{"id":20165,"date":"2009-09-16T20:26:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-17T01:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=20165"},"modified":"2020-02-20T20:30:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T02:30:35","slug":"since-they-met-at-night-in-acts-207ff-does-that-mean-christians-today-should-only-meet-at-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-they-met-at-night-in-acts-207ff-does-that-mean-christians-today-should-only-meet-at-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Since they met at night in Acts 20:7ff, does that mean Christians today should only meet at night?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

In your article, “When Are Biblical Examples Binding?<\/a>” you mentioned that there is no specific command as to when to partake of the Lord’s Supper, but that Acts 20:7 becomes a binding example because it is the only example. If this is true which I feel it is true, and verse 8 says there were many lights there, meaning it was done at night, would taking the Lord’s Supper only in the night not be a binding example? I sincerely ask to know.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

See also:\u00a0Following Bible Examples<\/a>; in particular the section on distinguishing between the incidental and the essential.<\/p>\n

“Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together<\/em>” (Acts 20:7-8).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this passage we note a number of things about the assembly:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It was done on the first day of the week.<\/li>\n
  2. The preacher spoke until midnight.<\/li>\n
  3. It was at night.<\/li>\n
  4. They used lamps for lights.<\/li>\n
  5. They had assembled in an upper room.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Now are these incidentals or essentials?<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The gathering on the first day of the week, we are told was because that was when the disciples came together to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Thus, we learn that it was their practice. Combined with the fact that no other time is mentioned for the gathering leaves us to conclude that it was an essential element.<\/li>\n
    2. The preaching went to midnight because Paul had to leave the next day. This doesn’t lead us to conclude that the church typically had sermons going until midnight. Nor do we find other examples where sermons always went to midnight. Thus we conclude it was incidental to this one particular meeting.<\/li>\n
    3. The lamps go along with the fact that Paul preached to late in the evening. But nothing in the passage actually tells us when the meeting started. If the disciples were using Jewish time, then the first day of the week would have started at sundown (about 6 pm) and we see that the gathering did not break up until after midnight. If the disciples were using Roman time, then the first day of the week starts at midnight and there isn’t any way to narrow how long the gathering lasted. While they were together at night, notice that the time factor for the gathering was the first day of the week. It was not a certain day of the year or a certain day of the month. Nor are we told that the disciples had a habit of gathering at a certain time of the day. They gathered because it was the first day of the week. The fact that this gathering happened to be at night then is incidental.<\/li>\n
    4. The use of lamps for light is to be expected from that period of time. Does this mean that only oil lamps should be used to light assemblies? There is nothing in the Scriptures indicating that the lamps served any purpose beyond giving light. We can use this example to say it is proper to provide artificial lighting when it gets too dark to see, but the specific type of light is incidental to the event.<\/li>\n
    5. As mentioned in\u00a0the sermon outline<\/a>, we look at many examples of the disciples gathering in a variety of places and conclude that where disciples gather is incidental. What is essential is that they do gather.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      If a congregation decided that evening works best for its members, then they ought to pick the time of day that works best for those who attend. As an example, I have a historical quote about Christians gathering before dawn for worship in one of my reference books. The reason was simple, it was a slave society at that time and that would be the best time for Christians, who were slaves, to meet — before their masters awoke for the day.<\/p>\n

      In this example, we see that Paul must leave the next day. He packed as much as he could into the short time that he had. Thus we aren’t surprised that the church was gathered long into the night. But we don’t conclude that all services were like this. Paul’s travels were the cause of the late service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Question: In your article, “When Are Biblical Examples Binding?” you mentioned that there is no specific command as to when to partake of the Lord’s Supper, but that Acts 20:7 becomes a binding example because it is the only example. If this is true which I feel it is true, and verse 8 says there…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1570,146,84],"class_list":["post-20165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-examples","tag-lords-supper","tag-worship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9532,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-are-examples-binding\/","url_meta":{"origin":20165,"position":0},"title":"When are examples binding?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"The only other ordinance taught by Christ was for them to celebrate the Lord's Supper each first day of the week, generally in the evening twilight.\" [The Story of the Churches of Christ in Central Europe]. There have been disagreements over practices through the years based on which apostolic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19514,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-the-lords-supper-be-only-taken-at-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":20165,"position":1},"title":"Should the Lord’s Supper be only taken at night?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the Bible's answer to the controversy about the time the Lord's Supper should be taken on the first day of the week? Should it be only at night or any time upon the first day of the week? Answer: I know of no controversy regarding what time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17972,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-justify-using-acts-207-as-binding-the-day-but-not-the-place\/","url_meta":{"origin":20165,"position":2},"title":"How do you justify using Acts 20:7 as binding the day but not the place?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read your article, \"When are examples binding?\" and I must say the very idea that an example somehow becomes a command is a, well, stretch if you ask me.\u00a0 You used Acts 20:7 as your \"example\" for when we should meet together but you don't use Acts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-know-that-the-lords-supper-wasnt-taken-once-a-year-in-troas\/","url_meta":{"origin":20165,"position":3},"title":"How do we know that the Lord’s Supper wasn’t taken once a year in Troas?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was doing some searching on the Internet and discovered an argument against Acts:20:7 that I've never encountered. Since Acts 20:7 is the only reference we use (that I know of) to decide how often we take the Lord's Supper this is pretty important. Acts 20:6 says they sailed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8432,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-must-the-lords-supper-be-taken-every-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":20165,"position":4},"title":"Why must the Lord’s Supper be taken every week?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why is it necessary to celebrate the Lord\u2019s Table every week and not, say, once a month or whenever we feel like it? Answer: \"For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35470,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/approved-examples\/","url_meta":{"origin":20165,"position":5},"title":"Approved Examples","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Johnson What should be our attitude toward the concept of \"example\" as an acceptable form of Bible authority? There are three possible attitudes one might have. First, a person might say that all examples are binding. However, this attitude is unlikely, and, as we will see later, this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}