This passage, Col. 2:16, 17 is one of the most misunderstood passages in the Bible. One prin­ciple of Bible interpretation is that you do not allow what may be somewhat unclear to keep you from doing what you understand. The Bible is plain on the Sabbath. It was given at creation (Gen. 2:1-3). Jesus observed it (Lk. 4:16). Paul observed it (Acts 13:42-44), and it will be ob­served in heaven (Isa. 66:22, 23). The Bible mentions two kinds of sabbaths. The seventh-day Sabbath and the yearly sabbaths. The sev­enth-day Sabbath, instituted at creation and part of the Ten Commandment law, is a weekly reminder of the loving, all-powerful Creator.

The yearly Sabbath relates specifically to the history of Israel. Col. 2:16,17 specifically states "Let no one judge you regarding sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come." The seventh-day Sabbath is a memorial of creation not a shadow of something to come. Heb. 10:1 connects the law of shadows with animal sacri­fice. Ezek. 45:17 uses the exact same expres­sions in the exact same order as Col. 2:16,17 and connects it all with the ceremonial systems of feasts and sacrifices (meat offerings, drink offerings, feasts, new moons, and sabbaths to make reconciliation for the house of Israel. Lev. 23:3 discusses the Seventh-day Sabbath. Lev. 23:5-32 discusses the ceremonial sabbaths (passover, verse 5; unleavened bread, verse 6; wave sheaf, verse 10; first fruits, verse 17; trum­pets, verse 24; Day of atonement, verses 27-32; tabernacles, verses 34-36). Both the feast of trumpets (verse 24), and the Day of Atonement (verse 32) are specifically called sabbaths.

These annual sabbaths were intimately con­nected to events foreshadowing Christ's death and His Second Coming. They were designed by God to be shadows or pointers to the coming Messiah. Lev. 23:37 uses the language of Col. 2:16,17 to describe these ceremonial sabbaths. Lev. 23:38 distinguishes the ceremonial sab­baths from the seventh-day Sabbaths by using the expression "Beside the sabbaths of the Lord." Since Christ has come, the shadowy sab­baths of the ceremonial law have found their fulfillment in Him. The seventh-day Sabbath continues to lead us back to the Creator God who made us. God's people will keep it as a distinguishing sign of their relationship to Him (Rev. 14:12, Ezek. 20:12,20).

Sometimes it's helpful to carefully notice what a Bible text does not say as well as what it does say. Verses 5 and 6 say nothing about either worship or the Sabbath. They simply talk about regarding a day. To say this partic­ular day is the Sabbath is an unwarranted assumption. Rom. 14:1 sets the tone for the entire passage indicating that the discussion focuses on "doubtful disputations" or disputes on doubtful matters. Is the seventh-day Sab­bath set apart by God at creation (Gen. 2:1-3) placed within the heart of the moral law (Ex. 20:8-11) a doubtful matter? Certainly not!

There is no indication anywhere in scripture that the weekly Sabbath was ever questioned by Jesus or the Apostles. Had they done so, the controversy it generated would have been instant and hotly contested. The key to our passage is found in verse 6 which states, "He that regards the day regards it unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day regards it not to the Lord. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord for He giveth God thanks, and he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not for he giveth God thanks." The issue revolved around fast days not Sabbath days. Some Jewish Christians believed there was particular merit in fasting on certain days. They judged others by their own standards. The Pharisees fasted at least twice a week and boasted about it (Lk. 18:12). In Rom. 14, Paul is pointing out that to fast or not to fast on a certain day is a matter of individual conscience, not a matter of God's command.

The reason this meeting is mentioned in the narrative is because Paul was leaving the next day and worked a mighty miracle in raising Eutychus from the dead. It is clear that the meeting is a night meeting. It is the dark part of the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). In Bible times, the dark part of the day preceded the light part (Gen. 1:5). The Sabbath was observed from Friday night at sunset to Saturday night at sunset. (Leu. 23:32, Mk. 1:32). If this meeting is on the dark part of the first day of the week, it is in fact a Saturday night meeting. Paul has met with the believers all Sabbath. He will depart the next day, Sunday, so the meeting continues late into Saturday night. The next day, Sunday, Paul travels by foot to Assos, then sailed to Mitylene. The New English Bible read­ing of Acts 20:7 also confirms this as a Saturday night meeting, with Paul traveling on Sunday. If Paul considered Sunday sacred in honor of the resurrection, why would he spend the entire day traveling and not worshipping? The record indicates that Paul was a Sabbath keeper (see Acts 13:42-44; 17:2; 16:12, 13; 18:4).

First day of the week. In Greek the expression is the same as that in Matt. 28:1 There can be no doubt that this corresponds, in general, at least, to our Sunday. Commentators have been divided, however, as to whether the meeting in question took place on the evening following Sunday, or on that preceding it.

Those who favor the view that it was a Sunday night meeting point out that Luke, who most probably was a Gentile, presumably used Roman time reckoning, which began the day at midnight. On such reckoning, an evening meeting on the first day of the week could only be on Sunday night. They point out also that the time sequence of the verse, the first day of the week, the morrow, implies that Paul's departure took place on the second day of the week; if so, then the meeting must have been on Sunday night. It may be noted, also, that John refers to Sunday night as the first day of the week (John 20:19), whereas, according to Jewish reckoning, it was already the second day of the week  It is possible that Luke uses the expression in the same sense here.

Other commentators, including Ellicott, Conybeare and Howson, and A. T. Robertson, have preferred to understand that the meeting took place on the evening before Sunday. Inasmuch as Jewish reckoning began the day at sunset, by that system the dark part of the first day of the week would be the night preceding Sunday, our Saturday night. Such reckoning continued for centuries among Christians, and it is reasonable to think that Luke, whether Gentile or not, may have used it in his narrative. Accordingly, Paul's meeting at Troas would have begun after sunset on Saturday night, and would have continued through that night. The next day, Sunday, he would have walked to Assos.

Some writers have seen in this passage an indication of early Christian Sunday observance. Whether or not Luke used Jewish or Roman time reckoning is of relatively little importance to this question, for he says clearly that the meeting was on the first day of the week. If he was using Jewish reckoning, then the evening before Sunday was considered the first day, and if he was using Roman time, the evening following Sunday was still the first day. The significant factor here, as regards the question of early Christian Sundaykeeping, is whether this first-day meeting represents regular Christian practice, or whether it happened to fall on the first day only because of Paul's visit.

A consideration of the whole narrative provides no support for the view that Paul held this meeting specifically because it was the first day of the week. He had been at Troas seven days; certainly he must have met with the believers there already more than once. Now he was to depart, and it was most logical that he would hold a final farewell meeting, and celebrate the Lord's Supper with them. Luke�s remark that this occurred on the first day of the week, rather than being a notice of specific Sunday keeping, is quite in harmony with the whole series of chronological notes with which he fills his narrative of this voyage (see chs. 20:3, 6, 7, 15, 16; 21:1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 15). Therefore the simplest way to view this passage would seem to be that the meeting was held, not because it was Sunday, but because Paul was ready to depart (ch. 20:7), that Luke includes an account of the meeting because of the experience of Eutychus, and that his note that it was "the first day of the week" is merely a part of his continuing chronological record of Paul's journey. In evaluating this passage as an evidence of early Christian Sunday keeping, the eminent church historian, Augustus Neander, remarks:

The passage is not entirely convincing, because the impending departure of the apostle may have united the little Church in a brotherly parting-meal, on occasion of which the apostle delivered his last address, although there was no particular celebration of a Sunday in the case (The History of the Christian Religion and Church, tr. Henry John Rose, vol. 1, p. 337).

In any case, a regular Sunday worship service is not indicated in the text, and no compelling case can be made for even the Communion Service because they usually broke bread when they met on a daily basis. Also, if a Saturday meeting, or Sunday night Communion hardly would be justification for a regular Sunday morning service. Communion did not take place on Sunday using either time reckoning since it was Saturday night or Monday morning. Also, the word translated here as preaching is not a good translation of the word Preached. Gr. dialegomai, to converse, to discuss. In all instances in the NT, except here and in v. 9, this verb is translated to dispute, to reason, and once to speak. Here and in v. 9 it would be better translated to discourse. The meeting was evidently not a regular church assembly with a sermon, but an informal one in which reasoning and conversation were used to answer questions and clear away difficulties among the Christians at Troas, and to impart instruction. Rather than this being some kind of preaching service where communion was regularly dispensed, it was a going away get together where church matters were discussed into the wee hours of the night. There no reason to discontinue obeying the Ten Commandments because Paul had a going away party held in his honor!

Can we really tell which day the Sev­enth-day is?