Some of our religious neighbors only partake of the Lord’s Supper on a quarterly or annual basis. Others partake of it various days of the week and at special events, like weddings. Let us pause to consider what God’s Word says about the matter.
Luke’s casual comment that Paul and his company stayed seven days in Troas enlightens us as to the custom of worship in New Testament times (Acts 20:6-7). They came together on the first day of the week to break bread. Paul and his company were there on every day of the week, yet they partook of the Lord’s Supper only on the Lord’s Day. Even though an inspired apostle spoke on that occasion, mention of that fact takes a back seat to remembering the Lord’s death. The first day was also the day Jesus was raised and the day His church was established (Mark 16:9; Acts 2; Leviticus 23:15-16).
Gus Nichols wrote a good article on the frequency of our Lord’s Supper observance. He quoted 1 Corinthians 11:20-22 and said, “If a schoolteacher should say to some naughty boys, ‘You did not come here to learn,’ she would be understood to mean that they should have come for that purpose. Hence the apostle’s meaning is clear when in reproving the church he said they had not assembled to eat the Lord’s Supper.” Early Christians assembled to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Jews understood God’s instructions to, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8) to mean every Sabbath. They would have easily recognized the need to partake of the Lord’s Supper each Lord’s day.
Speaking of 1 Corinthians 16:2, Nichols said, “the Greek preposition ‘Kata’ is used in this passage, and means ‘every,’ with reference to week.” Thus, we have the early church assembling every first day of the week. Christians assembled to break the bread and, because of Paul’s instructions, they gave every first day as well (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).
