Worship Pattern in Acts: Prescriptive or Descriptive? (Part Seven)

Worship Patter in Acts: Prescriptive or Descriptive (Part Seven)

Series Part One     Series Part Two       Series Part Three       Series Part Four
     
Series Part Five     Series Part Six   

So when did the first century believers actually meet for corporate worship?  This is an important question.  In my lifetime alone there have been mega-churches and religious meetings on nearly every day of the week.  But which day did the disciple/apostles first meet?

Okay stop here and think.  What principle does the above paragraph encourage?  Did you notice it?  What is descriptive and what is prescriptive?  We can't forget this pattern which repeats throughout the scriptures.  The transitional period in which our next text appears is a critical moment in church history.

Let's rehearse some the transitional elements from Acts two thru chapter twenty.  Remember the monumental change in history (Pentecost) has just occurred.  We now have the outpouring the Holy Spirit upon every individual, both man and woman (not just leaders or specific individuals).  How or in what manner are they worshiping?

Notice in Acts 2:46 that from a corporate religious perspective nothing has really changed after Pentecost, "they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house."  These believers are still going to the temple.  This same pattern will continue in the next chapter when a man is healed "into the temple" (3:1).  Here in the latter portion of this verse is one of several verses used by the house church movement to justify/defend their activities (many books written on this subject).  But consider this from a descriptive/prescriptive view point?  Are we commanded today to have worship services in our houses?  Are we commanded to have a church building?  If we want to be consistent with the verse and not have any alternative motives then we as Christians should still be meeting in the temple?  Note also they were "breaking bread" in their homes not having worship services.  As the book of Acts progresses it is clear that the focus is still around "the sabbath" and "the first day of week" (whether or not these two overlap or not is another issue).

Fast forward to Acts 20.Our concern is verse seven, "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them."  This is the first and only reference to the disciples meeting on the first day of the week.  Let's consider the text and then think carefully about some descriptive/prescriptive applications (sadly, the temptation is to think, "they did it so we should too, howbeit this is very selective on our part).  So what are the details.

First,  why did they choose this particular day of the week?  The only reference to this day is all four gospels recording this is when the women went to the tomb and Christ was not there.  It is a specific day not a daily activity.

Second, the terminology to "break bread" occurs here again.  This is what Acts 2 recorded was happening from house to house.  Here they are meeting in an "upper chamber" with height enough to cause some pain if one should happen to fall out of the window.

Third, there is no command in this verse to gather on this particular day of the week.  Note in the text it appears to be a pattern already in practice, "when the disciples came together."  For the technical type, the verb is a perfect passive participle (to be fair, very few commentaries I checked draw attention to this verb, howbeit they do acknowledge the pattern/command struggles, with differing terminology).  Put simple it is a past action with ongoing results.  If this is true, then they have been meeting in the past on the first day and are continuing to meet on the first day at the time of this verse.  Even without the verb as weight on this matter, the descriptive/ prescriptive struggle does not go away.

So let's apply the basic details here.  From a descriptive point of view, we can see what they were doing in Acts 20.  Is this a pattern we are to repeat today or was this meeting on the first day a one time event (we will address this again in 1 Cor 16)?  Is this only a first century situation that has no bearing on what we do in 2016?  On the other hand, from a prescriptive view, there is not command to worship corporately on the first day of the week.  Do we need a command here to do so?  Is there enough of a pattern developing built upon texts of scripture that will not be contradicted later in the epistles?  We shall see.

Hope this helps some.
Comments and corrections encouraged.