One of the major controversies in the religious world and a big issue that distinguishes the churches of Christ from Protestant and Catholic churches is the role the example of the apostles serves in dictating how they exist as a church and engage in worship.
The churches of Christ have long promoted the idea that the New Testament gives us authority in what we do through three ways: direct command; drawing appropriate inferences; and examples of the apostles. I suggest that the inferences and the examples give us authority only when it is obvious that there is a divine command behind it.
Let us take the weekly assembly on the first day of the week as an example. In Acts 20:7, we read that the Christians in Troas took the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week. The clear implication of the text is that the reason the Christians came together on the first day of the week was to observe the Lord’s Supper. “To break bread” is a clear infinitive of purpose. But this is not the only verse that requires a first-day-of-the-week assembly.
In Hebrews 10:25, the author says that Christians should not forsake the assembling of Christians together. Now, remember that Hebrews was not written to a specific congregation like Romans or Corinthians, but to all Christians. Since the Hebrew writer, here, is not explicit about the details, there is implied that the Hebrew Christians already knew the details of this assembly.
In 1 Corinthians 11:20 & 33, we have the implication that there was an assembly for “eating the Lord’s Supper” and this “coming together” was a regular pattern. This context of 1 Corinthians 11 clearly does not tell us when the Lord’s Supper was eaten or how frequently.
But, one text ties together all three of these texts (Acts 20:7; Heb. 10:25; 1 Corinthians 11:20, 33) for us. That one text is 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. When Paul wants the Christians in Corinth to take up the collection, he does not command them to assemble. They were already in the habit of assembling “on the first day of every week.”
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On the first day of the week was when the apostles guided the first-century Christians to observe the memorial of that death, burial, and resurrection, that is, the Lord’s Supper. So here in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Paul is saying, “When you gather together on the first day of the week to take the Lord’s Supper, when the whole church is gathered together, then take up a collection.”
What we observe now, is this. The apostles, Paul specifically, commanded the first century Christians to gather together on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, in order to observe the Lord’s Supper. At that very assembly, we note rom Acts 20:7 that there was preaching and from 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, there was giving. From other passages, we also learn they sang and prayed.
There is no doubt from early church history that weekly communion was the pattern of the first-century church. G. W. Bromiley, writing in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, volume three under “Lord’s Day,” writes (158):
The expression “Lord’s Day” found only in Christian sources, first appears in Rev. 1:10 as a designation of the first day of the week. …[I]t derives from the parallel expression “Lord’s Supper” (1 Cor. 11:20), since the early Christians gathered on the first day of the week to celebrate this meal as the culmination of their corporate worship. An account of an early (late 50s) Lord’s Day service is found in Acts 20:7-11. …Hence, Lord’s Day worship is the Christian festival of the Resurrection, in which Christians, like the original disciples, have fellowship with one another and with the risen Christ whom they trust as Savior and worship as God (emph. mine).
Let us be faithful to the apostles’ teaching by following their inspired examples.
Paul Holland
