On this Lord’s Day we assemble,
‘Round the table of the Lord;
Happy hearts are made to tremble,
When we hear His blessed word.
Thanks to God for such a Savior,
Now enthroned in heaven above;
Thanks for this exalted favor,
Blest memorial of His love.
Why do we gather together around the Lord’s table on the Lord’s day to partake of the Lord’s Supper with the Lord’s people? The answer is simple: out of reverence for the Lord in keeping with the Lord’s Book.
Jesus arose from the dead "on the first day of the week" (Luke 24:1,13,21,46). It was exactly forty-nine days later, on a Sunday, that Peter and the other apostles preached the gospel of a crucified Lord who had risen from the dead and was now crowned as the Savior "for you and your children, and for all who are afar off" (Acts 2:39). On this day the church began. One may argue that all of this was happenstance, but the timing of the Lord is more exact than the time clocks of man. In fact, the Lord’s calendar is loaded with much more significance.
A pattern begins to emerge in the pages of the New Testament. From Acts 20:7, we learn that Paul and his company assembled with the church at Troas "on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20;7). Paul stayed an entire week beforehand in order to be able to meet with the church (20:6), which is all the more surprising since Passover had already passed and he would have to hurry to get to
The church at
In Revelation 1:10, John says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (te kuriake hemera). Bauer’s lexicon defines the relevant term, "the Lord’s day... i.e. certainly Sunday (so in modern Greek)" (p. 458). This conclusion is verified in early church history. The Didache instructs, "And on the Lord’s own day (kata kuriaken de kuriou) gather yourselves together and break bread and give thanks... (14:1). In the early second century, Ignatius writes, "If therefore those who lived according to the old practices came to the new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath but living according to the Lord’s day, in which also our life arose through him and his death..." (Magnesians 9). Justin Martyr added, "We all make our assembly in common on the day of the Sun, since it is the first day, on which God changed the darkness and matter and made the world, and Jesus Christ our Savior arose from the dead on the same day. For they crucified him on the day before Saturn’s day, and on the day after (which is the day of the Sun) he appeared to his apostles and taught his disciples these things" (Apology I, 67:7).
Do you honor the first day of the week as the "Lord’s Day"? Can you say the same thing if recreational interests take precedence over the Lord’s Supper?
8 comments:
Hello. This article seems to suggest that those who do not observe communion every week are in error of not honoring the Lord’s Day. I have to disagree. An example does not a command make. The Didache is quoted for support but do you also believe also in accordance with Didache 7:4 that before baptism the baptizer and the one undergoing baptism must fast? This sounds like a form of Church of Christ theology which, if anything is in error, it certainly is.
The Cheshire Cat
Dear Cheshire Cat,
First of all, let me thank you for your interest in the truth and for contributing to the site. I am Joshuah (founder, creator, CEO and employee of the month for PCPulpit).
First off, allow me to say that I did not write this article so I can only offer my opinion regarding the author's intentions. That having been said, the Bible does teach that the Lord's Supper (communion) is to be observed on EVERY first day of the week.
Acts 20:7 tells us that the purpose for which the disciples assembled was to break bread and that it was on the first day of the week.
Acts 2:42 states that those who were baptized "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers."
From 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 we have the command to set aside funds on the first day of every week, and already saw that the purpose for assembly was to break bread.
Furthermore, if we are not to partake every first day of the week when we assemble, when should we? Many groups today only observe once a month or once a quarter. Who decides that? If it is left up to judgment, then a group would be fine in observing the Lord's Supper every 10 years as long as it was on a Sunday. I doubt anyone would accept that as a good practice.
Yes, the Didache was quoted as support, but only as that (in my opinion). Remember, it is not inspired, and no I do not believe that fasting is mandatory for those involved in a baptism to fast. I believe the author was using this to show a biblical and a cultural side to his points regarding the Lord's Day.
I am sorry, but I am not sure what you mean by "Church of Christ" theology. I am only interested in the teachings of the Bible and not of any man-made organization.
I hope this has cleared up your confusion.
Joshuah
P.S. Out of curiosity, how did you come to find my humble site?
Hello. Thank you for the response sir even if you didn’t author the article. To be sure I think there is certainly something to be said of frequent communion observation, and I don’t disagree with the fact of the weekly frequency the first and early second century churches observed the Supper. However I disagree that it must be done every Sunday in order to honor the Lord. For such a strict view, it seems to me you offer rather weak forms of circumstantial evidence.
Acts 20:7 reads, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread…” This, one should note, is not a command but a reference to the frequency that they observed it.
Acts 2:42, which you quote above, lacks an imperative for weekly observance of communion also.
And passage of 1 Corinthians 16 addresses funds, not communion. From this you simply jump to the conclusion that communion must be served every week too. Your bridge in this logical leap is presumably in your statement that “the purpose for assembly was to break bread.” But this isn’t really true; the purpose of assembly isn’t to break bread. If you think otherwise, then allow me to ask this question: Assuming that your church has a midweek assembly, is breaking bread the purpose of that gathering as well?
In reality, the assembly of the church has many purposes, from instruction to edification. But the Bible gives us no agenda on when precisely to fulfill those purposes. Perhaps something else that shouldn’t go without mentioning: When the Lord instructs the disciples on communion at the Last Supper, one searches in vain for instruction on how frequent its observance must be.
Respectfully Yours,
The Cheshire Cat
Cheshire,
I appreciate you continued interest in this matter. I hope you are seeking truth.
I cited 1 Cor 16 to affirm that the Christians to whom Paul was writing were meeting every first day of the week. I was noting the frequency of assemblies on the first day of the week. Yes, the context of the passage is dealing with funds, but they still cam together. I do NOT believe that the LS should be served on Wed. because it is not the first day of the week.
Acts 2:42 is not a weak passage as it affirms that the LS is an ongoing practice. We need to determine the frequency.
This is taught by the passage in Acts 20:7. The church at Troas came together on the first day of the week" to break bread (take the LS). This practice was apostolically approved as Paul was there. What we don't find in the passage is a command regarding the month or the year.
In the OT, month and day were made known by God regarding festivals that were to occur annually. A specific month was given when festivals were to be observed monthly and the day of the Sabbath (observed weekly) was also provided. As you can see, one does not search in vain for instruction as to how frequent the observance must be.
Here again we see no specified week or month. All we know is that the purpose of the assembly on the first day of the week was the LS. Who am I do try and decide WHICH first day of the week is most appropriate?
I still want to know, if you disagree, how it is decided when the LS is to be observed and when it is not. Do those details come from God or man?
I have answered your question, now please answer mine.
Joshuah
Thank for your additional response. And I hope you are interested in truth as well.
You said:
”I cited 1 Cor 16 to affirm that the Christians to whom Paul was writing were meeting every first day of the week. I was noting the frequency of assemblies on the first day of the week. Yes, the context of the passage is dealing with funds, but they still cam together. I do NOT believe that the LS should be served on Wed. because it is not the first day of the week.”
Yes; therefore the Eucharist cannot be THE purpose of assembly since as you admit it is not observed every assembly. So we have gotten that out of the way.
You then defend your interpretation of Acts 2:42 but there is no command here, only an acknowledgement of weekly frequency. With respect, it sounds like you’re constructing your own manmade command out of this.
Also, you mention the Old Testament observances, but this a deficient parallel. The frequency of observances such as Passover and Sabbath were given in the form of a command which is precisely what we do not find in the New Testament with the Eucharist. Where is the actual command that you act as though is present? You see, the problem here is that you’re advocating a doctrine that must be obeyed as though God commands it. Yet there is no command for it found in Scripture. Therefore it sounds to me that you are in the same boat as the ex-Pharisees in Acts 15 who issued commands to their brethren that were never given by Christ or the Apostles. And subsequently they were rebuked for doing so.
Finally you ask me to answer the following: “I still want to know, if you disagree, how it is decided when the LS is to be observed and when it is not. Do those details come from God or man?”
Allow me to answer this with a simple question: How is it decided when (at what age) one is to be baptized, and does the answer to that question come from God or man?
I can see that we are not getting anywhere in our discussion. Time after time I have answered your questions yet you answer mine with more questions. I feel you are misunderstanding what I am saying completely. Acts 20:7 shows that the purpose of the assemble (on the first day of the week) was the LS so I am not sure what we got "out of the way."
1 Cor 16 states that Christians were meeting every first day of the week. Acts 20:7 tells us of the purpose of the assemble on the first day of the week. I don't know how to make it any clearer than that.
I would still like an answer to my question. Double talk really doesn't interest me.
Hello again. I’m sorry to see that you take my answer in the form of a question as double speak. I do in fact mean it as an answer. After all, recall that some of Christ’s best answers were in the form of an interrogative. But if it is too ambiguous, I’ll put it this way: I take the consequence of the question you asked me as no different than the question I asked you in response. You see the Bible tells us certain things we are to do as Christians, but our responses to those commands are not so much important in the quantitative sense as they are in the qualitative sense.
For instance take the following two separate issues: the Bible tells us to give of our means, and to be baptized. But I don’t think for a moment that God wishes us to attach significant meaning to the quantitative amount that Scripture happens to describe in the accounts relating to those issues (ala the widow’s two coins; Jesus’ age of thirty at baptism). If we apply your approach to these issues too it’s hard to see how we would have any good reason to disregard the quantitative details here either. One cup at communion anyone?
Indeed, not only this but the Bible is often sparse on quantitative details on what we are to do. But this doesn’t throw Christianity into a rut. For if we are reasonable enough to disregard the widow’s two coins, and Jesus’ age at baptism as an indication of our own personal responses, then we are forced to accept that the Bible therefore gives no quantitative answers to us on these issues. But who cares? God didn’t care to specify the numbers here so it’s not relevant for us to get caught up in them.
Likewise is the case with communion, other than mentioning New Testament frequency, we find no actual command that quantitatively specifies when to observe communion. It’s not that God vs. Man is not a relevant question. It is. But it is the man-made dogma that seeks to insert commands about how often communion is to be observed when in fact such a command is absent.
One final thing because you mentioned it in your last response. You ask what I meant in my earlier response regarding Acts 20:7. I may indeed have misunderstood, since looking back what you said seems a little more ambiguous. But when you stated “the purpose for which the disciples assembled was to break bread” I thought you were arguing literally (1) the purpose for church assembly was to break bread, therefore (2) we must break bread on that day too. In return I argued that (re:1) we know there are multiple purposes for assembling other than to break bread because all churches (to my knowledge) have assemblies (midweek) wherein breaking bread isn’t a part, and (re: 2) we can’t say we must do it that way because Acts 20:7 lacks such a command. Anyway, I hope that explains any division of thought.
Respectfully yours,
The Cheshire Cat
The Bible doesn't discriminate, but he does...
Post a Comment