Family of God: [Church_of_Christ] Re: Can you guess?

ED wrote: Greetings Norman & Gerry, ED

Norman wrote previously: I wonder what you want to see. Do you see a meeting because tradition has taught for many years that this was a meeting? Why are you so sure that you make the statement that the Bible confirms this WAS a meeting? Below are some definitions of the words used in 1 Cor 16:2 and they all say the word *store up* means to store up at home. . . .

ED: I found Norman's gathering of definitions from various word studies interesting. I added the Expositor's Greek NT which basically says the same thing. Evidently they were to keep their own little stash at home until Paul came. Interesting. But I also found that every one of them (the scholars) agree that this verse identifies Sunday as the Lord's Day, the day the assembly assembled for worship (and second for edification). Paul's choice of words is awkward Greek, actually a Hebrew idiom transferred into Greek, in order to express this Day as sacred to Christians.

Norman: What is interesting is the way you pick and choose from history what you want and reject what you do not want. I have said before, if you want to use history and outside the scripture information, then, be consistent. You made fun of when and where these scholar say they made their contributions; however; you consider their second statement a true and infallible command. What did these Greek scholars confirm about 1 Cor 16: 1-2? Did they meet every Sunday, but store their contributions in the cookie jar, until they were informed that Paul was coming to pick them up?

What did they collect? Was there a church treasury, if so, when did it start and how was it funded? Were they already commanded to give as they had prospered? Was this contribution above what they were already giving from what they had prospered? Was this a command for all Christians of all times or was this a temporary collection that ended after Paul came and collected the money and took it back to Judea.

After a very quick review I found two references to the day Christians met: Acts 2 and Acts 20. In Acts 2 they met "daily". This is not surprising since they were new converts and eager to learn as much as they could as quickly as they could. The same was true of those we converted in Russia. Then there is Acts 20:7. This one features several unique aspects:

The aforementioned awkward Greek phrase.

Norman: Did the Greek scholars above know about this awkward Greek when they said the collection was made a home on the first day of the week? If they stored it up at home and then went to church on Sunday that defeats you argument that they were commanded to give while they were assembled every Sunday.

The "disciples came together" on this day; why mention it at all if they were still meeting daily or whenever
Norman: No one here is saying they were meeting every day. What we are saying is there is not a command to single out Sunday and make a command to keep that day and only that day.
The day is connected with an express purpose: "to break bread"
Norman: And what does *to break bread* mean? Was this a meeting to take the LS, sing, pray, take up a collection, preach the word. That is what is taught by those who insist that this is a command to keep Sunday and Sunday only. Was this the 5 part worship that is insisted on by those who make it a legal command?

If these things were part of the assembly, we are not told about them. This was a two part worship breaking bread and preaching and Paul was a guest speaker, so, was this only the meeting of the church to have a common meal and fellowship or was this a meeting to eat a common meal and take the LS? I don't know, do you?

The delay of 7 days at Troas though Paul expressly said he was in a hurry
Norman: Again, this is not Biblical fact that Paul delayed 7 days to meet with the disciple on Sunday that comes from speculation of history.

IMO there is sufficient reason to conclude that there is a reason for all of this. The Lord's Day is "the first day of the week". Now just in case this might be wrong, let's check with those who lived just after the apostles died and had been taught by the apostles. What do we find? We find that they universally agree that the Lord's Day is Sunday.

Norman: I believe you we will agree that *in your opinion* and *in my opinion* are equal when it comes to creating law of God that everyone must follow. I also believe we would agree that that the early church fathers did not always agree with what scripture teaches.

Burton Scott Easton wrote: "Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store," where the force of the form of the imperative used (the present for repeated action) would be better represented in English by "lay by on the successive Sundays." Worship is here not explicitly mentioned (the Greek of "by him" is the usual phrase for "at home"), but that the appropriateness of the day for Christian acts involves an appropriateness for Christian worship is not to be doubted.

Norman: Burton said worship is NOT explicitly mentions and the Greek *by him* in 1Cor 16:1-2 usually means *at home*, BUT! Then, he starts to give his own opinion of what he believes the reader should believe. In his opinion, if it is a Christian act, that involves Christian worship and if it is Christian worship it must be a Christian assembly.

If the Lord's Day is Sunday and if we are commanded to keep the Lord's Day and no other day, you still have not told me which of the two Lord's Days you would keep if you were forced to move to the other side of the IDL or what advise you would give to them who have not moved, but have had their Lord's Day changed because the world government moved the IDL. Are you still in denial that there is a man-made law that create two Lord's Days in the world wide church today?

ED wrote: I found Norman's gathering of definitions from various word studies interesting. I added the Expositor's Greek NT which basically says the same thing. Evidently they were to keep their own little stash at home until Paul came. Interesting. But I also found that every one of them (the scholars) agree that this verse identifies Sunday as the Lord's Day, the day the assembly assembled for worship (and second for edification). Paul's choice of words is awkward Greek, actually a Hebrew idiom transferred into Greek, in order to express this Day as sacred to Christians.

Norman: Every one of the scholars speaks of a single day. Were they all writing before the IDL?

Thanks,

Norman

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