CALVIN’S AMAZING COMMENTARY— ACTS 20:7 AND I COR 16:2

By Philip Derstine

“Older commentaries on Acts 20:7 exhibit a general consensus that the meeting described here was the first clear-cut example of Sunday worship in church history. W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson state: “This is a passage of the utmost importance, as showing that the observance of Sunday was customary.”

One would expect that a fantastic assertion such as this would warrant more than a footnote in a 1000 page book on the life and epistles of Paul. Another example: Charles John Ellicott, commenting on Acts 20:7, says “This, and the counsel given in I Cor. 16:2 are distinct proofs that the Church had already begun to observe the weekly festival of the Resurrection in place of, or where the disciples were Jews, in addition to, the weekly Sabbath.”

Ellicott believes that Paul remained at Troas for seven days in order to “keep the Lord’s day,” even though it is admitted the term Lord’s Day had not yet come into vogue. Here, according to most theologians, is the precedent-setting, earliest case of the transference of the sanctity of the Sabbath to the first day of the week. Thankfully many modern scholars have exposed the presumptions inherent in such views…”

(this article is an excerpt from the March-April 2016 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel)

To read the rest of this article, which starts on page 7, click this link: https://biblesabbath.org/media/TSS_March_2016.pdf