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 6 of 8, click here for part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 & part 6)
The Reason for First-Day Meetings in the New Testament
Finally, consider the reason for first-day meetings in the New Testament. Though it does not state the reason in explicit terms, the New Testament does present enough evidence to provide an answer. The reason for first-day meetings can be none other than the fact and implications of Christ’s first-day resurrection. The resurrection, the pivotal, epoch-changing event in redemptive history, becomes the redemptive-historical and theological basis for first-day meetings in the New Testament. It is seen as an epoch-changing event—the beginning of the new creation. It is also seen as the day in which Christ ceased from his redemptive labors (Heb. 4:9-10).
Schreiner admits that the day of Christ’s resurrection is unique, saying, “Even by stating that it [i.e., the resurrection of Christ] was the first day of the week, the authors assign a special significance to that day.”[1] He then appears to acknowledge that subsequent first days of the week were viewed in a unique way. He says:
We also see hints elsewhere in the NT that the church gathered for worship on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2; cf. Rev 1:10). Such a practice is most naturally linked to Sunday being the day on which the Lord rose from the dead, though no explicit link is made between the two.[2]
Schreiner identifies church gatherings “for worship on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week . . . [as] a practice . . . most naturally linked to Sunday being the day on which the Lord rose from the dead.”
Wells makes a similar statement, though with a degree of hesitation not evident in Schreiner:
I have argued that the meeting day of the early church was not fixed by apostolic authority, but by convenience. Nevertheless there might have been a natural preference for the first day of the week. Why? Because our Lord rose from the dead on that day.[3]
Both Schreiner and Wells claim the connection between first-day church meetings and the resurrection of our Lord is a natural one, though Wells does so reluctantly. If one is reminded that the resurrection is a redemptive-historical act of God in Christ, a better word to use to indicate the connection is “theological” instead of “natural.” In other words, the practical implication of the resurrection of our Lord in terms of church gatherings for worship finds its basis in a redemptive-historical reality. It appears Schreiner would agree with this. I do not think Wells does, however. He claims that first-day meetings were “fixed . . . by convenience.” Earlier in his discussion of 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, he says, “If, however, we ask why Paul said, ‘On the first day of every week?’ there is a good chance that he chose that day because the Christians met on that day.”[4] The question we are asking and seeking to answer is why they met on the first day. Wells says it was out of convenience, though he does not argue his case cogently. Then he suggests, “there might have been a natural preference for the first day of the week.” If there is a redemptive-historical reason for first-day meetings, however, it is a theologically revealed basis and does not and cannot change, whether convenient for us or not. If the early Christians met on the basis of convenience, would it not have been less threatening to their well-being to meet on the last day of the week (especially Jewish believers) so as not to draw unwanted and potentially adverse attention to themselves? As will be argued below, the reason for first-day meetings of the church is not based on the mere natural connection between the resurrection of our Lord and first-day meetings. It is, in fact, very redemptive-historical, theological, and even Christological.
[1] Schreiner, “Good-bye and Hello,” 186.
[2] Schreiner, “Good-bye and Hello,” 186-87.
[3] Wells, The Christian and the Sabbath, 95; emphasis added.
[4] Wells, The Christian and the Sabbath, 95.
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