Page "Sabbath in Christianity" Paragraph 8

The following textual evidence for first-day assembly is usually combined with the notion that the rest day should follow the assembly day to support first-day Sabbatarianism.

On the first day of the week ( usually considered the day of Firstfruits ), after Jesus has been raised from the dead (), he appears to Mary Magdalene, Peter, Cleopas, and others.

" On the evening of that first day of the week " ( Roman time ), or the evening beginning the second day ( Hebrew time ), the resurrected Jesus appears at a meeting of ten apostles and other disciples ().

The same time of the week " a week later " ( NIV ) or, more literally, " after eight days again " inclusive ( KJV ), Jesus appears to the eleven apostles and others ().

After Jesus ascends (), on the feast of Pentecost or Shavuot ( the 50th day from Firstfruits and thus usually calculated as the first day of the week ), the Spirit of God is given to the disciples, who baptize 3, 000 people into the apostolic fellowship.

Later, on one occasion in Troas, the early Christians meet on the first day ( Hebrew ) to break bread and to listen to Christian preaching ().

Paul also states that the churches of Corinth and Galatia should set aside donations on the first day for collection ().

Didache 14: 1 ( AD 70-120?

) contains an ambiguous text, translated by Roberts as, " But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving "; the first clause in Greek, " κατά δέ κυρίου ", literally means " On the Lord's of the Lord ", and translators supply the elided noun ( e. g., " day ", " commandment " ( from 13: 7 ), or " doctrine ").

Gleason Archer regards this as clearly referring to Sunday.

Breaking bread may refer to Christian fellowship, agape feasts, or Eucharist ( cf.

, ).

Other interpreters believe these references do not support the concept of transfer of the seventh-day rest, and some add that they do not sufficiently prove that Sunday observance was an established practice in the primitive New Testament church.