Doesn't Acts 20:9 have them meeting the first day of the week?
The Sabbath of the LORD thy God (JEHOVAH Elohiym) - The 7th Day - The Lord's day - Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How? Part 03
Acts 20:7
QUESTION: DIDN’T PAUL & THE DISCIPLES MEET ON “THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK” REGULARLY TO PARTAKE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER, AS IN ACTS 20:7?
No. See - ACTS 20:7 –
https://archive.org/details/acts-20-vs-7-nutshell-image
[01.] Acts 20:7 is a one time event. There is no weekly occurrence or event here. The event is recorded, showing Paul was leaving them for a reason, and a special miracle occurred.
[02.] Acts 20:7 shows that it was at night time, “many lights”, “unto midnight”, “sleep”, “long preaching”, “morrow”, and thus was a ‘Saturday night’ (after the 7th day the Sabbath was over, ending in the evening time, become the “first [day] of the week”). The koine Greek is even more specific, showing that the time was during the 7 weeks leading up to Pentecost, wherein multiple sabbaths (plural; σαββάτων) were being counted by all. The physician Luke (Colossians 4:14) is the author of Acts (see Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1-3), and was the one with the Apostle Paul (Romans 1:1, 11:13; 1 Corinthians 1:1, 9:1-2, 15:9; 2 Corinthians 1:1, 12:12; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1 Timothy 1:1, 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:1,11; Titus 1:1) on many of his journeyings (2 Timothy 4:11). Luke, himself, never once designates the “first [day] of the week” as “the sabbath” (the 7th day), or even a replacement for “the sabbath”, or that the sabbath was no longer “holy”, or to be kept as such by the follower of God, or no longer the (4th) “commandment” of God (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15) to be obeyed by Christians (Jews & Gentiles), in either the Gospel of Luke, or the book of Acts of the Apostles, which records the entire history from the time of Jesus to the time of the death of Paul in Rome (Acts 28:16,30; 2 Timothy 4:6-8). Luke simply calls the day (Luke 24:1; Acts 20:7) the “first”, even as the people of God have from the beginning.
[03.] Luke, having been with Paul so long, never states or intimates that Paul had ever identified the “first [day]” as ”the sabbath”, or a replacement thereof, or that the sabbath was no longer “holy”, or to be kept as such by the follower of God, or no longer the (4th) “commandment” of God (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15) to be obeyed by Christians (Jews & Gentiles), or that Paul had identified the “first [day]” as “the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10; really the 7th day the sabbath of the LORD, see Isaiah 58:13; Mark 2:27; &c.) anywhere in his (Luke’s) Gospel, or the Acts.
[04.] Luke never identifies the “first [day] of the week” as “the Lord’s day” anywhere in the Gospel of Luke or the book of the Acts.
Act 20:7 GNT TR εν δε τη μια των σαββατων συνηγμενων των μαθητων του κλασαι αρτον ο παυλος διελεγετο αυτοις μελλων εξιεναι τη επαυριον παρετεινεν τε τον λογον μεχρι μεσονυκτιου
[05.] Luke makes direct mention of the “first [day] of the week” only 2 times; once in his (Luke’s) Gospel (Luke 24:1), and once in the Acts (Acts 20:7). There is an intimation (through calculation) with “Pentecost”, which anti-typically was a one time event (typologically, a yearly, not a weekly), being upon the ”first [day] of the week”, having been 50 days since Jesus arose from the dead, (“first [day] of the week”) the fulfillment of the “firstfruits” or “wave sheaf” (Leviticus 23:9-22; Psalms 133:1-3; Matthew 28:1,6; Mark 16:2,6; Luke 24:1-6; John 20:1-18; Romans 5:5; Revelation 5:6; Isaiah 26:19; Matthew 27:50-54; Psalms 68:17-20; Ephesians 4:8-10; 1 Corinthians 15:20-23; Psalms 24:1-10)). Neither Luke, nor Paul, state or intimate that those ever refer to a weekly, or cyclical event that was to occur among the believers in Christ Jesus, as the 7th day, the sabbath of the LORD always was since the beginning (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11) all the way into the New Heavens and New Earth (Isaiah 66:22-23). Additional intimations of the “first [day]” are included when Luke records that the disciples met “daily” (Acts 2:46-47, 5:42, 6:1, 16:5, 20:31), 17:11,17) and with Jesus for “forty days” (Acts 1:3,9) just before He ascended to the 3rd heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2,4) from the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:51,53, “continually”), which 40th day from firstfruits, was also not a “first [day]” gathering, but rather a middle of the week event (5th day, aka ‘Thursday’ commonly, not technically). See also other times (differing days of the week) when both Jews and/or Christians (Jews/Gentiles) met together (Matthew 26:55; Mark 14:49; Luke 22:53, 24:33,36; Acts 19:9; Hebrews 3:13) for varying purposes. Both John 20:19,26, along with Luke 24:1-49 reveal that the disciples met on the 2nd day of the week (first evening at sunset), and on the third and later days in that upper room (“And after eight days again” (John 20:26), and no matter how that is calculated, inclusive or exclusively, it cannot ever land upon “the first [day] of the week”). There is also an semi-unknown day (it was upon any day of the week other than the Sabbath (they went fishing at night; John 21:1,3-4)) that the disciples met with Jesus after his resurrection in John 21:1-25. These latter details reveal that the body of believers of God may gather on any and every day of the week with no injunction anywhere found in scripture against such. Yet, none of the extra gathering is to be a replacement or a nullification of necessary obedience (by God’s grace through faith, and in the Holy Spirit) to keeping the 7th day, the sabbath of the LORD thy God, holy. As for instance: a church business meeting on the 1st day (generally Sunday, though not technically) with a devotional, and prayer or a 2nd or 3rd day (generally Monday and Tuesday) gathering for song practice or other outreach activity, or a 4th day (generally Wednesday) prayer meeting, or a 5th day (generally Thursday) social gathering or potluck, or a 6th day (generally Friday) vespers, etc (wedding, feast, funeral, function, and so on) does not break the commandment, or given reason to ignore it. The evil is not the gathering together on any day of the 7 of the week, but the sin is in the neglecting the specific obedience to the 4th commandment (which covers all 7 days of the week) and desecrating the holiness of the 7th day.
[06.] Luke specifically records the word ”sabbath” (the 7th day) 27 times (actually 29 times, with the koine Greek of Luke 24:1; Act 20:7 considered); Luke 4:16,31, 6:1,2,5,6,7,9, 13:10,14(x2),15,16, 14:1,3,5, 23:54,56; Acts 1:12, 13:14,27,42,44, 15:21, 16:31, 17:2, (3 consecutive sabbaths) 18:4 (“every sabbath”; also vs 11, a “year and six months”, which is 52 weeks + 26 weeks, being 78 consecutive sabbaths met together on by both Jew and Gentile with the Apostle Paul and others, and in Acts 18:23, “he had spent some time there” (several sabbaths); in Act 19:8, “for the space of three months” (12 sabbaths); in Acts 19:10, “continued by the space of two years” (104 sabbaths), “in Acts 19:22, “for a season” (several sabbaths), in Acts 20:3, “three months” (12 sabbaths), and in Acts 20:18,31, “all seasons, ”a space of three years” (156 sabbaths)).
[07.] Neither Luke, nor Paul, state (explicitly, or implicitly) in any location (Gospel of Luke, Acts or Epistles of Paul) that Christians were to gather merely upon “the first [day] of the week” in honour of Christ’s resurrection. Paul specifically records that Christians honour Christ’s resurrection through an event, called “baptism” (Romans 6:1-23; Colossians 2:12).
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