"THE BOOK OF ACTS"
The First Day Of The Week (20:7)
INTRODUCTION
1. For almost 2000 years, Christians have assembled on Sunday to observe
the Lord's Supper...
a. Why on Sunday (the first day of the week)?
b. Why not on the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week)?
2. In Ac 20:7, we find the first reference to worship on a Sunday...
a. When disciples came together to break bread
b. When Paul spoke to them
[Some might wonder whether this passage refers to a weekly observance,
and whether Christians did in fact assemble on the first day of the
week to partake of the Lord's Supper. Consider the evidence for...]
I. THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SUPPER
A. THE BIBLICAL EVIDENCE...
1. When the church began, they continued steadfastly in "the
breaking of bread" - Ac 2:42
2. Disciples came together on the first day of the week to "break bread" - Ac 20:7
3. "Breaking bread" is likely a reference to the Lord's Supper - cf. 1Co 10:16-17
4. Other indications of a weekly observance:
a. The church at Corinth was coming together to eat the Lord's
Supper, though they were abusing it - cf. 1Co 11:17-22
b. Instructions concerning the collection suggest their coming
together was on the first day of the week - cf. 1Co 16:1-2
-- Seemingly slight, the Biblical evidence weighs more than any
human opinion
B. THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE...
1. The earliest historical evidence outside the Bible confirms the
day and frequency
a. The Didache (ca. 95 A.D.) indicates Christians were to come
together on the first day of the week to break bread - Didache 14:1
b. Justin Martyr (ca. 150 A.D.) records how Christians assembled
on Sunday and partook of the Supper - Apology I, 67
c. "...the early church writers from Barnabas, Justin Martyr,
Irenaeus, to Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Cyprian, all
with one consent, declare that the church observed the first
day of the week. They are equally agreed that the Lord's
Supper was observed weekly, on the first day of the week."
- B. W. Johnson, People's New Testament
2. Religious scholars confirm this was the practice
a. "As we have already remarked, the celebration of the Lord's
Supper was still held to constitute an essential part of
divine worship every Sunday, as appears from Justin Martyr
(A.D. 150)..." - Augustus Neander (Lutheran), History Of
Christian Religion And Church, Vol. I, p. 332
b. "This ordinance (the Lord's Supper) seems to have been
administered every Lord's day; and probably no professed
Christian absented themselves... - Thomas Scott
(Presbyterian), Commentary On Acts 20:7
c. "This also is an important example of weekly communion as the
practice of the first Christians." - A. C. Hervey
(Episcopalian), Commentary On Acts 20:7
d. "It is well known that the primitive Christians administered
the Eucharist (the Lord's Supper) every Lord's day." - P.
Doddridge (Congregationalist), Notes On Acts 20:7
e. "We understand v. 7 to indicate that the Breaking of Bread on
the first day of the week was customary during the apostolic
period." - F. F. Bruce, (Open Brethren), New International
Bible commentary (p. 1302)
-- The overwhelming consensus of extra biblical sources supports
the conclusion that the Biblical practice was to observe the
Lord's Supper each first day of the week
[But as asked in the introduction, why Sunday? Why not the Sabbath Day?
Consider the following regarding...]
II. THE DAY OF THE OBSERVANCE
A. WHY THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK...?
1. Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday - Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2,9; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1
2. Jesus appeared to His disciples on Sunday - Jn 20:19
3. The church began on Pentecost, which was on a Sunday - Ac 2:1-42
4. The command to lay by in store was to be carried out on a
Sunday - 1Co 16:1-2
5. Jesus appeared to John on "the Lord's Day", later understood to
be Sunday - Re 1:10
-- The Scriptures do not explicitly declare the above to be reasons
why Christians assembled on the first day of the week, but it
might indicate why they did
B. WHY NOT THE SABBATH...?
1. The Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic Covenant (Exo 31:16,17;
Neh 9:14; Eze 20:12), whereas Christians are under the New Covenant (2Co 3; He 8)
2. There is no NT command to keep the Sabbath
3. The first command to keep the Sabbath was not until the time of
Moses (Ex 16:23-30; 20:8)
4. The Jerusalem Council (Ac 15) did not order Gentile believers to
keep the Sabbath
5. Paul never cautioned Christians about breaking the Sabbath
6. The NT explicitly teaches that Sabbath keeping was not a
requirement (Ro 14:5; Ga 4:10-11; Col 2:16-17)
-- The above reasons are from The MacArthur Study Bible (Acts 20:7),
for why Scripture does not require Christians to observe the Saturday Sabbath
C. AS PER ENCYCLOPEDIAS...
1. "Sunday, first day of the week; in Christianity, the Lord's Day,
the weekly memorial of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead.
The practice of Christians gathering together for worship on
Sunday dates back to apostolic times..." - Encyclopedia Britannica
2. "From the apostolic era to the present it has been customary
for Christians to assemble for communal Sunday services..."
- Encyclopedia Americana
3. "The celebration of the Lord's Day in memory of the resurrection
of Christ dates undoubtedly from the apostolic age. Nothing
short of apostolic precedent can account for the universal
religious observance in the churches of the second century.
There is no dissenting voice. This custom is confirmed by the
testimonies of the earliest post-apostolic writers, as Barnabas,
Ignatius, and Justin Martyr." - History Of The Christian Church,
Philip Schaff, vol. 1, pg. 201-202
-- Both internal and external evidence from the Bible indicates
that Christians met together on the first day of the week, i.e., Sunday
CONCLUSION
1. Again from Philip Schaff, History of Christian Church, Vol. 1, pg. 478-479...
a. "...it appears, therefore, from the New Testament itself, that
Sunday was observed as a day of worship, and in special
commemoration of the Resurrection, whereby the work of redemption was finished."
b. "The universal and uncontradicted Sunday observance in the second
century can only be explained by the fact that it has its roots in apostolic practice."
2. Some may say that the Biblical evidence is scarce...
a. But a whisper of God's Word is worth more than a blast of man's opinions
b. The apostolic example is more authoritative than any human tradition
If you are a disciple of Christ, do you assemble with other Christians
on the first day of the week to break bread (observe the Lord's Supper)?
If not, why not...?
Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2013
