabbath and Sunday in the Post-Apostolic Church". In Carson, Don A (ed.). From Sabbath to Lord's Day, With & Stock Publishers/Zondervan. Pp. 252 98. ISBN 9781579103071
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