Acts 20:7: "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."
One aspect to this that I am not sure many think of. When does a day begin? According to Jewish tradition, based on the creation model, the day begins at sundown. They base that on the statements by God.. "and the evening and the morning" for each day of creation. So one is meeting on the first day if they have meeting on Saturday evening!
And that passage becomes more enlightening when looking at it thru that lens. They were meeting, had the lord's supper, and Paul was speaking to midnight. The "Lord's supper" or havdalah meal, is still observed in Jewish circles. It is the meal that is held on Saturday evening (when first day of the week begins) to close the sabbath. And if that was the case in this passage, it would explain why Eutychus had fallen asleep. How many of you have fallen asleep after a good meal on a Saturday evening? If this meeting had been on Sunday morning, Paul would have been speaking for over 12 hrs by the time midnight rolled around. That seems highly unlikely. But if they were meeting on the first of the week after sundown Saturday evening, which closed the sabbath, it would make more sense.
Folks get all caught up in the arguing over details and forget that they impose their western mindset on the text. The NT was written by a bunch of baptized Jewish believers. It sometimes pays to look at the text thru their eyes instead of our own. This is what happens when the church separated itself from it's Jewish roots.
So one can be honoring the Sabbath in a literal sense by having service on Saturday evening to close the sabbath, and still be having service on the first of the week. The Law says Sabbath is a day of rest, not a day of meeting. There is no prescription in the law that there be a meeting or church service on the sabbath. One can observe the sabbath by resting that day, have service on Saturday evening (when the first of the week begins) to close the sabbath, and still be fulfilling all the examples of the OT and NT and observing the literal law.
Then they can quit wasting time fighting with one another and turning issues such as this into legalism. And also quit trying to impose the traditions of some on others.
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