When can we observe the Lord’ supper:

On Sunday or weekdays?

Dr. George Johnson, Toronto

Can we observe the Lord’s Supper on any days or is it to be done on Sundays only? In some countries because of the physical restrictions believers may gather to break bread on weekdays, however evidences from the Bible and the early Church history proves that the Christians gathered to take the Lord’s Supper, always on the first day of the week (Sunday), and never on a weekday.

1.      Evidence from the Bible

2.      Evidence from the writings of early church fathers

3.      Certain relevant arguments on the topic

1. Evidence from the Bible:

1. In Troas, on the first day of the week, the disciples came together to break bread (Acts 20:7)
2. When the Corinthians “came together as a church” (1Cor.11:18, 20), the intention was to eat the Lord’s Supper, though it was not being done properly (1Cor. 11:20) Therefore Paul rebukes them. Though they perverted the institution of the Lord’s Supper, still it is clear that they gathered as a church to observe this. Instruction concerning the collection suggests that their coming together was on the first day of the week (1Cor.16:1-2).

Above two examples prove that the early Christians had the practice of coming together on the first day of the week (Sunday), and the purpose was to take the Lord’s Supper. There is no indication in the Bible that they ever gathered on a weekday to take the Lord’s Supper.

The first day of the week was important to the Christians for the following two reasons:

1. Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week (Mat. 28; Mk. 16; Lk. 24; Jn. 20).
2. The Church began on the first day of the week on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-38)
3. Incidentally, the Revelation was given to John, also on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10)

2. Evidence from the writings of early church fathers

Early church fathers and historians have written that in the first century, Christians used to gather on Sundays to break bread.

a.      Didache (ca. 95 A.D.) indicates Christians were to come together on the first day of the week to break bread-Didache 14:1

b.      Justin Martyr (ca. 150 A.D.) records how Christians assembled on Sunday and partook of the Supper-Apology I, 67.

c.       Clement of Alexandria, "...the early church writers from Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, to Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Cyprian, all with one consent, declare that the church observed the first day of the week. They are equally agreed that the Lord's Supper was observed weekly, on the first day of the week."(B.W.Johnson, People's New Testament)

3. Certain relevant arguments on the topic

Arguments from the supporters of the weekday observation of the Lord’s Supper are mentioned here with their rebuttal. Those who want to observe the Lord’s Supper on weekdays give the following arguments:

1. Jesus or apostles never commanded a particular day for observing the Lord’s Supper.

Reply: But we have the pattern of the early church that they took the Lord’s Supper on Sundays.

2. Acts 2:46 says that the early Christians were “breaking bread from house to house” “daily”.

Reply: Unlike Acts 2:42, the context suggests that in Acts 2:46 ‘braking bread’ means their common meal, not the Lord’s Supper. For argument’s sake, even if we take this as the Lord’s Supper, the verse doesn’t say that they broke bread daily. The verse only says that what they did daily was to go to the temple (see also NIV translation). Since the early Christians were Jewish people, they used to go to the temple everyday for their daily prayer (Acts 3:1). So this verse doesn’t suggest at all that the early Christians used to take the Lord’s Supper everyday or on any weekday for that matter.

3. In Corinth, when Christians “came together as a church”, they took the Lord’s Supper. So whenever the church comes together, believers can take the Lord’s Supper.

Reply: There is no evidence that the church at Corinth gathered on any weekdays. 1 Cor 16:2 suggests that they were gathering on the first day of the week.

4. The usage “as often as” or “whenever” (1 Cor 11:25, 26) proves that we can take the Lord’s Supper whenever we want.

Reply: Here “as often as” doesn’t mean the frequency, but means “every time”. Every time when we eat the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim the death of the Lord, and this ‘every time’ is every Sunday.

5. Acts 20:7 says that the disciples came together on the first day of the week to break bread. In Jewish culture the first day starts at the sunset (6 o’clock) on Saturday and ends at the sunset on Sunday. So it is possible that they gathered on Saturday evening to break bread (according to our time). Paul preached to them until midnight. That midnight was the beginning of Monday (according to the Jewish time), so it may be that they broke bread on a Monday.

Reply: We have no information whether Luke used the Jewish or Gentile method of indicating time. So it would be wise to take Acts 20:7 literally, and believe that they gathered on the first day of the week, which according to our system starts at midnight Saturday and ends at midnight Sunday.

Because of the physical difficulties or other inconveniences, in some countries, believers may be gathering on weekdays to break bread, but that’s not a Biblical pattern. The Biblical pattern demands that we gather only on Sundays to take the Lord’s Supper.