The materials afforded us by the NT are scanty indeed. Two things, however, are clear. — (a) In the brief Kesurrection stories, as found in all the Gospels, conspicuous emphasis is laid on ' the first day of the week' as the day on which Jesus rose from the dead. See Mk 16'^ Lk 24', Jn 20' (rri /i^ tCjv ffa^^aTwv), Mt 28' (et's fxiav (TajBlidrwv), the frag- ment Mk W-''-^ (wpthTrj <7a/3/3dToi'), Jn 20'" (rij Vw eKfivrj TT] fxta cra/i^drwi'). Jn 2U-*', with its ' after eight days ' (the octave), is specially interesting, for it has the faint suggestion of a custom-germ, or reflects the early-established practice of a weekly meeting on that day. Th. Zahn calls attention to the particularity with which John notes the days connected witli the Passion and Kesurrection, and explains it as due to the Christian week-scheme
.already fully established among the churches of Asia Minor, with which the Fourth Gospel was so closely associated (Skizzen aus dcm Leben der alien Kirche, no. 5, p. 178). — (6) Early in the 2nd cent, the first day of the week appears as distinctively the sacred day of Christianity under the name of ' the Lord's Day.'
The connexion between {a) and (6) cannot be for- tuitous. The tradition that the Lord rose again on the first day of the week naturally invested that day a\ ith special interest. Jesus' Resurrection from the first figured as a dominating fact concern- ing Him in early faith and evangelism. What wonder that that day should come to be regarded a,?, par excellence the Lord's Day?
Those who deny the reahty of the Resurrection as a unique event are hard pressed to account for the undeniable primitive association of the day with that occurrence. What is there convincingf in the following sufrjjfestions ? ' It is quite possible that the Christian Sunday was originally fixed — perhaps before the women's story was generally known — in some other way, e.g. by the events of the Day of Pentecost, or by the first appear- ance of the risen Christ in Galilee, or by the selection of the first available time after the Jewish Sabbath, and that the con- nexion of it with the date of the Resurrection was an after- thought' (J. M. Thompson, Miracles in the NT, London, 1911, p. 1G4). Ijater on the same author seems to treat the 'appear- ance ' also as a fictitious afterthought grafted on to a Christian time-scheme of amazingly early development : ' Both the appear- ances take place on Sunday (Jn 20). This is another indication of the ecclesiastical and eucharistic atmosphere in which the Resurrection stories grew up '(p. 199; of . A. Lo\sy,Autourd'un petit livre, Paris, 1903, p. 242f.).
The NT itself is not without evidence that this institution began its growth in apostolic times. The passages are few but familiar. In Ac 20^ the first day of the week is associated with a Christian assembly for religious purpo.ses {(rwniy/jLevuv ij/xui' KXdcrai S-prov). If a use of this kind had not already begun, what propriety or moment would there be in stating what day of the week it was ? Again, at an earlier point in St. Paul's career we find him urging the Christians at Corinth to make weekly contributions towards the fund for the relief of the impoverished church at Jerusalem, and to do it on the first day of the week (1 Co 16'-). It has been pointed out, not unreasonably, that this contribu- tion is not represented as an ottering to be collected at some meeting for worship (Deissmann, art. ' Lord's Day ' in EBi), that, rather, the expression Trap' iavT(^ simply points to setting aside such a gift at home, and so the passage yields no positive evidence for the observance of the day as in later times. When, however, it is suggested, as an alternative explanation, that the first day of the week is named because probably this or the day before was the pay-day for working folk at Corinth, we need some definite evidence fur this which is not forthcoming. And Avhen, as Zahn oljserves (op. cit. p. 177), we find that in the 2nd cent, there was a wide-spread custom of laying charitable gifts for the poor on the church dish in connexion with public worship, it is difficult not to connect this with St. Paul's words here. May not his action in this particular instance, indeed, have directly led to the institution of a collection for the poor on the Lord's Day, and especially in association with ' the breaking of bread ' ? It may be added that, as St. Paul urges this course so ' that no collections be made when I come,' and as the whole work is described in v.' as a ' collection' (Xoyla), it is most natural to infer that there was not only a setting apart of gifts, but also a paying into a local fund week by week. This strengthens the view that 1 Co 16-^ incidentally gives evidence of early movements towards the setting up of the Lord's Day as an institution, especially when taken along with Ac 20^ ; for when could the contributions of the people be better collected in readiness for the Apostle than at their meetings on tlie special day of worship ?
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LORD'S DAY