Was the First-Day Gradually Sanctified by the Apostles?
By John Nevins Andrews
[From Les Signes des Temps.] The sanctification of the first-day cannot be found in the first nineteen chapters of Acts. WE have sought in vain for the sanctification of the first-day by God at the resurrection of Christ. We have sought for the gradual sanctification of the day by Christ during the forty days which preceded his ascension, but have found that he did nothing of the kind, though he had abundant opportunity to sanctify the day by many successive acts. Having failed to find the sanctification of the day before the ascension of Christ, we have diligently sought for it in each of the first sixteen chapters of the Acts. We have found many events in the history of the apostles which imperatively demanded that something should be said concerning the sanctification of the day if the day were to be established as a memorial of the resurrection of Christ. We have found several important references to the Sabbath of the Lord, but have not yet found a single trace of the sanctification of the first day. We commence the search anew with Acts 17. Here we find Paul preaching in the synagogue at Thessalonica on three successive Sabbaths. It is even said that it was his manner to preach thus on the Sabbath. If we could find the declaration that it was his manner to preach on the first day, we should regard it as a strong testimonial to the sanctification of the day. It is said, however, that Paul preached concerning the death and the resurrection of Christ, but it is not said that he bade the people to observe the day on which Christ died, nor the day on which he arose. Acts 17:1-3. Next, Paul came to Berea and immediately began to preach in the synagogue. He found the Jews of this place willing to receive the gospel. It was therefore a good occasion to announce the sanctification of the first day, but he did not do it. Acts 17:10-14. Then Paul came to Athens and preached in the synagogue as he had done at Berea. These meetings were upon the Sabbath. He also disputed in the market daily, until the people invited him to address them in their highest assembly. He told them that the true God is the creator, and that he will judge the world by Jesus Christ whom he had raised from the dead. Verses 22-31. But he said not a word concerning the first day as the memorial of that resurrection. After this Paul came to Corinth, and preached Christ in the synagogue every Sabbath, persuading both Jews and Greeks, but labored on other days at tent making with Aquila and Priscilla. Acts 18:1-11. If it were said that he preached every first day, or if it were said that he bade the people observe the first day in honor of the resurrection, we should say that we have at last found the sanctification of the day, though not till twenty-three years after the resurrection of our Lord. But we find nothing of the kind. Next Paul came to Ephesus and preached in the synagogue, which must have been upon the Sabbath. After his departure, Apollos arrived at Ephesus and preached in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila had heard him, they expounded to him the gospel of Christ. This record like that in Acts 15:21, shows that the Christians were in the habit of attending worship in the synagogue on the Sabbath, when the Jews did not make opposition. Acts 18:19-28. But we find no trace of the sanctification of the first day in Acts 18. In Acts 19:1-8 we read that when Paul returned to Ephesus, he went into the synagogue and preached boldly for the space of three months. In this period were twelve Sabbaths. If Paul had ceased to observe the Sabbath, or if he taught the sanctification of the first day, to take the place of the seventh, he would not thus have been permitted to preach in the synagogue. The remainder of the chapter relates to the tumult at Ephesus. We find, therefore, no trace of the sanctification of the first day in Acts 19. The sanctification of the first-day cannot be found in Acts 20. When we come to Acts 20 we find the first and only mention of the first day in the book of Acts. It occurs twenty-eight years after the resurrection of Christ, and contains no allusion to that event. Verse 7. The disciples came together in the evening for they had many lights where they were assembled, and Paul preached till midnight, which would make his sermon four or five hours long, and the meeting actually continued till break of day. Every day, as measured in the Bible, begins and ends at evening, which is at sunset. Compare Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; Lev. 23:32; Deut. 16:6; Lev. 22:6, 7; Deut. 23:11; 24:13, 15; Joshua 8:29; 10:26, 27; Judges 14:18; Mark 1:32. As this evening meeting at Troas was on the first day of the week, it must have been on what we call Saturday evening, for Sunday evening at sunset the first day terminates, and the second day of the week commences.308 The disciples therefore came together in the evening at the close of the Sabbath to celebrate the supper of the Lord, because Paul was to leave them in the morning never to return. And in the morning of the first day of the week he actually did set forth on foot for Assos, while his companions took the ship around the promontory to that city, where they took him in. Verses 13, 14. We have here, then, the most convincing proof that the first day of the week had not been sanctified as late as the year 59, for if it had been sanctified, St. Paul was either ignorant of that sanctification, or else guilty of profaning the day. But those who have not studied these facts, affirm that this passage proves that the first day had been constantly observed during the twenty-eight years that had elapsed between the time that Christ arose and this meeting at Troas. This is the argument:— 1. The church at Troas once had a meeting in the evening at the commencement of the first day of the week. 2. Therefore it must have been the custom of the church at Troas to meet regularly in the day-time of each first day of the week. 3. Therefore all the churches everywhere throughout the world met regularly for worship on the first day of the week. 4. Therefore the apostles from the time of the resurrection of Christ always met for worship on the first day of the week. 5. Therefore Christ must have met with his disciples on each of the six first-days during the forty days which preceded his ascension. 6. Therefore God sanctified the first day of the week when Christ arose from the dead. But the most diligent search has failed to find any fact corresponding to any one of the five conclusions above enumerated. On the contrary, we have found the most convincing evidence, that the observance of the first day was wholly unknown to the apostolic churches, and that each of these five conclusions is false. When Luke speaks of the Sabbath among certain Gentiles at Philippi, he says that that worship was customary. Acts 16:13. When he speaks of the preaching of Paul at Thessalonica, on the Sabbath in the synagogue, he says that this was his manner. Acts 17:2. When he speaks of Paul at Corinth, he says that he preached in the synagogue to the Jews and Greeks every Sabbath. Acts 18:4. But when he speaks of the first day at Troas, he does not say that meetings on that day were customary, nor that it was their manner to meet on that day, nor that they met every first-day for worship. Yet if such was their custom, and if their example was to be the model for the entire church of Christ, then it was infinitely more important that Luke should tell us that they did this every first-day, than that he should tell us what Paul did every Sabbath day. To this we add two facts, each of which forbids the idea that Luke intended to show that the church at Troas was following a custom derived from the apostles, or obeying an ordinance which they had established for the commemoration of the resurrection. 1. This was a meeting in the night, not of an ordinary, but of an extraordinary character. 2. The object for which they met was to break bread; but the breaking of bread commemorates not the resurrection of Christ, but his death. 1 Cor. 11:26. We know, therefore, that this meeting was occasioned by the departure of Paul, and not by an ordinance of the apostles requiring the churches to commemorate the resurrection of Christ by the breaking of bread on the first day of the week. We know also that the first day of the week had not been sanctified at the time of this meeting at Troas, or Paul would not have set out on his journey on the morning of that day. The sanctification of the first-day cannot be found in the book of Acts. The remainder of this chapter contains the farewell address of St. Paul, at Miletus, but makes no allusion to the sanctification of the first day of the week. In Acts 21 we read of the voyage of the apostle to Cæsarea, and his ascent to Jerusalem. When he arrived there he was told that there were accusations against him concerning circumcision (verse 21), but not one of his enemies at Jerusalem charged him with teaching the sanctification of the first day in place of the seventh. We are therefore certain that as late as the close of Acts 21, Paul had never taught the sanctification of the first day of the week. In Acts 22, we have the defense of Paul before the multitude at Jerusalem, but he has no occasion to defend himself with respect to the sanctification of a new day, for he is not even accused of having made any change in this respect. In Acts 23, Paul appears before the council at Jerusalem, and is sent by the Romans to Cæsarea. The chapter contains no allusion to the sanctification of the first day. In Acts 24, we have the defense of Paul before Felix, but like all the chapters which precede, this chapter contains no reference to the sanctification of the day of the resurrection of Christ. In Acts 25, Paul defends himself before Festus, and declares in verse 8, that the Jews had no occasion to accuse him even with respect to the law. It is certain that thus far no one could say that he had taught the sanctification of the first day in the place of the seventh. In Acts 26, Paul makes his defense before Agrippa, and states the causes of the enmity of the Jews toward him. But the sanctification of a new day was not one of these causes. Verses 19-21. In Acts 27, we have the voyage and shipwreck of Paul. In Acts 28, we have the account of his arrival at Rome, and also a record of his conference with the Jews of that city. But there is no accusation made against him that he had taught the sanctification of the first day in the place of the seventh, nor was the subject mentioned by him or them. We know, therefore, that the first day was never sanctified by the apostles, neither by a single act in which all united, nor by a series of acts which gradually accomplished the sanctification of the day, nor even by any means whatever. J. N. A.