3. Besides the Trojan Christians, there were at Troas, during these “seven days,” at least nine others, including Paul and Luke (see verse 4), who would not let a week pass without observing a stated day of worship. And yet,
4. Neither the disciples resident at Troas, nor Paul and his companions, pay any regard to the seventh day. The whole narrative plainly intimates that Paul held himself in readiness to depart waiting only for the stated weekly day of public service. And the seventh day has no more sacredness assigned to it than the fifth or sixth. Had it been the customary day of meeting, the disciples would have assembled on it, and Paul would have been ready to depart on the morrow, the first day of the week. On the other hand,
5. The first day of the week was observed as the stated, customary weekly day of divine service by the Christians at Troas. The word, rendered “came together,” indicates this. It is most intimately related to the word in Hebrews 10:25, rendered “assembling together.” The latter is the noun, with an added preposition from the former word, the verb. These two terms, and another kindred word, are the common terms for regular church meetings in the New Testament. (See Hebrews 10:25; 1 Cor. 11:17, 18; 14:23, 26.) Again, it will be noticed that the meeting of the disciples on this first day was for regular public services of the Christian church. They came together to “break bread,” or observe the Lord’s supper, and to hear the preaching of the gospel. Besides, let it be noticed, it is not said that Paul summoned the disciples together; but it is said that they “came together.” Or, if we follow the reading of the oldest manuscripts, the customary character of this Christian first-day assemblage will be made even more manifest. This reading is as follows: “And upon the first day of the week, when we came together.” Whether this is the correct reading or not, it expresses undoubtedly the fact. Paul, Luke, and their companions, as well as the Trojan Christians, met for divine service, according to the usual practice of Christians generally, on the first day of the week.
It remains for us to consider the mode of reckoning time which would fix Paul’s departure from Troas on the morning of the first day of the week. Frankness and justice require us to state that even so authoritative a writer as Mr. Howson, in that able and scholarly work, “The Life and Epistles of St. Paul,” adopts this mode of reckoning, and, in accordance with it, pictures out Paul’s solitary journey from Troas to Assos on the hallowed hours of the Christian Sabbath.
No one will dispute for a moment that, according to the Jewish mode of reckoning, the day would begin at sundown, and in this way the evening of the meeting at Troas would be the evening succeeding the seventh day, and Paul’s journey of nearly twenty miles would be on the first day of the week. But it is perfectly clear from the Scriptures that the Roman method of reckoning the commencement of the day had already, to some extent, supplanted the Jewish mode. Nor is it any wonder that the method of the Romans, who were at the time in authority in Palestine, should have obtained some recognition, even among the Jews.
John, in a passage quoted in a former article, uses the following language: “The same day at evening, being the first day of the week.” (John 20:19) The meeting at Troas, in the evening of the first day, may not have been without reference to the meeting of the Lord with his disciples late in the evening of the same day he arose from the dead. But whether there is any reference in the meeting at Troas to the meeting recorded by John or not, the passage above quoted clearly proves that the late evening succeeding the first day of the week was reckoned a part of the first day, and not a part of the day following—“The same day at evening [opsia, late evening, after dark, it would appear], being the first day of the week.”
Matthew, writing particularly for Jewish Christians, adopts the Roman method in chap. 28:1, in the expression: “In the end of the Sabbath [literally, late of the Sabbath, opse, late, away on after dark], as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.” Here, manifestly, the seventh day is reckoned as continuing during a number of hours, which, according to the Jewish mode, belonged to the following day. If Matthew, writing for Jewish Christians, employs the Roman mode of reckoning, is it not altogether probable that Luke, writing especially for Gentiles, would adopt the same mode?
But we need only look carefully at Luke’s own language to settle this point. His statement is that Paul preached, “ready to depart on the morrow.” It is agreed on all hands that the Christian disciples at Troas came together on the first day of the week, and that Paul preached to them on that day. Now, if the time of meeting was the evening succeeding the seventh day, according to the Jewish mode of reckoning, could it be said that Paul, taking his leave at a later hour that same day, departed on the morrow? The original term, epaurion, is an adverb, literally signifying “upon the morrow.” But connected with it is the feminine article, agreeing with the word, “day,” understood. This makes the expression, if possible, still more explicit—“the day which is the morrow,” the next day. Can there remain the slightest doubt as to Luke’s meaning? The Christian congregation at Troas met on one day of the week. Paul preached to them on that day. It was the first day. On the morrow, not the same day, but another, the following, the second day of the week, Paul departed, as he had held himself for some days in readiness to do, on his way to Assos. Thus, as we have a right to expect, there is no violation by the apostle and his fellow-Christians of the law of the Sabbath.
We have not dwelt upon this question of different modes of reckoning because of any importance which may be claimed for it in connection with the main inquiry before us. It is entirely immaterial to the point at issue in this discussion whether Luke employs the Jewish or the Roman mode. Even if it could be made to appear that he makes use of the former, there could be found nothing in his narrative in favor of the seventh-day Sabbath. The argument for the first-day Sabbath would still remain in its integrity, leaving for consideration simply the question as to the consistency of certain acts, in a certain case, with the law of a holy day of rest and worship. For the sake of giving a pretty full exposition of a passage important in itself, and because a wrong interpretation has been given by high authority in countenance of a mischievous theory of the Sabbath, we have occupied much of our space for this issue in showing that the evening or night of the first day of the week was the end of the Christian Sabbath, and that Paul and his companions, like good, Sabbath-keeping Christians, waited, though ready to depart, until Monday morning, before starting on their journey to Assos.
We propose to conclude the argument from Scripture in our next number. After this, we shall give the testimony of the standard authorities of the first three centuries of the Christian era. And then, with the facts concerning sacred time before us, we shall inquire what theory of the Sabbath harmonizes all the authenticated facts into one consistent whole.