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The Lord's Supper on the First Day of the Week

September 11 2004 at 12:03 PM
 
from IP address 209.215.12.113


A common practice for believers is the partaking of the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week. As members of the Church of Christ we follow the example the Jesus Christ and the apostles set forth. We also allow those in the congregation, that for whatever reason they were not able to attend the morning gathering, to partake in the evening service.
My question is this: Should we allow the Lord's Supper after sundown on Sunday. Genesis 1:5 " And the evening and the morning were the first day." This is obvious how God divided the days. When does the first day begin? If it begins at Saturday evening then it ends 24 or so hours later. If the evening is come on Sunday pm service it thus makes it Monday, the second day of the week. I realize that some will say that it is now our customs to change the beginning of the days but where did God change the start and ending of his days?

I post this question because I am curious not because I want to get into a debate. If you can confirm or otherwise feel free to respond. Preferably with the Bible and history as prooftext. When did it Change?

Thanks for the comments.

Wil Montero

 
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AuthorReply


63.84.81.27

First day:

September 14 2004, 6:26 PM 

This is a important question if we are going to "keep time." I have read some Sabbath keeper's sites where they believe that our sabbath is an even multiples of the day God RESTED. I believe that the Jews still regulate some festivals by the phase of the moon or some other natural time keeper.

'A question developed, however, about when to mark the beginning of this time-keeping unit ["a day"]. Two points seemed to make the most sense: sunrise or sunset. Hebrew culture chose to designate sunset as the beginning of a day.

As a result, their sabbaths and holy days began at sunset on the evening before the daytime of the festival.

This tradition [Hebrew] carried over into Christian traditions and gave rise to the celebrations of "eves" such as Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, and Halloween (All Hallow's Eve). Other groups chose sunrise as the beginning of the day.'


That means that our morning service would be on the first day but if the evening service is after sunset then people would be eating the Lord's Supper on MONDAY or the second day.

When Paul met with the people at Troas he DIALOGED but did not preach as in a sermon until midnight. However, the idea was that he would depart on the morrow. "Morrow" or the first day was not a day of rest until Constantine. Paul would not upset any of the Jews by beginning his journey early Sunday morning. Therefore, this important text seems to have them meeting on the Lord's Day but on our Saturday night.

However, both the Sabbath and Sunday carried the notion of REST and not a day of "worship" in the sense that we feel the need to "wear out the saints." REST on the Sabbath permitted them to gather in small communities to have a "holy convocation" which meant to READ or REHEARSE whatever they had in the way of written or oral instructions about the Law.

My view is that this is something that you do to show forth or preach or teach the Death of Christ and all this means to us. If I could not make it for Sunday morning I never felt the need to do it on Sunday evening to fulfil a legal duty. Others have differing opinions and I think this is why most churches serve communion at both times.

Anyway,Sabbath meant REST before it meant the SEVEN of the SABBATH. I say "more rest" which Jesus died to give us where rest meanst of just about anything you are doing: Just stop it. I am sure that others have different views.

Ken Sublett

 
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Mark Waggoner

192.31.106.36

Re: The Lord's Supper on the First Day of the Week

September 15 2004, 8:56 AM 

Wil

You've asked an interesting question, which has more than one related event tied to it. Concerning the Lord's Supper, we see in Acts 20:7-11 that Paul and his company gathered with the saints in Troas "on the first day of the week"... "to break bread". This breaking of bread was what we call the Lord's Supper. Paul spoke/preached until midnight and was planning to leave the next day (Monday). After the incident with Eutychus, Paul and the others went back inside to eat a common meal before he left. The phrase "breaking of bread" in verse 7 is different in the Greek from the one in verse 11.

Although you didn't refer to this, let me throw another one out for consideration. What day of the week was Christ crucified? Before I explain my position, we must know that it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. What we do KNOW is that Christ rose before dawn on what we call Sunday, the first day of the week... which is where we have our significance in taking the Lord's Supper on that day. We also KNOW what Jesus said in Matthew 12:38-40, that He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. While it is important to understand that the Jews "day" began at sunset, Jesus specifically says days and nights. In order for His words to be accurate, Jesus could not have been crucified on Friday as religious tradition holds but on a Thursday instead. The argument against this is that the day after the crucifixion was a Sabbath. I say, true, but what is a Sabbath except a "Holy Day"? Every "Saturday" was a Sabbath but not every Sabbath was a "Saturday". The feast days were also Sabbaths and we KNOW that Jesus came to Jerusalem and was planning to partake of the Passover. My belief is that the "Friday" following His crucifixion was the Passover and that Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples early, on "Wednesday" night. Also, the gospel according to John refers to this Sabbath as a "High Day", which signifies a "special" Sabbath Day. Ancient Hebrew calendars confirm that there were 3 occasions between AD 30 and 35 when the Passover took place on Fridays.

I hope that this is beneficial.

Mark Waggoner

 
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63.84.81.13

First Day

September 15 2004, 11:48 AM 

Good thoughts. I have read several attempt to count the days which followed the pattern of selecting the lamb etc for the Passover. It has to be a fact that the SABBATH here was a special Sabbath and not Saturday. [Sabbath meaning REST and not SATURDAY]

Here is an account which I have begun to "parse" into thought patterns for my own edification. This supports the Thursday account:

http://www.askelm.com/news/n010501.htm

This is important because of fulfilling the type of the Passover and because "ONE HOUR EQUALS ONE DAY" so you can get three days and three nights does little for my faith.

Does this upset the Saturday night Lord's Supper for us?

Ken

 
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Joe

216.215.158.11

Which day?

September 20 2004, 9:02 PM 

Brother Mark:
Your question and explanation of Christ’s crucifixion shows that you are a deep fisherman of the truth, but you need to check your math. Jesus died about the 9th hour (Matt 27:46), which would start the count at sunset Wednesday night. Jesus ate the Last Supper, Tuesday night. The Passover meal was on Wednesday night: All the Passover lamb were scarficed at the Temple except one, He was scarficed outside the walls of Jerusalem, on Calvary.
Speaking of counting. Have you counted the days from Christ entering Jerusalem and His crucifixion? I count 4, which means He fulfilled the 4 days of examining the Passover Lamb of Exodus 12:3-6.
Jesus also arose on the first day of the week, which was the Eighth day, and the number 8 means new beginning.
When you look deep it is amazing how all thing fit together isn’t it? And how all things mean something.

To God be the Glory
Joe McKnight

 
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