Care to comment on Acts 20:7??
For the cause of Christ
Roger
Here we go again…
Act 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.
First of all, what is ‘breaking bread’? Is this the Eucahrist? Barclay’s has this…
A YOUNG MAN FALLS ASLEEP (Ac 20:7-12)
20:7-12 On the first day of the week, when we had gathered together to break bread, Paul, who was about to leave on the next day, spoke to them, and he prolonged his talk until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were assembled. A young man called Eutychus was sitting by the window. He began to be overcome by a deep sleep. While Paul was talking he was still more overcome by sleep and he fell right down from the third floor and was taken up dead. Paul went down and threw himself on him. He put his arms round him and said, "Stop making a fuss, for his life is still in him." So he went back upstairs and broke bread and ate; and he talked with them a long time until dawn came and so he departed. And they brought in the boy alive and were greatly comforted.
This vivid story is clearly an eye-witness account; and it is one of the first accounts we have of what a Christian service was like.
It talks twice about breaking of bread. In the early Church there were two closely related things. One was what was called the Love Feast. To it all contributed and it was a real meal, often the only proper meal that poor slaves got all week. Here Christians ate in loving fellowship with each other. The other was the Lord's Supper which was observed during or immediately after the Love Feast. It may well be that we have lost something of great value in the happy togetherness of the common meal. It marked as nothing else could the family spirit of the Church.
It was a meal. We call them potlucks today.
From Bullinger’s …
break bread. See note on Act_2:42.
So, from the notes on Acts 2:42…
breaking of bread. This was the common meal.
Secondly, what day was this…
Act 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.
The word first here is…
G3391
μία
mia
mee'-ah
Irregular feminine of G1520; one or first: - a (certain), + agree, first, one, X other.
And it means first. Now for day, hmmm, day is in italics, that means it was not in the original but was added so there is no Greek for day. So the next words are…
‘of the’ and the translators got those from the Greek…
G3588
ὁ, ἡ, τό
ho hē to
ho, hay, to
The masculine, feminine (second) and neuter (third) forms, in all their inflections; the definite article; the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom): - the, this, that, one, he, she, it, etc.
So, ‘of the’ is the definite article. The next word is ‘week’ and it comes from…
G4521
σάββατον
sabbaton
sab'-bat-on
Of Hebrew origin [H7676]; the Sabbath (that is, Shabbath), or day of weekly repose from secular avocations (also the observance or institution itself); by extension a se'nnight, that is, the interval between two Sabbaths; likewise the plural in all the above applications: - sabbath (day), week.
Sabbaton, the Sabbath. So how are we to understand this? Let’s look at the Diaglott…
Act 20:7 In and the first of the sabbaths, having been assembled of us to break bread, the Paul discoursed to them, being about to depart on the morrow; continued and the discourse till midnight.
The first of the Sabbaths? What does that mean?
Dr. Bullinger tells us this…
Acts 20:7
first, &c. = first day of the sabbaths, i.e. the first day for reckoning the seven sabbaths to Pentecost. It depended upon the harvest (Deu_16:9), and was always from the morrow after the weekly sabbath when the wave sheaf was presented (Lev_23:15). In Joh_20:1 this was the fourth day after the Crucifixion, "the Lord's Passover. "Compare App-156. This was by Divine ordering. But in A.D. 57 it was twelve days after the week of unleavened bread, and therefore more than a fortnight later than in A.D. 29.
This was actually on the Sabbath and continued into late Saturday night. Now the interesting thing about this is that on the next day, Sunday, Paul walked 19 miles across the peninsula to Assos to meet the others…
Act 20:13 And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed,
minding himself to go afoot.
Act 20:14 And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.
From Troas to Assos was approximately 19 miles. When I was in the Boy Scouts many years ago, we went on a few 20 mile hikes and that is a long walk in one day. It took several hours to walk 20 miles and required a great deal of effort. What a strange way to keep the “Lord’s Day”.
In reality, Paul preached to them on the Sabbath and continued on into the night. He was long winded and reminds me of Gerald Waterhouse. His typical sermon was about 3 to 4 hours.
