The early saints speak to us in both word and deed regarding their assemblies. Their narrative is rich with lessons for us today, if only we have hearts to hear. Let us review and reflect upon the record of their meetings in the first century, and a few additional references by writers in the years which followed.
At the Beginning
We learn many valuable lessons from the record of saints assembling in the book of Acts. In addition to meeting to eat the Lord’s Supper every Sunday (Acts 20:7), the early saints met on occasions which included special prayers (4:23, 31, 29; 12:5), discipline of unruly members (5:11), solving conflicts among saints (6:1-7), deciding whether to receive professed brethren (9:26, 28), lamentation over the faithful dead (8:2), special teaching sessions (11:26), examining the appropriateness of preachers’ activities (11:1-18; see v. 18), sending out preachers (13:1-3), hearing reports by preachers (14:27), public debates with false teachers (15:1-21), informing brethren about truth and error on current issues (15:22-35), reviewing past labors to draw lessons (20:17-38), and farewell meetings (20:37-38; 21:3-5). Similar meetings are referred to directly and indirectly in the remaining books of the New Testament.
Assemblies After the First Century
The record of Christians assembling in the second and third centuries looks very much like the first century. Regular meetings on the first day of the week or Sunday are prominently discussed. The Didache, meaning “The Teaching (of the Twelve Apostles),” written about A.D. 100 in Syria, speaks of Christians meeting “each Lord’s day” for worship (14:1; quoted in Everett Ferguson, Early Christians Speak [Austin, TX: Sweet Publ. Co., 1971]:67). Ignatius, martyred A.D. 117, speaks of those who embrace the new hope “no longer observing the Sabbath but living according to the Lord’s Day,” the day He arose (“The Epistle to the Magnesians,” Shorter Version, IX; http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius‑magnesians‑roberts.html; accessed 3-8-2011).
Justin Martyr (A.D. 100-165) writing about A.D. 145 explained that Christians gather to worship on the day after Saturday, on the day the risen Savior “appeared to his apostles”:
We are always together with one another. And for all the things with which we are supplied we bless the Maker of all through his Son Jesus Christ and through his Holy Spirit. And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a city or a rural district. . . .We all make our assembly in common on the day of the Sun, since it is the first day, on which God changed the darkness and matter and made the world, and Jesus Christ our Savior arose from the dead on the same day. For they crucified him on the day before Saturn’s day, and on the day after (which is the day of the Sun) he appeared to his apostles and taught his disciples these things (Apology I, 67:1-3, 7, quoted in Ferguson, 67-68).
A number of early Christians began to speak of the first day of the week as “the eighth day,” i.e., the next day after the Sabbath. “The Epistle of Barnabas,” a tract written about A.D. 130, spoke of God removing the Sabbath observance in order to make the eighth day “the beginning of another world.” “Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which also Jesus rose from the dead, and having been manifested ascended into the heavens” (“The Epistle of Barnabas,” 15:8-9; translated by J.B. Lightfoot, http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/barnabas‑lightfoot.html, accessed 3-8-2011).
Tertullian (A.D. 160-220) noted in A.D. 197 that critics “suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians” because of their observance of that day, but he retorted, “You who reproach us with the sun and Sunday should consider your proximity to us. We are not far off from your Saturn and your days of rest” (i.e., both pagans and Jews worshiped on Saturday which is near Sunday!) (Ad Nationes, I:13; transl. by Dr. Holmes; http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/tertullian06.html; accessed 3-8-2011). Bardesanes (A.D. 154-222) emphasized one name and one day were unique to Christians: “Wherever we are, we are all called after the one name of Christ – Christians. On one day, the first of the week, we assemble ourselves together” (On Fate, Ferguson, p. 69).
Worship and Godly Living
Unbelievers as well as believers have left descriptions of the conduct and worship of the saints. Pliny, Roman Governor of the Province of Bithynia, wrote to Emperor Trajan in A.D. 112 asking advice on how to deal with Christians. Pliny complained that “the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms” so much so that “many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes” were involved. He devised the following test to clearly identify who were and who were not truly Christians: He offered to release them “when they invoked the gods in words dictated by me, offered prayer with incense and wine to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose together with statues of the gods, and moreover cursed Christ – none of which those who are really Christians, it is said, can be forced to do.” In spite of all investigative methods including torture he learned “that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so” (“Pliny the Younger to the Emperor Trajan,” Letters 10.96‑97; http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/pliny.html; accessed 3-8-2011).
The Didache admonished, “And on the Lord’s own day gather yourselves together and break bread and give thanks, first confessing your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. And let no man, having his dispute with his fellow, join your assembly until they have been reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be defiled” (14:1-2, in Apostolic Fathers, J.B. Lightfoot, transl. & ed.; http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache‑lightfoot.html; accessed 3-8-2011). Justin elaborates, “And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits.” This was followed by a sermon exhorting everyone to apply the Scriptures in their lives. “Then we all rise together and pray,” and the Lord’s Supper was observed (Apology I.67; http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr‑firstapology.html; accessed 3-8-2011). This memorial should be received only by “the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined.” Justin further explained,
For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, “This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body”; and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, “This is My blood”; and gave it to them alone (Apology I.66).
As prayers of thanksgiving go up for this memorial feast, “the people assent, saying, ‘Amen’” (I.67).
Sermons Based on Sacred Scripture
The Scriptures were treated as sacred in these services and sermons emphasized the necessity of serious and sincere application. About A.D. 200 Tertullian said that “we assemble to read our sacred writings,” and “with the sacred words we nourish our faith” and urge proper conduct by inculcating “God’s precepts.”
In the same place also exhortations are made, rebukes and sacred censures are administered. For with a great gravity is the work of judging carried on among us, as befits those who feel assured that they are in the sight of God; and you have the most notable example of judgment to come when any one has sinned so grievously as to require his severance from us in prayer, in the congregation and in all sacred intercourse. The tried men of our elders preside over us, obtaining that honour not by purchase, but by established character (Apology, XXXIX; transl. by S. Thelwall; http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/tertullian01.html; accessed 3-8-2011).
In other words, the proclamation of truth was reinforced by the practice of discipline under the oversight of godly elders.
Having surveyed sermons of the second through the fourth centuries, Everett Ferguson observes, “The preaching was based on the Scriptures read in the assembly... Early Christian preaching seems to have been predominantly expository” (Ferguson, 87). For instance, Clement of Alexandria’s “Who Is the Rich Man that Will Be Saved?” discussed and applied Mark 10:17-31, “directing the text against attachment to wealth but not against the possession of wealth” (Ferguson, 88). Many sermons preceded by readings on the Exodus focus on the Passover as a type of the death of Christ.
Meetings on Many Occasions
Like first-century saints, Christians in the second and third centuries met on many occasions, not limited to the first day of the week. The Didache admonished study of God’s Word “day by day,” but the average person depended on public reading, not having his own copy of the Bible, and therefore the Didache urged “ye shall gather yourselves together frequently, seeking what is fitting for your souls” (4:3; 16:4; http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache‑lightfoot.html; accessed 3-8-2011). Ignatius said, “Do your diligence therefore to meet together more frequently for thanksgiving to God and for His glory. For when ye meet together frequently, the powers of Satan are cast down; and his mischief cometh to nought in the concord of your faith” (“To the Ephesians,” XIII.1, in Apostolic Fathers, Lightfoot & Harmer, 1891 transl.; http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius‑ephesians‑lightfoot.html; accessed 3-8-2011). Hippolytus (A.D. 170-236) urged saints preparing for work each day to first consider whether there may be an assembly for Bible instruction and prayer on that day. “If there is a teacher there, let none of you be late in arriving at the assembly at the place where they give instruction.” “And if there is a day on which there is no instruction,” he advises each Christian to have his own devotions at home (Apostolic Tradition XXXV; Ferguson, 70).
In a series of general exhortations, Ignatius wrote to Polycarp, “Let your assembling together be of frequent occurrence: seek after all by name” (Epistle To Polycarp IV; http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.viii.iv.html; accessed 3-9-2011). In other words, he encouraged frequent assemblies and that all brethren individually should be admonished to attend all of these assemblies in order to strengthen their faith.
Brethren met in homes, in open places, or wherever they could. Sometimes a wealthy Christian would construct a room on his house for assemblies. It is rare to find references to buildings built especially as meeting places until the time of Emperor Constantine who recognized Christianity as legal in the Edict of Milan of A.D. 313. Before that time period persecutions often prevented Christians from conducting open services and resulted in the confiscation or destruction of houses in which worship was conducted. They were accused of treason and atheism for refusing to worship the emperors. Constantine did not find Christians worshiping on the Sabbath and suddenly make a law to force them to worship on Sunday, as claimed by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, but he simply legalized their worship.
Conclusion: What Can We Learn?
Many early Christians were very devout in worship, pure in life, and sacrificial in taking time for regular worship and additional meetings on various occasions. It is also true that others fell away, some recanted their faith rather than face persecution, and still others were lukewarm. So it has been from the beginning of the church. Each of us would do well to reflect on his own faith and life.
Can we imagine these early saints whining about all their various assemblies? “Well, I might ‘have’ to come on Sunday, but no one can prove I ‘have’ to meet to pray for persecuted saints, or to settle problems involving friction, or to witness discipline of wayward members, or to weep and pray over deceased saints, or to sit through a debate, or to attend Bible classes.” Can we imagine the first Jerusalem saints complaining to the Apostles about “daily” meetings for instruction which were conducted for a time (Acts 2:46)? Can we imagine Hippolytus’ brethren complaining about his admonition to attend meetings each day before work, and if there are no meetings to conduct family devotions? Can we imagine telling Stephen or Polycarp, “It is hard enough to attend on Sunday. Don’t you fellows know I get tired at work and my children are busy with school activities and sports events? We just don’t have time for gospel meetings, mid-week classes, debates, singings, prayer meetings, and all the rest.” “Anyway, all these other meetings are just somebody’s tradition and I don’t see the need for them.”
Truly, there are great lessons to learn from the early records of our brethren’s assemblies.