Didn’t the disciples keep Sunday as a holy day?
Read Time: 2 min
According to the Bible, each day begins at sundown and ends at the next sundown (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; Leviticus 23:32) and the dark part of the day comes first. So Sabbath begins Friday night at sundown and ends Saturday night at sundown. This meeting of Acts 20 was held on the dark part of Sunday, or on what we now call Saturday night. The New English Bible translation actually says: “On the Saturday night in our assembly…”
This special gathering was a Saturday-night meeting that lasted until midnight. Paul was on a farewell tour and knew he would not see these people again (verse 25). No wonder he preached so long! (No regular weekly service would have lasted all night.)
Paul was “ready to depart the next day.” If this next day was sacred, would Paul spend the whole day traveling instead of worshiping? The Bible repeatedly tells us Paul worshiped on the Sabbath (Acts 13:42–44; 17:2; 16:12, 13).
The “breaking of bread” has no “holy day” significance whatsoever, because they broke bread daily (Acts 2:46). Jesus broke bread with the disciples on Thursday night before He was crucified (Luke 22:19). There is not the slightest indication in this Scripture passage that the first day is holy, nor that these early Christians considered it so. Nor is there evidence that the Sabbath had been changed. In Ezekiel 46:1, God refers to Sunday as one of the six “working days.”
This meeting is probably mentioned in Scripture because of the miracle of raising Eutychus back to life after he fell to his death from a third-floor window. The young man, whose name means “fortunate,” fell asleep while Paul preached late into the night. The fall killed him, but the apostle rushed down stairs and took him up in his arms and the man was miraculously brought back to life.
Key Bible Texts
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. (Acts 20:7 KJV)