“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
The Basket Case Chronicles #195
“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 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” (1 Cor. 16:1–2).
This passage contains one of the hints in the New Testament that reveals the practice of Sunday worship in the first century. Paul brings up the matter of a collection for poverty relief among the saints, telling the Corinthians that he had given the same requirement to the churches of Galatia, and he looks for them to do the same. Paul doesn’t want to start from scratch in taking up a collection, so he tells them to start collecting beforehand, week to week. He specifically says that this is to be done on the first day of the week, which is Sunday. If the money was to be “laid by” in the individual homes, then there would be no point in specifying the day. Paul wanted to prevent the need for having a big collection at church so he required that the collection be done piecemeal, week to week, such that the gathering would largely completed by the time he got there. In order for this to happen, the churches of Corinth (and Galatia) would need to have been meeting on the first day of the week.
Robert Haldane, in his commentary on Romans (Geneva Series of Commentaries, Banner of Truth) has an excellent section on the change of the day of rest from the seventh to the eighth day. On the seventh day, God rested from His work of creation, and on the eighth day (the first of a new series), Jesus rested from the work of the new creation. This change was foreshadowed throughout the old testament in acts of cleansing and sanctification. A few of Haldane’s examples include: Genesis 17:12 Circumcision on the 8th day Leviticus 9:1 Consecration of Aaron and his sons completed… Read more »