Christian Chronicle (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 4, No. 24, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 20, 1946 Page: 2 of 8
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NOVEMBER 20, 1946
PAGE TWO
_
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
A STUDY OF ACTS 20:7
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Each week the editorial article which is adjudged
most timely and valuable will be printed on
this page of CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE.
Why Worship On Sunday Instead
Of The Sabbath?
THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
. W1 V,
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outlying places, no one can misunderstand this statement.
We are saying that all the missionary work is not done at
home yet. Let us launch into this business of evangelism
with a heart like we have never had before. Let us go "ev-
erywhere preaching the word”—even to our next door
neighbors.
. Remember, the world, paralized and down in its deform-
ities of sin and error, is laid daily at our gates, begging, de-
■MMtfing our attention.
UNIVERSAL^
■
Only The Form Of Godliness
"And a certain man that was lame from his mother’s
womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the
temple.” Herein lies a parable of our own age. In all ages it
has been an easy thing for the form and ceremony of reli-
gion to usurp the place of the essence of it. It is only natural*
for the heart of institutions and ceremonies to lose their in-
ner meaning and vitality and become only so many fossils
of the past, carried on under new circumstances without
the original meaning.
For example, the idea of gentleman originally had re-
ference to the inner character, and the conduct of a man
' resulted from the character. Later the idea of a gentleman
was connected no longer with the character, but only
with the fossils of the early conduct, such as dress, speech,
social position, wealth, and etiquette. When a church or
society becomes thus formalized, fossilized it is one of the
surest signs of decay. When the mind of man is bound only
by the cramping forms of a dead past it is no longer free.
Forms are useful only so long as they are vigorous, vital,
and genuinely meaningful.Sometimes society forgets the
living principle within its forms, however, and demands, as
in the case of the English gentleman, only that the overt
actions be according to the pattern. This may even happen
to i the church. Go to worship on Sunday at 11:00 A. M.,
eat of the loaf, drink of the cup, and go home—perfunc-
torily. No matter about the spirit, maxims and essence of it
all. In such a case meanings are gone from the forms we
observe, and only the overt, fossilized acts remain.
When a church becomes an institution rather than a
way of life following faithfully after the inner meanings of
its acts, it is difficult to keep it alive.
This sad predicament is exactly what was wrong with
the Jewish Church when Christ was on the earth. They
. were "like unto whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear
beautiful, but inwardly were full of dead men’s bones,” etc.
They had a form of godliness, but had denied the power
thereof. They had let their religion degenerate into a rou-
tine of fossilized rites. With their mouths they honored
God, but their hearts were far from him. Thus was the
crowd which daily passed the lame man whom they laid at
the door of the temple. They were religious, no doubt, but
• their religion consisted of fossilized form—praying, fast-
ing, giving alms—but the heart was gone out of their re-
ligion. Hence it was necessary to lay the man at the very
• door of their temple to thrust him upon their attention. To
the greater part of those who passed he was no opportunity
to give expression to their religion. Rather, he was a beg-
gar, a parasite, a nuisance, a pest. He was undesired, repul-
sive, and shunned.
This situation, however, is a perfect picture of the re-
ligious condition today. Herein lies our parable. Too much
of our religion has become just magnificient religious tem-
ples in which highly respectable rites and forms are per-
formed with flawless perfection, while all the time the de-
formities of this world’s sin are laid daily at their gates.
Every day—every hour—the church is passing by hun-
dreds of thousands of those who lay paralized in sin, and
that Within the very sight of our sumptuous houses of wor-
ship. We hunt flimsy excuses to cover our indifference, and
pass right on by into our temples to go through our forms,
while all about us lie people down, paralized, begging in sin.
To be a missionary does not rhean that one must com-
pass land and sea and go to some far away continent. "The
field is the world,” and we can and should "go into all the
world and preach the gospel.” But the man who is not a
missionary at home could not be one in China, Japan, or the
Northwest. The man who cannot or will not talk to his
neighbor, separated from him only by a back yard fence,
atosut his soul’s salvatioh, would be not better somewhere
else. We need men and women who can work admidst the
commonplace. It may be more glamorous and adventurous
- to go afar off to the mission fields, but it is just as impor-
taat that we be working at home. In view of the firm stand
this paper has taken to encourage missionary work in all
________________________________________•
is not and never was then made
binding upon a Christian. On the
contrary, a study of passages of
scripture in the New Testament
shows clearly that then it was the
custom of the church to observe
the first day of the week as % day
of worship.
No Distinctions as to Parts of Law
Commentators and church his-
torians alike have referred often
to Acts 20:7 and showed that it
could not mean other than that
the church did meet on this day
habitually to worship God. We call
your attention at this point to
some of the comments of learned
men on this passage.
In the famous Jamieson. Fausset,
and Brown Commentary on this 1
passage, we read these words:
“This, compared with 1 Cor. 16:3
and other similar allusions, plain-
ly indicates that the Christian ob-
serance of the day, afterward dis-
tinctly called “the Lord’s Day”,
was already a fixed practice of the
churches." (Vo. 2, page 206) In
Matthew Henry’s commentary on
this passage, we have the follow-
ing words: "This is here said to be
the day when the disciples came
together—le. When it was their
practice to come together in all the
churches.” (Vo. 6, page 211)
In John Peter Lange’s comxnen- .
tary, we have these words: “Hto
language plainly indicates that
this day was precisely one that
assemblies for religious servloee
was kept holy and one on which
were customarily held." (Vo. 4,
page 68) James McKJnlght said:
“From 1 Cor. 16:2 It Is evident that
the Corinthian brethren were In
use to assemble on the first day of
the week for the purpose of wor-
shipping God." Many otner dis-
tinguished Bible scholars could be
quoted to show that it was the
custom of the early church to
meet on the first day of the week.
Among most people this tact has
never been doubted, but it has only
among a small minority.
Passage Shows Customary Actios
The second fact which we team
from Acts 20:7 is that it was the
custom of the early church, when
meeting upon the first day of the
week, to break bread, or commem-
orate the Lord’s Supper on this
day. This fact is Just as clearly
taught as is the fact that they
met on the first day. From Acts
2:42 we learn that it was a stated
part of the worship of God to break
bread. The passage reads, "And
they continued stedfastly in the
apostle’s teaching and fellowship,
in the breaking of bread and the
prayers.” So, from Acts 2 we learn
that the observance of the Lord's
Supper was a stated part of the
worship. From Acts 20 we learn
that the first day of the week was
the stated time for partaking of
the Lord's Supper.
A circumstance somewhat in-
teresting In this connection is this:
qpul and his company arrived in
Troas either on the evening of the
first day or on Monday morning at
an early hour; for, he departed on
Monday morning, as we term it,
and we are positively told that he
tarried seven days at Troas. Now,
had these disciples been observing
the seventh day as a Sabbath and
broke bread on it, they would not
have deferred their meeting
the first day and Kept Paui and
his company waiting, especially
since it is evident that Paul was in
a great hurry. But his waiting sev-
en days and his early departure
on Monday morning is added proof
that the first day of the week was
the day on which the early church
met habitually to break bread.
Published Wednesday of each week except the last week in June
and the last week in December at Abilene.
$2.00 Per Annum in Advance
Send all communications and articles to Box 1158, Abilene, Texas
OLAN L. HICKS____________________________Editor and Publisher
STAFF MEMBERS
Bonds Stocks. Washington. D. C., Otis Gatewood, Salt Lake City
Paul Southern, Abilene, Texas John F. Wolfe, Los Angeles, Calif.
Leon Carter, Kansas City, Kans. Jim Taggart, Dallas, Texas
Joe Malone, Dallas, Texas
Entered as second-class matter October 18, 1944, at the Post Office
at Abilene, Texas, under the Act of. March 3, 1879.________
Volume 4 NOVEMBER 20, 1946 NUMBER 24
X
Editor’s Note: The following ar-
ticle was delivered over Radio
Station WISH, Sunday morning,
October 6, 1946, by Earl West,
minister of the Irvington Church
of Christ, 25 North Layman Ave-
nue, Indianapolis, Indiana.)
Reactions of Scholars To Paaoage
Again, we are able to turn to
some of the learned men of the
ages to note their reaction to thlp
suggestion in Acta 20:7. We do dot
quote these men as being author-
ities on this matter or any other.
We must accept no other author-
ity but God. However, to My the
least of it, the opinions of learned
men are worthy of ceuidenation.
We notice first of all the comments
of Albert Barnes on thia passage.
Barnes says, "The purpose of the
meeting la evidently to celebrate
the LoM’a Supper. So the Syriae
understands it by translating it 'to
break bread II to peeMMa that the
.
___
In the first place, Jesus had
arisen from the grave en the first
day of the week (Luke 24:1) Mora-
over, on the first day of the week
—Pentecost—the church had come
Into being, and 3,006 souls were
baptised Into Christ. (Acts 2) The
meetings of the early church were
held on the first day of the week.
They invariably commemorated
the resurrection of Christ.
- --4
Moreover, the fourth command-
ment of the famous "Ten Com-
mandments” had said, “Remember
the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.”
This law was given to the Jews.
It was not carried over to the
Christians. Nowhere in all the
Bible Is there a command given
to a Christian to "Remember the
Sabbath Day to keep it holy.’* Men
should not be so enthusiastic
about keeping laws-that were nev-
er given to them In the first
place.
God said, “Wherefore, the chil-
dren of Israel shall keep the Sab-
bath, to observe the Sabbath
throughout their generations, for a
perpetual covenant.” (Ex. 31:16)
The “children of Israel” were to
keep the Sabbath. They were to
keep it through "their generations"
It was not given to a Gentile, and
hence, Gentiles do not keep it.
But, according to the teachings
of the Bible, when Christ died up-
on the cross, his death fulfilled the
law and hence, took It out of the
way. Paul said, “having blotted
out the bond written In ordinances
that was aaginst us, which was
contrary to us: and he hath taken
It out of the way, nailing it to the
cross.” (Col. 2:14) Among
orientals, when a contract
nailed to a public post, it
known by the public to have been
fulfilled. Iis terms had been met;
hence, it was no longer binding.
When Jesus died on the cross,
the Old Testament law was ful-
filled. The contract hao been met,
and Christ had met It. He ful-
filled in Himself all of its de-
mands. Hence, It ceased to be In
force. A contractor who continues
to carry out the demands of a
contract long after he has fulfilled
its demands upon him is a very
poor business man. The person In
religion who tries to keep the Sab-
bath Day when the contract which
gave It has been fulfilled has very
little accurate knowledge of the
word of God. When Jesus died, the
law ceased to be In force.
Often Sabbatarians ask, "Who
changed the day of worship from
Saturday to Sunday?" And then
they go on, “Where Is the scrip-
ture that says It was changed?”
At this attempted display of Bible
knowledge no informed person can
be misled The Sabbath law wasn't
changed. It Just ceased. The keep-
ing of the first day of the week
went into effect when the law of
Christ went Into effect, and that
was upon the day of Pentecost, as
recorded for us in Acts 2.
However, It is sometimes
gested that there were two laws In
the Old Testament—the "Law of
Moses" and the “Law of God”. It
is held that the Law of God was
the Ten Commandments, and that
this law never went out of effect.
The rest of the law, Unhiding the
ceremonies and rites of the Jewish
practices is referred to bv some
people as the “Law of Moses”. So,
it is suggested that the Law of
Moses, the ceremonies and rites of
the Jewish law, went out of effect
at the cross, but the "Law of God”,
or the “Ten Commandments" have
never gone out of effect. This Is a
distinction without a difference.
This distinction is one which has
been thought up merely for the
protection of a theory not taught
In the Bible. As a matter of fact,
“The Law of God" and the “Law
of Moses” referred to the same
laws. God's book makes no dlstinc-
teln at all between them. Both
terms cover the whois law, whe-
ther referring to the Ten Comand-
ments or ths ceremonies and rites
of the law. A seripture or two will
point this out, We read in ESira
7:6, “This Dera went up from Jer-
usalem. And he was a ready scribe
In the Law of Mons . . The same
chapter says, “Brra the priest, the
scribe of the LAW OF THE GOD
of heaven.” (ftrs 7:12) Here, we
see that the two terms referred to
the same law. The terms are also
used Interchangeably in various
other chapters In the Bible.
So, with the death of Christ up-
on the crass the whole law of
Mooes, inclining the Ten Com-
mandments went out of effect, st
We invite you to think with
at this time on a single verse
scripture. You are doubtlessly
familiar with it. We refer to Acts
20:7. The text reads: "And upon
the first day of the week, when
we were gathered together to break
bread, Paul discoursed with them,
intending to depart on the mor-
row; and prolonged his speech un-
til midnight.” In this passage there
are two things primarily that are
mentioned.
First, it was an established cus-
tom or rule for the disciples to
meet on the first day of the week.
Second, the orimary object in
their meeting was to break bread,
or as It Is often expressed, to par-
take of the Lord's Supper. It is
going to be our purpose this morn-
ing to dwell at length upon these
two thoughts suggested In this
passage. We invite you to open
your Bibles at this time and study
It carefully with us as we dwell at
some length upon Its teachings.
These two teachings from this
passage stand upon the same level.
The passage shows that It was the
custom of the early church to
meet upon the first * day of the
week, and that the purpose of their
meeting was to break bread. De-
nominational churches object stre-
nuously to the breaking of bread
upon the first day of the week,
saying that It does not say EVERY
first day of the week. They stress
the word “every.” But odly enough,
when these same denominational
churches argue against those who
believe in keeping the seventh day
of the week or the Sabbath, they
somehow find the word, every
there.
Denominations use the passage
to show that the church should
meet upon every first day of the
week. But, strangely enough, most
of them are not able to see that
the passage also teaches the ob-
servance of the Lord’s Supper on
every first day of the week. If the
passage teaches men to meet each
first day, it also teaches them to
observe the Lord’s Supper each
first day. This, logic and a fair-
minded interpretation of the pas-
sage, Is bound to reveal.
Bible students know that among
the Jews at the time the Old Test-
ament law was In force the Sab-
bath Day was kept. There Is no
doubt of course, but that this day
was the seventh day of the week, or
our day, Saturday. However,
among the Christians oi New
Testament times Saturday or the
Sabbath Day was never kept as a
day of worship. Instead. Sunday,
or the first day of the week, was
the day for this. There were suf-
ficient reasons for this.
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Hicks, Olan L. Christian Chronicle (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 4, No. 24, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 20, 1946, newspaper, November 20, 1946; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1305928/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.