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As part of what Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers is this verse of the Bible: “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” (1 Cor. 16:2 KJV).

One of the popular teachings in Christendom is that after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead on the first day of the week (Sunday), the first century Christians began celebrating his resurrection on the first day of the week (Sunday). The teaching goes that the first century Christians became the ones who changed the day of worship from the Sabbath day (Saturday) to Sunday. Some Bible passages cited as proof of this claim include 1 Cor. 16:2, Acts 20:7, and Rev. 1:10. In this article, I want to shed some light on 1 Cor. 16:2 to enable my readers see if Apostle Paul meant Sunday in the verse. The other passages will subsequently be examined.

To have a better understanding of what Paul talked about in 1 Cor. 16:2, a look at the first four verses of the chapter is necessary.

“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. (1 Cor. 16:1-4 KJV, emphases added by me).

Here, Paul was writing about collecting freewill donations, majorly food items, from the believers in Corinth and carrying them to Jerusalem and Judea as relief materials for the poor believers there who were most affected by the famine that plagued the region at that time. Paul was neither talking about Sunday worship nor the collection of tithes and offerings during worship service as is done in many churches nowadays. As at that time, there was famine which affected many lands. Judea was perhaps worst hit. This caused Paul to write to the churches in Macedonia (in the northern part of Greece) and Achaia (southern part), Corinth being the principal city, to gather relief items for the suffering believers in Jerusalem and Judea. It should be noted that Agabus prophesied about the famine in Antioch as told by Luke:

“Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) The disciples [in Antioch, on hearing the prophecy of Agabus], as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders [in Jerusalem] by [through]  Barnabas and Saul. (Acts 11:25-30 NIVUK, bold emphases and words in square brackets added by me).

In two letters which Paul wrote subsequent to 1 Corinthians, he did not forget to touch on the same subject. See 2 Cor. 8:1-9:5 and Rom. 15:23-29. It is amply clear from these passages that  Paul never meant the collection of tithes and offerings at Sunday worship services.

Did Paul Have Sunday In Mind In 1 Corinthians 16:2?

We know that the New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek; it was not written in English. In the original text, the words translated “day” and “God” (1 Cor. 16:2, KJV), and “your” (verse 3), were not used. They were inserted by the translators for purposes of clarification according to how they understood the Greek texts. So, the words “day” and “God” were not used by Paul in verse 2. The verse started with these words: “κατὰ μίαν σαββάτου ἕκαστος ὑμῶν” (kata mian sabbatou hekastos hymōn, literally meaning “on one Sabbath day each of you”).

The phrase “the first day of the week” is seen in eight places in the KJV and some other English versions (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; 16:9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1; 20:19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2). The following  observations are noteworthy about the translation of some words in the verses:

First, the word “one” is an adjective which is used about  345 times in the original Greek texts. It has three genders – masculine (εἷς, heis), feminine (μιᾷ, mia), and neuter (ἓν hen). In all the 345 times the Greek words were used, they were translated as “one” except in seven places where μία (mia, one) was translated as “first day” by the English translators. In Mark 16:9, the words πρώτῃ σαββάτου (prōtē sabbatou, first Sabbath) were used by Mark. But the word ἡμέρας (hēmeras, day) was never used by him in that verse. This means that he was talking about the first Sabbath after the Passover. In the other seven places, the words πρώτης ἡμέρας (prōtēs hēmeras, first day) were not used by the writers. What they wrote were the words μίαν σαββάτων (mian sabbatōn, one Sabbath day), seen in Matt. 28:1, John 20:19, and 1 Cor. 16:2, OR μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων (mia tōn sabbatōn, literally meaning “one of the Sabbaths” or “one of the Sabbath days”), seen in Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1, and Acts 20:7. If a literal interpretation of the Greek words were done, one would not miss the message the writers of the eight verses were putting across to us.

Secondly, the word “first” is an adjective; it has three genders in Greek: masculine, singular (πρῶτος prōtos), masculine, plural (πρῶτοι protoi), feminine, singular(πρώτη prōtē), neuter, singular (πρώτῳ prōtō). (There are case variations.) The word was used 100 times in the New Testament – 16 times in Matthew, 10 times in Mark, 10 times in Luke, 10 times in John, and 12 times in the Acts of the Apostles. Paul used it 21 times in his epistles and Peter used it once. It was also used 20 times in the Book of Revelation. It is evident that the New Testament writers were not ignorant of the Greek word for “first”. By translating μία (mia, one) as “first day,” the English translators have twisted what the writers wrote in seven verses of the Bible. They committed the same distortion when they added “day” to the word “first” (Greek: πρώτῃ, prōtē) written by Mark in Mark 16:9. What Mark wrote was πρώτῃ σαββάτου (prōtē sabbatou, first Sabbath or first Sabbath day).

Thirdly, the words πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ (prōtē hēmera, first day) are not strange to the writers of the New Testament. Matthew used it in Matt. 26:17, Mark used it in Mark 14:12, and Luke used it in Acts 20:18. Paul also used it in Phil. 1:5. If, therefore, Paul had wanted to write “first day” in 1 Cor. 16:2, he would have used πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ (prōtē hēmera) just as he did in Phil. 1:5. By using the words κατὰ μίαν σαββάτου (kata mian sabbatou), it is evident that he did not have “first day of the week” in mind. What he had in mind was “by one Sabbath day” or “on one Sabbath day” or “on a Sabbath day.” The Greek preposition “κατά” (kata) is versatile and can be translated in various ways depending on the context. In 1 Cor. 16:2, it means “by” or “on.” There is no tenable explanation for translating the words μίαν σαββάτου (mian sabbatou, which literally means “one Sabbath day”) as the “first day of the week.“ Paul  neither wrote about Sunday worship nor on the collection of tithes and offerings in 1 Cor. 16:2.

Fourthly, the Greek word σαββάτων (sabbatōn) is a transliteration of the Hebrew Shabbat or Shabbaton שַׁבַּת־ meaning “to cease” or “to rest.” It’s origin lies in the seven-day creation in which God rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:1-3). Therefore the word σαββάτων (sabbatōn) refers to the seventh day of the week (Saturday), which God has specifically set apart as a day of rest (Exod. 20:8-11). It is different from the Greek word εβδομάδα (ebdomáda, week), which means a period of seven days. If the writers of the New Testament had wanted to write “week,” they would have used the word εβδομάδα (ebdomáda) instead of σαββάτων (sabbatōn).

Why the English translators chose to translate μία as “first day” is known only to them. While I have no reason not to believe that the translators could be experts in Greek grammar, there is a strong reason to believe that they were biased in favour of Sunday worship by falsely translating μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων (mia tōn sabbatōn) as “the first day of the week” or κατὰ μίαν σαββάτου (kata mian sabbatou) as “on the first day of the week” (NKJV), or “on the first day of every week” (NIV), or “every Sunday” (GNT, GW).

The Gatherings Or Collections Were Done At Home

The words “lay by him in store” (KJV), “set aside…saving it up” (NIV), “put something aside and store it up” (ESV), “lay something aside, storing up” (NKJV), among others, clearly suggest that the storing up were to be done by the believers in their private homes. Whatever they have stored up in their homes will be brought out and put at Paul’s disposal on his arrival. The idea of making offertory at public worship service on Sunday cannot be correctly inferred from the verse. For the avoidance of doubt, some translations are quoted below.

“On [the] first of [the] week let each of you put by at home, laying up [in] whatever [degree] he may have prospered, that there may be no collections when I come.” (Darby Bible Translation).

“Vpon some sondaye let every one of you put a syde at home and laye vp what soever he thinketh mete that ther be no gaderinges when I come.” (Tyndale Bible of 1526).

“Upon some Sabboth daye, let euery one of you put asyde by hym selfe, and laye vp as God hath prospered hym, that then there be no gatherynges when I come.” (Bishop’s Bible of 1568).

“Vpon some Sabbath daye let euery one of you put aside by him selfe, and laye vp what so euer he thinketh mete, that the colleccion be not to gather whan I come.” (Coverdale Bible of 1535).

“On the first day of every week let each of you put on one side and store up at his home whatever gain has been granted to him; so that whenever I come, there may then be no collections going on.” (Weymouth New Testament).

“On every Sunday, let each person of you lay aside in  house and keep that which he can, so that when I come there will be no collections.” (Aramaic Bible in Plain English).

“Upon the first day of every week, let each of you put aside and keep in his house whatever he can afford, so that there may be no collections when I come.” (Lamsa Bible).

The first four verses of 1 Cor. 16  when read alongside Acts 11:25-30, 2 Cor. 8:1-9:7, and Rom. 15:23-29 make the picture clearer that Paul was asking for donations that would be used as relief for the suffering brethren in Judea, Jerusalem being the principal city. Paul was not soliciting for tithes and offerings in the church as is done in many churches today.

Conclusion

Apostle Paul did not use the words “first day” in 1 Cor. 16:2. The phrase “first day of the week” (Sunday) came from the interpolation of “first day” into the writing of Paul by English translators of the Bible. What Paul wrote was  κατὰ μίαν σαββάτου (kata mian sabbatou). This means “on one Sabbath” or “on one Sabbath day” or “on a Sabbath day.” By falsely translating the first three Greek words as “on the first day of the week,” English translators have distorted the original writing to suit the manmade decree of Emperor Constantine I of Rome in 321 CE. This distortion is similar  to KJV translators’ indefensible twisting of πάσχα (pascha, Passover) to Easter in Acts 12:4.

The phrase “first day of the week” found in eight places in the New Testament is, perhaps, one of the greatest falsifications in the Bible. True to our Lord Jesus Christ,  men have the proclivity for sidestepping the true teachings of God in order to establish their manmade laws and traditions. He told the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, [6] “… ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘ “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. [7]  They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” [8]  You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.’ [9] And he continued, ‘You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! …[13] Thus, you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that’.” (Mark 7:6-9, 13 NIVUK).

There is no iota of truth in the teaching that Sunday worship has its root in the Bible.