Verse by Verse

Most people who profess Christianity gather for a weekly service on Sunday. Recently, I met with the city engineer from McKinney, Texas to discuss the possibility of adding an auditorium to our property for weekly church services. The engineer began by assuming that we would be meeting on Sunday. And several times during our discussion, I had to remind him that we don't meet on Sunday, but we do meet once a week on Saturday. Have you ever been in that situation where someone questions you about meeting on Saturday instead of Sunday for church services?

I have faced that question many times over the past 50 years of my ministry. Sometimes people will say, Saturday is our Sunday, as though that would help someone understand. During the construction of our current office building, we wrote into our contract that there was to be no work done from Friday sunset until Saturday sunset because this was the Sabbath and a time of worship for us. It took them a while to fully understand that we were serious, and on a couple of occasions, we had to contact the builder to let him know that the building contract was in jeopardy because their workers were still on the job after sunset on a Friday. We eventually worked this out.

So what is the basis for services on Saturday instead of Sunday? Most people are aware that the Jews worshiped on Saturday from the days of the Old Testament, but many mistakenly believe that after the death of Christ, the church met on a different day, the 1st day of the week. It may surprise you to know that there isn't a single example of a church service being held on Sunday, Not Acts 20 nor 1st Corinthians 16, which are occasionally used to attempt to prove the point. Even though the New Testament covers a period of more than 70 years after the death of Christ, there still isn't a single example of a Sunday service. But there is a clear example of a church service taking place on not just one Saturday, but on consecutive Saturdays.

Let's read that verse along with its context. It's found in Acts 18 verses 1 through 4. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome, and he came to them. So because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for by occupation they were tentmakers.

And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. How long was Paul in Corinth on this trip? Verse 11 of chapter 18 tells us that he continued there a year 6 months, teaching the word of God among them. This example raises several questions based on the assumption that Sunday is the appropriate day for Christians to worship. Paul goes back every Sabbath to speak to Jews and Greeks.

Some have the mistaken idea that the Sabbath, Saturday, is for the Jews, and that when the Gentiles came into the church, they switched to Sunday. Really? Paul spoke to both Jews and Greeks in Corinth, and it seems he never explained to them that they should be meeting on Sunday. But he continued to meet with them on the Sabbath for 1 and one half years. This is a remarkable example which took place 30 years after the death of Jesus Christ and consisted of Jews and Greeks.

This is clear proof that the proper day of worship is not Sunday.

Verse by Verse is a companion podcast to the daily bible verse blog, which you can find on the Life, Hope and Truth Learning Center. Check out the show notes for more.