Sunday is a very special day for those in the Lord’s church. It is the first day of the week. It is also the day we assemble together to worship our God in spirit and truth (John 4:24) and encourage each other to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24-25). However, it is also the day we partake of communion, also known as the Lord’s Supper. The majority of denominations in Christendom have not realized this. This is why many visitors from other religious bodies have seen the observance of communion each Sunday when they visit the Lord’s church and wonder why those in Christ’s church partake of communion every first day of the week, when they choose to partake of it once a month, once every few months, or even once or twice a year. Christians must “always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15). Therefore, it is proper that those in the Lord’s church know exactly why we practice what we do, including our practice of observing the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week.
First of all, God commands us, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus…” (Col. 3:17). God expects us to have authority from his Son on what we do concerning the Lord’s Supper. Jesus speaks to us today through the inspired writings of the New Testament (Heb. 1:1-2; 2:1-4; 1 Cor. 14:37; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). Therefore, we must go to the New Testament and the New Testament alone in order to find the authority on how and when to partake of communion.
While Instituting The Supper, Jesus Mentioned A Day And A Kingdom
In studying the New Testament, we find that our Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper on the night he was betrayed (1 Cor. 11:23), which was a Thursday night. It needs to be pointed out that the reason Christians don’t partake of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday nights is because the church was not in existence yet at the time Jesus instituted communion.
On that night, Jesus said to the apostles, “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until THAT DAY when I drink it new with you IN MY FATHER’S KINGDOM” (Matt. 26:29; cf. Mark 14:25).
Luke records, “…for I say to you, I shall never again eat it UNTIL IT IS FULFILLED IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD…for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on UNTIL THE KINGDOM OF GOD COMES'” (Luke 22:16, 18).
After instituting the Lord’s Supper, he told them, “…just as my Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that YOU MAY EAT AND DRINK AT MY TABLE IN MY KINGDOM…” (Luke 22:29-30).
Notice that he promised them he would not partake of the Lord’s Supper with them until that day when he drinks it with them in His Father’s kingdom, that it would be fulfilled in the kingdom of God, and that he promised them that they would eat and drink at His table in His kingdom. Why is this significant?
What Is The Kingdom?
First, we must remember that the Bible teaches that the church of Christ is described in the New Testament as the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of God. To see how this is true, let’s first examine the four gospels. In them, both Jesus and John the Immerser preached that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matt. 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:15), i.e., that it was coming soon. In teaching the disciples to pray, he told them to pray to God that his kingdom would come (Matt. 6:10; Luke 11:2). Later, Christ promised Peter he would build “his church” upon the rock of Peter’s confession, and then promised to give Peter “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:15-19). He told the crowd with his disciples, “there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power” (Mark 9:1). What we can learn from these passages is that the terms church, kingdom of God, and kingdom of heaven are used interchangeably by Christ, thereby proving they are the same thing. All three terms are always talked about in these passages in the future tense, signifying that at the time Christ was living here on earth they were not in existence but would be in existence soon, and that they would come with power.
Keeping this in mind, we should note that he told the disciples before his ascension, “…you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (Acts 1:8). That promise was fulfilled when the Holy Spirit came upon his disciples on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), which was also the day three thousand souls were added by the Lord to the church (Acts 2:41, 47). Starting at Acts 2’s record of the conversion of the three thousand on the day of Pentecost, the rest of the New Testament would always interchangeably refer to the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, and the church of Christ as having already come and presently existing (Rom. 14:17; 16:16; 1 Cor. 1:2; Col. 1:13; 1 Thess. 2:12; Rev. 1:4, 6, 9).
Since we have found that before the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 the church was always described as not having come yet, and afterward Pentecost it is always described as having come and presently existing, then the conclusion is that the church of Christ began its existence on the day of Pentecost. This was a Jewish holiday referred to as the Feast of Weeks in Lev. 23:15-16. From this passage, we learn that the day of Pentecost (a Greek term which means “fiftieth day”) would always be “fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath.” Since sabbath in the Old Testament refers to the day of rest which was commanded on the seventh day, we know that the day after the seventh day would be the first day of the week, the day Pentecost was to be observed. Therefore, we learn that the kingdom of God came on a Sunday. The church Christ promised he would build began on a Sunday.
“That Day”
With this in mind, let us go back to Christ’s promises to his apostles on the night he instituted the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:16, 18). Notice he promised he would not drink it again with them until “that day.” When was “that day”? Taking all of the passages into consideration, “that day” would be the day his disciples would be in his Father’s kingdom, the day it would be fulfilled in God’s kingdom, and the day God’s kingdom came. We have seen that God’s kingdom came and began its existence on a Sunday, the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Therefore, after its institution the Lord’s Supper was first observed by Christ’s disciples on Sunday, the day of Pentecost, the day the kingdom of God came.
This fits with Luke’s account of the very first activities of the newly converted three thousand on that day of Pentecost, a Sunday: “So then, those who had received his word were baptized, and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:41-42). “The breaking of bread” is a reference to the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 10:16-17; cf. 11:23-25). Therefore, we see that the apostles directed the Jerusalem church to observe communion on the day the church began, which was the first day of the week. The fact that they were “continually” doing so suggests by definition that it was a fixed habit. Further evidence that this is so is found in Luke’s account of the church at Troas (Acts 20:7). As with the Jerusalem church, these Christians gathered together for the purpose to partake of communion on Sunday, and did so with the apostle Paul’s approval. More evidence that it was a fixed habit of the early church is found in Paul’s directions to both the churches of Galatia and the church at Corinth to take up collections every first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:1-2), implying that he knew they had the habit of assembling together every Sunday. Since he taught the same thing at every congregation (1 Cor. 4:17; cf. 1 Cor. 16:1), we can be confident that all the early churches gathered together to observe communion on Sundays under his direction. And just as the Jews under the Old Law knew that God’s command to observe the Sabbath applied to every Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11; Num. 15:32-36), we can learn from their example (1 Cor. 10:11) and know that the New Testament teaching concerning communion applies to every Sunday.
Extra-biblical Evidence
As a sidenote, extra-biblical history proves this to be true also. Around the close of the first century A.D., at about the same time Revelation was being written, some Jewish Christians put together a book which was kind of a descriptive manual about Christianity. They called it the Didache (Greek for “teaching.”) The Didache says, “But every Lord’s day do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure” (14:1). As mentioned earlier, the term “breaking bread” is a scriptural reference to communion (1 Cor. 10:16-17). The term “Lord’s Day” is also mentioned in Scripture (Rev. 1:10), and extra-biblical writings from that time period confirm it to refer to Sundays.
Around fifty years after Revelation was written, a Christian by the name of Justin Martyr wrote a defense of Christianity to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, appealing to the emperor to repeal laws which prescribed the death penalty for being a Christian. While doing so, he described Christian worship to the emperor in order to assure him that the rumors of there being evil orgies in Christian worship were false. In chapter 67 of his letter, he wrote: “The day of the Sun is the day on which we all gather together in a common meeting, because it is the first day, the day on which God, changing darkness and matter, created the world, and it is the day on which Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead.” The “day of the Sun” is where the English term “Sunday” comes from, and this Christian who lived very close to biblical times clearly referred to it both as the first day of the week and the day in which Christians gathered together to worship.
Thus, historical accounts from the time period in which the New Testament was written back up the scriptural evidence that the early Christians assembled together to worship and partake of communion on the first day of every week.
Conclusion
To review, Christians are to have authority from Christ on everything we do. We find that authority in the New Testament, which records Jesus promising not to partake of communion with his disciples after instituting it until the day the kingdom came, which was on a Sunday. The New Testament records the early Christians observing the Lord’s Supper only on Sunday. Since the New Testament is the only place we find authority from Christ, then we must follow the example of those in the New Testament in order to observe communion in the name of Jesus. Therefore, we must observe the Lord’s Supper every Sunday in the name of Christ, and we can be confident that Jesus is with us when we do so, just as he promised (Matt. 18:20; 26:29; cf. Heb. 2:11-12). Many profess to be followers of Christ and observe communion only a few times a year, or during special occasions like weddings. They do so undoubtedly out of sincerity, but their practices nonetheless are traditions of men (Matt. 15:7-9). May all of us go back to the Bible and do things the way God said, without adding to it or taking away from it! (Deut. 4:2; Prov. 30:6; 1 Cor. 4:6; Rev. 22:18-19)
