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| Volume 18 Number 3 March 2016 | Page 15 |
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| Volume 18 Number 3 March 2016 | Page 15 |
Is the First Day of the Week Sunday?
Louis Rushmore, Editor
Hi, Hope things are well with you. I had a brother ask me a question, and wanted to ask what your scriptural conclusions were. He asked: How do we know that the first day of the week is Sunday? In addition to this, he spoke of how there may be different cultures that reckon the first day of the week to be on a different day. (Note: Just want to say, that, he wasn’t asking this by a spirit of unbelief or rebellion, from what I know of him). Overall, how does one apply universally the responsibility of partaking of the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week, i.e. Sunday (among other things, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2), and also, recognize other cultures’ reckoning of time? Thanks ahead of time…
The word “Sunday” does not appear in the Bible. Rather, in English speaking countries, Sunday is commonly the name of the first day of the week. Other languages, naturally, will have different words to represent the first day of the week.
In the New Testament, Christians were instructed to assemble for congregational worship on “the first day of the week” (1 Corinthians 16:1-2), which on calendars for English speaking people is called Sunday. Furthermore, apostolically approved example confirms that the first century church assembled on “the first day of the week” (Acts 20:7), which English speakers call Sunday. References to and the significance of the first day of the week to Christians appears before the establishment of the church concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; John 20:1, 19). Otherwise, the first day of the week is called “the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10).
The first day of the week is the beginning day of a sequence of days that make up one week, irrespective of what it may be called. Every week has a first day of the week. If somewhere on the planet people began viewing a week as containing a different number of days, each week would still have a first day, no matter by what name it was called. The biblical significance is not what the first day of the week may be called in any language, but that it is day one of any week.
Ebon Pinion
Louis Rushmore, Editor
What do the words “ebon pinion” mean? The hymn, “Night with Ebon Pinion,” poetically refers to the circumstances immediately preceding the arrest of Jesus Christ. The word “ebon” is short for “ebony” or “black.” “Pinion” has to do with the wing of a bird. The combination of the dark of night as well as the dark events surrounding the arrest, trials and crucifixion of our Lord are meant by the use of the words “ebon pinion.” For a fuller treatment of the words “ebon pinion,” go to the magazine article at the following URL.
https://truthmagazine.com/archives/volume27/GOT027282.html