{"id":53256,"date":"2018-04-30T20:58:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T01:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=53256"},"modified":"2022-09-10T21:02:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T02:02:32","slug":"how-do-we-know-there-was-a-church-in-troas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-know-there-was-a-church-in-troas\/","title":{"rendered":"How do we know there was a church in Troas?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I’ve always held the position that Acts 20:7 states “when the disciples came together to break bread.” But in my recent study, I’ve realized the Greek is actually Strong’s 1473, \u03b7\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd – “we.” How is it, then, concluded that there was a church at Troas? I am not aware of any specific mention of such. This passage doesn’t say “the disciples” of Troas, but only “we.” It seems an assumption, not an unavoidable conclusion that there was a church in Troas before this event.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

There is a textual variation in this spot in Acts 20:7. Texts 020L, 025P, and the Byzantine family of texts all say “the disciples”, while texts 01\u05d0, 02A, 03B, 05D, and 08E say “us.” Here I’m inclined to think the Byzantine family is closer to being accurate because otherwise, we have pronouns being used without a noun to clarify who is being discussed. But rather than getting into an argument about which text is right, let us assume for the time that it is just “we” and examine the context for who the “we” is.<\/p>\n

Luke typically uses “we” when he and others are traveling with Paul, such as in Acts 20:13. But there is more than just the “we,” both Acts 20:6 and Acts 20:7 mention “them.” There was a group of people that Paul and his companions came to meet. It was this same group that they gathered together with on the first day of the week for the purpose of breaking bread and delivering a message.<\/p>\n

“Gather together” should not be overlooked. “For, in the first place,\u00a0when you come together as a church<\/strong>, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. Therefore\u00a0when you meet together<\/strong>, it is not\u00a0to eat the Lord’s Supper<\/strong><\/em>” (I Corinthians 16:18-20). This is what we see in Acts 20:7, a group of people comes together to break bread. See: Is Acts 20:7 talking of a common meal?<\/a>\u00a0for reasons why “break bread” here is referring to the Lord’s Supper.<\/p>\n

Thus, we conclude that “them” refers to a local church and the understanding of the text doesn’t change with the absence of “the disciples” in Acts 20:7.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I’ve always held the position that Acts 20:7 states “when the disciples came together to break bread.” But in my recent study, I’ve realized the Greek is actually Strong’s 1473, \u03b7\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd – “we.” How is it, then, concluded that there was a church at Troas? I am not aware of any specific mention of…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[144,311],"class_list":["post-53256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-acts","tag-translations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"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":53256,"position":0},"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":7057,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/didnt-the-christians-in-troas-worship-on-the-sabbath\/","url_meta":{"origin":53256,"position":1},"title":"Didn’t the Christians in Troas worship on the Sabbath?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You will realize that in Acts 20:7 the meeting and breaking of bread were done in the night, meaning, or if we may presume, that these people had been worshiping together on the Sabbath. Since we know that a day then started at sunset, so Paul did preach to\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":58382,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-question-about-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":53256,"position":2},"title":"A Question about the Lord\u2019s Supper","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Greg Gwin [edited] We have received a question about the weekly observance of the Lord's Supper. Our questioner suggested that we ought to only take the Lord's Supper once each year, at the time of the Jewish Passover, because this was the time when Jesus instituted the memorial. He\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":[]},{"id":19514,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-the-lords-supper-be-only-taken-at-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":53256,"position":3},"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":28732,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sunday-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":53256,"position":4},"title":"The Sunday Supper","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary Eubanks It is a question of critical importance whether the Scriptures require members of a local church to assemble to partake of the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week, or Sunday.\u00a0 If they do not, the frequency of church assemblies then becomes a discretionary matter\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":[]},{"id":2540,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/acts-207-doesnt-speak-of-worship-does-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":53256,"position":5},"title":"Acts 20:7 doesn’t speak of worship, does it?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Acts 20:7\u00a0says nothing about worship, rest, or the Sabbath, let alone indicating it was a new commandment to worship on that day. 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