Saturday, January 7, 2023

Those 8 Sunday Texts SERIES: EighthText

"The first day of the week is mentioned in the New Testament only eight times, and is not in a single instance spoken of as a Sabbath, a day of rest, or a sacred day. It is simply called the first day of the week. 
On the other hand, inspiration gives the seventh day of the week in the New Testament the sacred title of the Sabbath fifty-nine times.
Eighth Text
1 Corinthians 16
2
Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by
him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no
gatherings when I come.
 
It is inferred from this text that Paul enjoins a public collection; therefore the Corinthian church met for worship each
first day of the week; therefore it is the Christian Sabbath. 
*But it is an important fact that the apostle enjoins exactly the re-
verse of a public collection. He says, “Let every one of you lay
by him in store.” This is an individual work for each to attend
to at home.
 
Justin Edwards, in his notes on the New Testament, comments on this text thus:
Lay by him in store; at home. That there be no gatherings;
that their gifts might be ready when the apostle should come.
Prof. J. W. Morton, Late missionary to Haiti, in his Vindication of the True Sabbath, says:
The whole question turns upon the meaning of the expres-
sion, “by him”; and I marvel greatly how you can imagine
that it means “in the collection-box of the congregation.”
James White