ACTS 20:7 FROM SEVERAL VERSIONS  

Did the disciples eat the communion on Sunday?  

 Part One

These versions of the Bible state the disciples met, not on the first day of the week, but on the Sabbath day, Sabbath evening, or Saturday night.

 The New English Bible

"On Saturday night, in our assembling for the breaking of bread, Paul, who was to leave next day, ..."

"Now on one of the sabbath days, at our having gathered to break bread ..."  

The New Testament, by William Barclay

"On the Saturday evening we gathered together for our common meal."  

"On Saturday evening we gathered together for the fellowship meal."  

Diaglott, An Interlinear Translation by Ben Wilson

"In the first of the sabbaths, having been assembled of us to break bread ..."  

"In but the one of the sabbaths having been led together of us to break bread ..."

"And on the one (first) of the sabbaths (week) having been us assembled ..."

The Interlinear Hebrew-Greek-English Bible, by Jay Green

"On and one of the sabbaths, having been assembled the disciples - to break bread, ..."  

"On Saturday night when we were gathered to break bread, ..."

"Now, on the first of the Sabbaths when we assembled to break bread ..."  

These versions of the Bible state in Acts 20:7 that the disciples gathered to eat a common meal (not the Messiah's Memorial Supper).

The N.T. In the Language of Today, by William F. Beck

"On Sunday we met for a meal ..."

"On Saturday we gathered together for the fellowship meal ..."  

"On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to have a meal ..."  

The New Testament, by William Barclay

"On Saturday we met for our common meal."

Notes on Acts 20:6 & 7 by E. W. Bullinger

"First, etc. - first day of the sabbaths, i.e. the first day for reckoning the seven sabbaths to Pentecost.  It depended upon the harvest (Deut. 16:9), and was from the morrow after the weekly sabbath when the wave sheaf was presented (Lev. 23:15). In John 20:1 - this was the fourth day after the crucifixion, 'the Lord's Passover.'  Compare Appendix 156.  This was by Divine order. But in A.D. 57 [Acts 20:7] it was 12 days after the week of unleavened bread, and therefore more than a fortnight later than in A.D. 29. ... 'The Disciples;' the texts read 'We.' ... 'Break bread.'  See the note on [Acts] 2:42."

              Note on Acts 2:42 by E. W. Bullinger

"'Break bread.'  This was a common meal.  Compare verses 44, 46, and Mt. 14:19, Isa. 58:7."  

Comments by Voy Wilks

1987

"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, ..." (Acts 20:7 KJV). (Note translators' italics, indicating day is an added word.)

Because Paul and his party were present, the disciples seem to have lingered on into the night following the Sabbath (which ended at sunset), and held a banquet in honor of Paul who was to leave at daybreak; that is, Sunday morning (Acts 20:11).

Paul went on foot from Troas to Assos, approximately thirty miles.  He did this during the daylight part of the first day of the week.  At the same time, the ship made a loop around the peninsula, from Troas and later took Paul on board at Assos (Acts 20:11-13).  Please see the map below.  If at that time the first day of the week was regularly honored as the day of rest and (or) the day of worship, does it not seem improper for Paul to have taken such a walk on the first day of the week?  Indeed it does.  The indications are, the first day of the week was then, as now, a work day.  The day of worship and rest was the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week (Ex. 20:8-11; Heb. 4:9,10 RSV).

"It is therefore the duty of the people of God to keep the Sabbath" (Heb. 4:10, Lamsa Version).

That the meal eaten (as recorded in Acts 20:7) was not the Memorial or Communion Supper of Yahshua is indicated by the following points:

•The Messiah's Supper was originally eaten at the same time as the Passover Supper (Mt. 26:17-28; Mk. 14:12-25; Lk. 22:1-20).

•Yahweh's Passover was on the 14th day of the month Abib (Lev. 23:5; Ex. 12:6-13).

•Historically and Biblically, this occurred during the days of unleavened bread (Ex. 12:6-13; Mt. 26:17; Mk. 14:12; Lk. 22:1, 7).

•At the time of Acts 20:7, the Passover and days of unleavened bread had already passed. This is indicated by the statement, "And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days" (Acts 20:6 KJV).

•Most of the disciples ate the meal in the early part of the night, it seems, while Paul did not eat until after midnight.  So if Acts 20:7 was indeed the Communion Supper, Paul apparently did not commune with the other saints (Acts 20:7,11).

•Several versions of the Bible, as noted above, indicate this was a common meal.

•The Messiah's supper is to be eaten, not in memory of his resurrection, but in memory of his death (1 Cor. 11:26).  His death occurred on the day of the Passover, Abib 14th, the first month of the Biblical year.

•The Apostle Paul instructed the disciples to keep the Memorial Supper at night – the night in which the Messiah was betrayed; that is, the night of Abib 14th (1 Cor. 11:23-26; Mk. 14:12-17; Lev. 23:5).

•Yahshua the Messiah is declared to be our Passover Lamb (1Cor. 5:7,8), so the Memorial Supper honoring him should be observed (1) annually, on the same date in which Yahshua died, and (2) on the same date (the anniversary) on which the Passover Lambs were offered – Abib 14th.

•The Greek text reads "the disciples met on one of the Sabbaths" (Acts 20:7).  "One of the Sabbaths" is not the first day of the week.  Instead (as noted above in the Bullinger comments), "one of the Sabbaths" refers to one of those seven Sabbaths between Passover and Pentecost which, in fact, determined the time for the feast of Pentecost (Lev. 23:10-16; Deut. 16:9).  Another allusion to the counting of these seven Sabbaths is found in Lk. 6:1, which reads: "And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands" (Lk. 6:1 KJV).

The count to the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) began on the day following the first weekly Sabbath which fell during the days of unleavened bread.  Seven Sabbaths were counted and the 50th day was the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost).  Acts 20:7 occurred during the grain harvest – during the counting of the seven Sabbaths until Pentecost.

The meeting recorded in Acts 20:7 was not for the purpose of eating the Communion Supper (or Passover Supper).  Instead, it was a one-time event honoring Paul upon his departure.

Note: To learn more about the geography of Paul's thirty-mile walk on the first day of the week, please consult the map shown below. May the Most High bless you.

Map is from The New English Bible.