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The Acts of the Apostles

Here in the second book attributed to Luke, written about 80 - 90 A.D., we now come to one of the most frequently quoted verses to support Sunday sacredness:

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.

Clearly the disciples are meeting on Sunday, the first day of the week. It might even be presumed by some that by “breaking bread” they celebrated the Lord’s supper that Sunday. The question that needs to be asked though, is why were the disciples assembled on this day? What reason brought them together? In context, it will be seen that Paul was departing the next day on his journey to Jerusalem to be present during the Pentecost festival (v. 16). This gathering was a farewell assembly with Paul, the last day the people at Troas could meet with him, and that is why it lasted into the early morning hours. In fact Paul talked with them all through the night and then left in the morning at sunrise (v. 11).

Did Paul preach? Yes, without doubt, as verse 7 makes clear. Does that indicate the day was special, a holy day? No, they preached every day:

Acts 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Did they celebrate the Lord’s supper? Perhaps, yet even if they did, as some maintain, there is no indication that that Sunday, or any Sunday, was being observed as a newly instituted weekly holy day to commemorate the resurrection. The breaking of bread did not indicate a special day of worship, or even that the Lord’s supper was being celebrated, as scripture tells us they met daily and broke bread from house to house:

Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat [food] with gladness and singleness of heart,

This indicates nothing more than eating what are called agape meals of fellowship, which are not necessarily connected with a formal worship service involving partaking in communion. Here is another example of breaking bread meaning a common meal:

Acts 27:33 And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat [food], saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.
Acts 27:34 Wherefore I pray you to take some meat [food]: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.
Acts 27:35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.

Now some will point to the celebration of Pentecost, found in Acts 2, and rightly claim that this occurred on a Sunday. Since that year the 16th of Nisan; the day of first fruits; which was a type of the resurrection; fell on Sunday, Pentecost would also fall on Sunday. However, those gathered in the upper room on that day were gathered because it was Pentecost, not because it was Sunday:

Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Had they been gathered to observe the resurrection, wouldn’t Luke have told us that this was the new day of the week for all Christians to observe? But, you say, we do observe Pentecost always on a Sunday (Whitsunday). Perhaps you do, but not by anything directed in scripture. Pentecost, like Passover, is not tied to any particular week day. It is determined by the day of the month of the biblical lunar calendar, which means it does not always fall on Sunday. According to the scriptural calculation, Pentecost will most likely be on (or about) the 6th day of the third month, Sivan, which will only occasionally fall on the first day of the week. When the Catholic Church ruled in the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. that the resurrection (Easter) would always be observed on a Sunday (instead of the biblical 16 Nisan), this automatically resulted in Pentecost being observed only on a Sunday, but this change lacks any biblical support.

So, there is nothing in the book of Acts that leads us to believe that Sunday had been set aside as a weekly holy day of worship to honor the resurrection.