Some claim that the Sabbath day of the Old Testament has been changed to Sunday in the time of the New Testament because collections (offerings) were made on the first day of every week or every Sunday by quoting 1 Corinthians 16:2.
Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week (Every Sunday: GNT), each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. (1 Corinthians 16:1-2)
I feel pity for their efforts to find evidence of the Sunday service which is not found on the Bible. First, the above verse is not a record of worshiping on Sundays and giving offerings. The Apostle Paul said, “When I come no collections will have to be made (KJV: There be no gatherings when I come).” If it had been a regular collection, it should have been made whether the Apostle Paul came or not, shouldn’t it? If fact, the collection mentioned above was a special offering for helping out the Jerusalem Church.
There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints… So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift [KJV: bounty] you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given… This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. (2 Corinthians 9:1-12)
It’s wrong to insist that it’s evidence that the Sunday service was kept by citing the verse which is not about a regular offering but a special offering. In addition, it’s also not a record of worshiping on the first day of every week. On the contrary, it proves that they worked on the first day of every week. It’s written, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income (GNT: Every Sunday each of you must put aside some money, in proportion to what you have earned).” It means that they must put aside some money, in proportion to what they have earned on Sunday. To earn money on the first day of the week, they must have worked on Sundays, mustn’t they? In other words, the verse of matter means that they must put aside some money earned on the first day of every week in advance not to be in hurry to collect the special offering when the Apostle Paul comes.
However, those who try to find evidence of the Sunday service in any way claim that ‘collections (offerings)’ were made on the ‘first day of every week’ by extracting only the two phrases ‘collections’ and ‘the first day of every week.’ How strange their way of interpretation is! I suppose that they cannot see the Sabbath recorded about 135 times in the Bible (80 times in the Old Testament and 55 times in the New Testament) because they read the Bible in such a strange way.
