Some claim that the Sabbath day of the Old Testament has been
changed to Sunday in the time of the New Testament because collections
(offerings) were made on the first day of every week or every Sunday by quoting
1 Corinthians 16:2.
Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the
Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week (Every Sunday: GNT),
each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income,
saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. (1
Corinthians 16:1-2)
I feel pity for their efforts to find evidence of the Sunday
service which is not found on the Bible. First, the above verse is not a record
of worshiping on Sundays and giving offerings. The Apostle Paul said, “When I
come no collections will have to be made (KJV: There be no gatherings when I
come).” If it had been a regular collection, it should have been made whether
the Apostle Paul came or not, shouldn’t it? If fact, the collection mentioned
above was a special offering for helping out the Jerusalem Church.
There is no need for me to write to you about this service to
the saints… So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in
advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift [KJV: bounty] you had
promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given…
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people
but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. (2 Corinthians
9:1-12)
It’s wrong to insist that it’s evidence that the Sunday service
was kept by citing the verse which is not about a regular offering but a special
offering. In addition, it’s also not a record of worshiping on the first day of
every week. On the contrary, it proves that they worked on the first day of
every week. It’s written, “On the first day of every week, each one of you
should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income (GNT: Every Sunday
each of you must put aside some money, in proportion to what you have earned).”
It means that they must put aside some money, in proportion to what they have
earned on Sunday. To earn money on the first day of the week, they must have
worked on Sundays, mustn’t they? In other words, the verse of matter means that
they must put aside some money earned on the first day of every week in advance
not to be in hurry to collect the special offering when the Apostle Paul
comes.
However, those who try to find evidence of the Sunday service
in any way claim that ‘collections (offerings)’ were made on the ‘first day of
every week’ by extracting only the two phrases ‘collections’ and ‘the first day
of every week.’ How strange their way of interpretation is! I suppose that they
cannot see the Sabbath recorded about 135 times in the Bible (80 times in the
Old Testament and 55 times in the New Testament) because they read the Bible in
such a strange way.
Sabbath is one of the commandments of God!
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