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Why You Should Be in God's House on the Lord's Day
- Thread starter Scripture More Accurately
- Start date
Ben1445
Well-Known Member
SDA and unchurch people believe the same way. Which are you?
Actually, as far as scripture is concerned, there are only two times mentioned with regard to anybody getting together on the first (day) of the week - John 20:19 and Acts 20:7. There is never any mention of them ever again being together on the first.
The John reference has them together in a closed room after the crucifixion because they were afraid of their fellow Jews. Nothing is said about a worship service. And it couldn't have been in recognition of the resurrection because at that time they didn't even believe that the resurrection had taken place.
And the Acts reference might very well have had them getting together to break bread with Paul because he happened to be in town and wanted to talk to them before he had to leave again. The "breaking of bread" can simply be saying that the disciples got together to eat a meal on this one particular first day of the week . The phrase, "to break bread", does not have to refer to a religious service - unless it is specifically stated - but to dividing loaves of bread for a meal. "It means to partake of food and is used of eating as in a meal...... The readers [of the original New Testament letters and manuscripts] could have had no other idea or meaning in their minds" (E.W.Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, pp. 839,840.
But even if the breaking of bread mentioned always did refer to the Lord’s Supper, it had nothing to do with placing a special emphasis on the first (day) because Acts 2:46 says that they broke bread every day. And nothing is said about the resurrection in the account. There simply is no reason for thinking
And as for your analogy of the "Trinity never once directly stated in Scripture as being the Trinity, it is undeniably true through proper handling of the Scripture", the idea that the Lord's Day (the term of which is mentioned only once in scripture) is never even implied in scripture as being referring to the first day of the week.
OK, now I know you're just messing with me.
Ben1445
Well-Known Member
Not at all. It’s the same question, a bit more pointed, that you still refuse to answer.
So, SDA claiming to be Baptist, or an unchurch Baptist if there really is such a thing.
It’s not a hard question. It was not even meant to be a big issue but it looks like it is not a question that you want everyone to know. So I push the issue because I like to know, at least for myself what the beliefs are of the people I am reading. You don’t seem bothered enough by being lumped into either category to care to deny it. So I figure you belong in one of them or at least very close.
I think it unlikely that a Christian slave in Rome or Corinth could tell his master, "Sorry, but I won't be bringing you your breakfast in bed this morning - I'm off to church!" He'd probably end up working down a salt mine or rowing a galley! The Puritans believed that doing works of mercy (doctors, nurses etc.) or necessity (police, armed forces or to pay your rent) were permissible on a Sunday.
But not to go to church because you don't like the music, the people, the preacher or the colour of the wallpaper, or because you can't be bothered to get out of bed, is another matter.
If we can't get to church on a Sunday for a good reason, then we should make sure that we're at the mid-week meeting, to meet our brothers and sisters in Christ. And that should be a joy, not a burden.
But not to go to church because you don't like the music, the people, the preacher or the colour of the wallpaper, or because you can't be bothered to get out of bed, is another matter.
If we can't get to church on a Sunday for a good reason, then we should make sure that we're at the mid-week meeting, to meet our brothers and sisters in Christ. And that should be a joy, not a burden.
Scripture More Accurately
Well-Known Member
Actually, no, those two passages are not the only relevant passages.
1 Corinthians 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
Paul gave an apostolic command to all the Corinthians for an activity that they all were to do specifically on the first day of the week. Such activity plainly gives special emphasis to that day and accords fully with their assembling weekly on that day to worship God corporately.
Furthermore, concerning Acts 20:7, note what the context is:
Acts 20:6 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. 7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
Even though they had been there seven days, they did not gather with the disciples to break bread until the first day of the week. Their doing so accords fully with their placing special significance on that day.
Since it looks like you're not going to start a new topic, and you're going to keep harping on me with a totally irrelevant question which has nothing to do with this one, I guess I'll have to drop , for the moment at least, one of my pet peeves regarding off topic posts.
I was brought up Baptist, baptized Baptist, went to Baptist summer camps, and went to a predominantly Baptist attended college. Currently, though, I would say I'm probably what you refer to as "unchurched".
But verse does not say that the Corinthians met together on the first day of the week. The text merely says that everyone should "lay by him in store" on the first day of the week. The Wemouth reads: "Let each of you put on one side and store up at his home". Ballantine's Translation reads: "Let each of you lay up at home". The Syriac on this passage reads: "Let every one of you lay aside and preserve at home". And the New Catholic Edition of the Bible reads: "....let each one of you put aside at home and lay up whatever he has a mind to". The Aramaic Bible in Plain English reads: "On every Sunday, let each person of you lay aside in his house and keep that which he can, so that when I come there will be no collections". The Lamsa Bible reads: "Upon the first day of every week, let each of you put aside and keep in his house whatever he can afford,so that there may be no collections when I come." The Darby Bible reads: "On [the] first of [the] week let each of you put by at home, laying up [in] whatever [degree] he may have prospered, that there may be no collections when I come." The Tyndale Bible of 1526 reads: "Vpon some sondaye let every one of you put a syde at home and laye vp what soever he thinketh mete that ther be no gaderinges when I come."
This verse says nothing about getting together on the first day.
Sure it is. "Lord's Day" meant "first day of the week." It didn't mean Saturday, the last day of the week, it meant the first day, right there in the book of Revelation. What more do you need???
The great Greek scholar A. T. Robertson wrote,
"On the Lord’s Day (en tēi kuriakēi hēmerāi). Deissmann has proven (Bible Studies, p. 217f.; Light, etc., p. 357ff.) from inscriptions and papyri that the word kuriakos was in common use for the sense “imperial” as imperial finance and imperial treasury and from papyri and ostraca that hēmera Sebastē (Augustus Day) was the first day of each month, Emperor’s Day on which money payments were made (cf. 1Co_16:1.). It was easy, therefore, for the Christians to take this term, already in use, and apply it to the first day of the week in honour of the Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection on that day (Didache 14, Ignatius Magn. 9). In the N.T. the word occurs only here and 1Co_11:20 (kuriakon deipnon the Lord's Supper). It has no reference to hēmera kuriou (the day of judgment, 2Pe_3:10)." (Accessed through e-sword software.)
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Ben1445
Well-Known Member
Considering that the topic is
“Why You Should Be in God's House on the Lord's Day”
(Copied not intentionally emphasized)Then the topic of whether or not you go to church and which day you go to church are completely on post because both of those are mentioned in the title
What is your point with regard to needing to know my denomination proclivity? How is that needed to be able to respond to my comment, "just that's it never stated as such in any English Bibles that I'm aware of"?
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Scripture More Accurately
Well-Known Member
The verse shows that Paul gave an apostolic command that set apart the first day of the week as special for a special obligation for all the Corinthians.
What's more, Paul stressed that same importance of the first day of the week for not just the Corinthian church but also the churches of Galatia:
1 Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
That fact points to the first day as being of special importance to all Christians; it's simply not true that Scripture does not place any special emphasis on the first day of the week. When all the passages that show the special nature of the first day are correlated, it is clear that is the day that is the Lord's Day on which He wants His people to assemble together to worship Him corporately.
Ben1445
Well-Known Member
After a certain amount of somewhat vague posts that have a leaning tendency toward discouraging people from attending the Sunday services, I wanted to know what it was that you were specifically looking to justify, meeting on a different day, or not meeting at all. These are two very different ideas and Scripture supports neither.
Romans 14:5-5
One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
Colossians 2:16
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
(That is, it doesn’t make so much difference which day you meet)
And
Hebrews 10:25
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
2 Timothy 4:10
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world,…
1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1 Corinthians 11:33
Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
Regular Christian fellowship is assumed and encouraged. It is also wise.
Proverbs 11:14
Where no counsel is, the people fall:
but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
I don't know how you get that from what I've posted. I entered this topic by simply asking the OP what they were referring to as the "Lord's Day". Their answer was the first day of the week. I then mentioned that I wasn't aware of any English language Bibles which identified the "Lord's Day" as the first day of the week. I would need to know that in order to respond to the OP, which as of yet I haven't done.
I haven't said anything with regard to meeting on a different day or not meeting at all.
Ben1445
Well-Known Member
It’s not difficult to hear. You have claimed for yourself that I would probably call you unchurched. It is easy enough to see whether you know how it is seen or not.
It is not a taboo topic, but most of the Christians in the world meet on the first day of the week. To come in challenging it as not having any biblical basis shows your beliefs. It is just too vague to identify what religion.
You started by saying that the presently most accepted day has no biblical basis for a day to meet. So whether you believe it or not, you come across as a scorner of Sunday-go-to-meetin’ Christians.
And if I may be so bold, the spirit of the OP seems to be addressing people who aren’t in church when the church is assembled and not necessarily the specific day of the week.
This Lord’s Day is just the next well accepted time. That you are aware of.
No mention of a particular day.
The fact that there is a common giving of the first day of the week to the Lord should not be something that bothers you, @rstrats. If every day is the Lord’s, then be with His people every day of His that they are meeting. That really is the point. You can see the emphasis specifically in the closing of the OP. Online is not comparable.
So while the OP has referenced the particular day, it doesn’t appear to be the driving thought of the OP.
And how is that?
I'm not challenging the first day of the week. I'm questioning where "the Lord's Day" is said in scripture to be the first day of the week.
I'm saying that I'm not aware of any scripture which says that the first day of the week is to be observed as a day of worship and in honor of the resurrection. And I might add that scripture is silent with regard to anyone doing that.
That's all I'm saying, I haven't said that it shouldn't be.
For the purpose of my sticking my nose into this topic I was only concerned with what Scripture More Accurately's use of the word "Lord's Day" was referring. He replied by saying the first day of the week.
I should have stopped at that point. But unfortunately I can't ever seem to leave well enough alone. He had asked, why the church should come together into one place on the "Lord's Day' which he considers to be the first day of the week. I, of course couldn't help myself and had to comment on both the use of the phrase "Lord's Day" to mean the first day of the week as well as the first day of the week being set aside for corporate worship. From that point on everything went down hill from there and interfered with the entent of the topic. Sorry for that.
Ben1445
Well-Known Member
If you don’t see it, I’m not going to be able to explain it to you.
Romans 14:5
“…He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it…”
And that is the Scriptural teaching of the use of the calendar.
That doesn’t have anything much to do with whether or not a member of the assembly can still call itself a member of the assembly when the “member” never assembles.