Estimated reading time: 11.5 minutes.
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.
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.
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 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 in the person of Pliny’s letter to Trajan (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 Troas. 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. 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; as has been stated, 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]—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, gatherings 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. That is, on the octave of the first appearance to them. 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 between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.)
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. That is, on the octave of the first appearance to them. 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 between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.)
Let me make a few comments on the idea of the “Octave”: an 8-day period of observances beginning with a festival day. An “octave” is a musical interval embracing eight diatonic degrees; the harmonic combination of two tones an octave apart. Therefore, we may speak of the harmonics of true worship, set in motion by the first Day of the Week meetings. Thus, true worship is based on the octave of the resurrection. Only this is harmonically Christian; only this is in tune with the resurrection. A 7th day sabbath worship produces a cacophony to the orthodox octave established by Christ.
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 (Pentecost), 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 8th day.
(Later we will see how the fulfillment of these Old Covenant figures necessitates a First Day of the Week time of worship for saints of the New Covenant.)
(Later we will see how the fulfillment of these Old Covenant figures necessitates a First Day of the Week time of worship for 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. Both were First Day of the Week Sabbaths. 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; unlike, for example, the related Quartodeciman controversy. 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.” This was more correct because the resurrection took place on the feast of first Fruits. First Fruits always occurred on the Sunday that came within the week of Unleavened Bread. So, the Sunday following the 14th of Nisan was correct.
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. 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.
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. R. J. Bauckham (1982, "Sabbath and Sunday in the Post-Apostolic Church” Don A. Carson (ed.). From Sabbath to Lord's Day, With & Stock Publishers/Zondervan. Pp. 252 98. ISBN 9781579103071 ) 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 - along with considering Paul as a false apostle); and that there is no evidence of Christians worshipping on the seventh day sabbath and then substituting Sunday for the sabbath in the early centuries.
It is true that on March 7th AD 321 the Roman Emperor Constantine passed a law making dies Solis, or “the day of the sun” (Sunday) a day of rest from most labor. Constantine had already begun the gears of government moving in favor of the Christians. Eight years earlier, AD 313 in the Edict of Milan he had proclaimed that citizens should be allowed to practice the religion of their choice, and specifically banned the subjugation of Christian worshippers. The Romans already had a high opinion of Sunday and the fact that Christians’ revered it, from the first, as their holy day of the week, Constantine was assured that his new law would meet with popular acceptance. One must not think, however, that the Roman law changed the day of worship for the Christians. It only made the, already, established Christian Sabbath a legal day of rest.
Correcting A Misunderstanding
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” (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 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 “on the first day of the week” should lay heavy on their minds. This demonstrates that all scholarship is in agreement on this understanding.
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, …"
Here I have given three texts where σαββάτων or σαββάτου (i.e. “sabbath”) is used as an idiom for “week.”
Acts 20:7
En de tē miai tōn sabbatōn
En de tē miai tōn sabbatōn
And-on the one (first) of the week
Mark 16:9
Anastas de prōi prōtē sabbatou)
And-having arisen early on [the] first [day] of the week
Anastas de prōi prōtē sabbatou)
And-having arisen early on [the] first [day] of the week
1 Cor 16:2
kata mian sabbatou)
kata mian sabbatou)
every first [day] of a week …
In 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\ (or the first day) of the sabbath: two (or the second day) of the sabbath;” etc. (1859).
Apostolically Speaking
☩☩ Jerry L Hayes
Read more essays from the Bishop on Christian Sacred Days at the links provide here:
Christians and the 7th Day Sabbath
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/11/christianitys-association-with-seventh.html
First Day of the Week (Sunday) Worship
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/11/first-day-of-week-worship.html
The Eighth Day Sabbath
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-eighth-day-sabbath.html
Apologia is a polemical work in the defense of Christian sacred days. Our focus is Sunday worship, Easter and Christmas. Since the rise of the Anabaptist movement of the 16th century a 7th day sabbath element has existed in the Christian faith. 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". Bishop Jerry L Hayes comes to the defense of historical Christianity in this work that is destined to become a classic.
Order your personal copy of "Apologia" today at the link provided here:
https://www.amazon.com/Apologia-Defense-Christian-Sacred-Days/dp/1099666589/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Bishop+Jerry+Hayes%2C+Apologia&qid=1572982116&s=books&sr=1-1
Read more essays from the Bishop on Christian Sacred Days at the links provide here:
Christians and the 7th Day Sabbath
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/11/christianitys-association-with-seventh.html
First Day of the Week (Sunday) Worship
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/11/first-day-of-week-worship.html
The Eighth Day Sabbath
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-eighth-day-sabbath.html
Apologia is a polemical work in the defense of Christian sacred days. Our focus is Sunday worship, Easter and Christmas. Since the rise of the Anabaptist movement of the 16th century a 7th day sabbath element has existed in the Christian faith. 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". Bishop Jerry L Hayes comes to the defense of historical Christianity in this work that is destined to become a classic.
https://www.amazon.com/Apologia-Defense-Christian-Sacred-Days/dp/1099666589/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Bishop+Jerry+Hayes%2C+Apologia&qid=1572982116&s=books&sr=1-1
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