This discussion comes from Getting the Garden Right, coming soon from Founders Press. It is used with permission.
Copyright © 2017 Richard C. Barcellos. All rights reserved.
(This is part 5 of 8, click here for part 1, part 2, part 3 & part 4)
First-Day Corporate Meetings in the New Testament
Notice the phenomenon of first-day corporate meetings in the New Testament. Acts 2:1 indicates that the Jerusalem disciples were assembled on the day of Pentecost, the first day of the week. “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.”
Acts 20:7 says, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” Here Luke tells us that the disciples in Troas met “on the first day of the week” with no comment on the reason why. This is not a command to meet on the first day of the week. It does, however, appear to assume a practice already in place. As Owen says, “This [i.e., gathering on the first day] they did without any extraordinary warning or calling together . . .”[1] It is not the institution of first-day meetings; it is a record of one such. On this day, the disciples conducted activities with special religious significance. Some understand the breaking of bread as the Lord’s Supper. Paul spoke to them, surely teaching them apostolic doctrine (i.e., authoritative oral apostolic tradition). They met on the first day of the week and had fellowship around spiritual matters. This text echoes aspects of the conduct of the early church, as recorded in Acts 2:42, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” It is also of interest to note that Paul was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem (Acts 20:16), yet he stayed seven days in Troas (Acts 20:6) and did not leave until the day after the one described in 20:7. He left on Monday. Commenting on Acts 20:7, Martin notes:
. . . it seems that this incident occurred on the day that the churches ordinarily gathered for worship, for the way that Luke includes a reference to the church meeting “on the first day of the week,” i.e., with no further explanation, indicates that this was, as Owen says, “that which was in common observance amongst all the disciples of Christ.”[2]
The reference to the first day of the week in Acts 20:7 seems to be something early readers of Acts would not need explained to them. Though the basis for meeting on that day as opposed to another day is not stated, putting the various pieces of evidence provided for us in the New Testament together, it is not a leap in the dark to assume they met on that day due to the theological and practical implications for the church of our Lord’s resurrection.
In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 we read:
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. 2 On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. (1 Cor. 16:1-2)
Here the Corinthians are told to do something that Paul had ordered the churches of Galatia to do. Though the specific apostolic injunction has to do with a first-century need is agreed upon by all, Paul’s mention of “the first day of every week” is what is of interest to our discussion. Paul does not order first-day meetings in Corinth in this text; he assumes that’s when they meet, and he assumes that they meet every week. Earlier in 1 Corinthians, Paul discusses the meeting of the Corinthian church in the context of the Lord’s Supper. In 1 Corinthians 11:17-22, we read:
But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. 20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. (1 Cor. 11:17-22)
Paul distinguishes between the gathered church, the house of God, and their own homes in verses 17 (“you [plural] come together”), 18 (“when you [plural] come together as a church”), 20 (“when you [plural] meet together”), and 22 (“Do you [plural] not have houses in which to eat and drink?”). He specifically mentions coming together for the purpose of partaking of the Lord’s Supper (v. 20), though they had so trampled upon it that their practice had ceased being what they intended it to be. Upon what day of the week did the Corinthians “come together as a church”? Though chapter 11 does not tell us, we do have 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 and other considerations from the New Testament that lead us to the conclusion that they came “together as a church” every first day of the week.
Some want to argue what Paul is requiring in 1 Corinthians 16 is a private putting aside and saving, but if that were his intent, they would have to take a collection when he came. This, in fact, is what he does not want.[3] Martin’s words are to the point:
He is not saying, as is often suggested, that each one should lay aside his contributions privately at home, for then, any day of the week would do as well as another and a final collection still would need to be made. In specifying the first day of the week, Paul makes it clear that he is speaking of an activity that will take place at the time of their public assemblies. And he assumes that this will take place on the same day as in the churches of Galatia.[4]
[1] Owen, Works, 18:423.
[2] Martin, The Christian Sabbath, 278. The quote from Owen is cited as “John Owen, Hebrews, 2:423.”
[3] Wells, The Christian and the Sabbath, 95, commenting on 1 Cor. 16:1-2, says: “Is Paul speaking of an activity that was to take place in church meetings here? Probably not.”
[4] Martin, The Christian Sabbath, 281-82. See Owen, Works, 18:424.
CBTS Faculty fully subscribe to the 1689 Confession of Faith, hold an advanced
degree in their field of instruction, and possess significant pastoral experience.
