This seems appropriate here.
The writer of Hebrews wrote, in chapter 10:
“..not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
In days past and especially recently (because of COVID) I have seen this scripture used to prove that we have “a mandate from God to meet on Sundays” or any other day. That group claims that “NOT meeting” would be tantamount to disobeying God. “We will fear God and not man!” they conclude, and then point to this verse as their proof text.
I will quickly examine this verse to show what it really means.
When we read the Bible, it is important to note the irregular phrases and words that are not typical in our vernacular. For example, often repeated words or words that seem out of order or phrases that seem odd should give us a clue that there is an a-typical expression or at least one that may not be familiar to us. Things that seem contradictory (“God so loved the world…” and “Love not the world”) should be examined more closely so that the meaning of the scripture can be discerned from context, understanding, and/or revelation.
This verse is one of those verses.
“..not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
It starts out just fine “..not forsaking” so we’re cued in on something we are not to forsake, but then it quickly becomes odd to our vernacular “..the assembling of ourselves together..”. Some may think, “Well, this is just a hold over from King James English, so it seems long and drawn out. It simply means we should meet together regularly.” And then we see that this exhortation is set against "the Day". We must know what that means, too.
In the Greek, the word for ‘assembling’ and ‘together’ is the same word: episynagōgē. To write is out, it would read “the episynagōgē (of ourselves) episynagōgē”. That’s a little odd, right?
If this verse was just about meeting together, the word synagō might have been used to signify getting everyone together in one place.
But this is the gathering of ourselves together. This signifies the assembling of parts of a whole, the Body coming together as one. This is not “one according to location”, but one according to function.
We can find further clarification in Ephesians 4:
“..speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
Simply meeting together for a gathering does not fulfill the exhortation in Hebrews chapter 10. We are not to resist the gathering of ourselves together with others, to form the body of Christ wherein each person does his/her part to the building up of the whole body.
It is the difference between a bag of car parts vs. a fully functioning vehicle.
The same word, episynagōgē, is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:1
"Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our [episunagógé] gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first..."
The Day, then, is the Day of the Lord, not Sunday or Saturday. It is the gathering together of the corporate man as the Day of the Lord's return draws near.
The episynagōgē of the Body is a work of the Spirit that we are not to resist, He is the one who determines our place and function in the Body of Christ.
Blessings,
Aaron56
1
