Acts 20:7 - Is Sunday The Sabbath?

The fourth Commandment was written in stone indicating its non-changeable and everlasting nature, and yet some insist that the Lord's Sabbath was changed to Sunday based on what one can only call an assumption. It is also not noted that this meeting was not in a Church and that it was not Sunday but Saturday evening. See also can the Sabbath be any day.

Acts 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 day this meeting was on is not relevant in any case, as one can have a gathering to preach or study the Word on any day of the week and that does not change a Commandment of God.

The other factor that leads many astray with this verse is the mind-set of always associating the breaking of bread with Communion. In Biblical times, breaking bread was done at every meal and was an expression used for any meal. When most think of communion, they typically associate it with a little cup of grape juice and a piece of wafer or bread. Is this how it was with the last supper? Not at all. It was supper as in a complete meal and the bread was broken as it was at every meal.

What about the feeding of the crowds in Matthew 15:36 for instance. Was this communion? And yet we see the same thing. Jesus “gave thanks” for the food and “broke the bread” as was done at every meal in Biblical times.

We have the same thing with the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:24 but Jesus has used symbolism with the bread and the wine. And in 1 Corinthians 11:25 which is the next verse you will notice that Jesus said to have communion as often as we desire as in anytime. Today we associate communion with the day we go to Church and so most have another wrong mindset. In the time of Christ communion was celebrated on any day.

And in Acts 2:46 we again see that breaking of bread was done with every meal and does not imply communion. For every truth Satan always has a lie and so the response of those opposing the truth in this case is that this verse shows the Sabbath can be any day. But the Disciples going from house to house witnessing and fellowshipping with others implies no such thing and obviously does not change a Commandment of God either.

And just one more example from Acts 27:34-36 that shows at every meal they “gave thanks” and “broke the bread.” In this case it is clear that this was just a normal meal to gain strength for their survival.

So we have seen that this was not necessarily communion and that even if the breaking of bread mentioned in Acts 20:7 was communion, this does not change a Commandment of God as communion was on any day in Biblical times and meetings can be on any day as we also do today. We also find four verses further on in the context of Acts 20:11 that this was a meal for sustenance.

To further demonstrate the assumption made with Acts 20:7, how many noted that this meeting was not even in a Church? Jesus said that His law is not changing by as much as a full stop. (Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17) But let's ignore this very significant fact for a moment. If Jesus did change the day, then there would be a crystal clear scripture screaming the change at us. Do we have to decide if something as important as what God wrote in stone has changed based on assumptions? And how would this be fair on a salvation issue? James 2:10-12, Hebrews 10:26-29.

The one thing that should be clear to anyone who truly wants truth, is that if the Sabbath was changed to Sunday and God decided to be totally unfair and not inform us with a black and white verse saying so, then we would find that every single scripture in the New Testament or at least the book of Acts would show every Church meeting to be on the first day of the week, being Sunday.

So how many scriptures do we have showing someone in the Church (Synagogue) on Sunday? If the day was changed without us being told then it should be all of them or at least one. But again, how many? Zero! There is not one single scripture in the entire Bible of even one person in a Church on Sunday. Not one!

Acts 20:7 is NOT in a Church and 1 Corinthians 16:2 is not even a meeting of any description let alone in a Church. Every single scripture in the New Testament showing anyone whatsoever in the Church are ALL on the Sabbath. Some of course have tried to squash the significance of this fact by saying that all these Sabbath meetings in the Church are not worship meetings. So by that erroneous statement, we would have absolutely not one regular Church gathering in the entire Bible. Hence I would expect those seeking truth will see through this instantly. Here are some other verses from the book of Acts, that unlike Acts 20:7, are not assumptions. (Acts 13:14 – 13:27 – 13:42-44 – 15:21 – 17:1-2 and 18:4)

There are also others who say that the Sabbath was only a day of rest and not of worship. And so that implies that all the scriptures of both Jew and Gentile in the Church on Sabbath are not worshipping God. That is no different to saying that all those in Church today are not worshipping God so I am sure this attempt at covering the truth requires no further explanation either.

As for this meeting being on Sunday. In the time of Christ, the day ended at sunset and the new day began after sunset. (Genesis 1:5; Leviticus 23:32) So what we call Saturday evening would actually be the start of the first day of the week being Sunday in Biblical times.

We find in Acts 20:7 that, “Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.” If this was a Sunday morning Church gathering, then Paul preached all day long, right though to midnight where they gave thanks and broke bread and ate a meal being very hungry by that time. And Acts 20:11 shows Paul, then spoke until morning when he then departed on his journey.

So how many could listen to someone preach for nearly 24 hours? Paul no doubt would have lost his audience before 12 hours if he did not lose his voice first. We find that Acts 20:7 actually indicates that this was a meeting that started after sunset and went through to midnight. So this in fact would have been what we call Saturday night and not Sunday as we call it today at all. Either way, communion can be any day and meetings like this can be any day and so in no way implies the Sabbath is now Sunday and especially when all Church meetings were all on the Sabbath day only. This abuse of Acts 20:7 at worst is an attempt to prove a lie or at best is an extremely bad assumption. If a Commandment of God was changed then scripture would be screaming the change at us and we would not need to make assumptions. Jesus said that His law is not changing (Luke 16:17) and we should trust Him and not imply that He lied. If scripture does not say so, it is not so!

You will note that placing your mouse over the second last tool tip in the previous paragraph reveals some Bible translations that easily recognized this as a Saturday evening meeting and even translated it as such, and the Good News Bible has accurately referred to the breaking of bread as a fellowship meal. See the Sabbath to Sunday change for more detail on the scriptures which have been abused to try and prove that Sunday is the Sabbath.