Why Not Take The Lord’s Supper At Night?

Question

Good evening Bro Lesley. I need your contribution to this question or suggestion of a Brother who is against us taking the Lord’s Supper during morning service and not in the evening as observed in the Bible.

Answer

Thank you for your question. 

The New Testament reveals that the Lord’s Supper was taken by the early Christians “upon the first day of the week” (Acts 20:7). This seems to be the only New Testament example that gives us the time and frequency that the Lord’s Supper should be taken. 

Since it was observed upon the first day of the week and not upon the first day of the month or year, it means the Lord’s Supper was observed every week by the early Christians and such approved example serves as authority for faithful Christians today to observe the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week in remembrance of Christ. It is binding!

But notice that nothing was said about the time of the day that the Lord’s Supper should be taken in Acts 20:7-11. The exact time of the day is unknown and even if it could be known, it is incidental. 

Anyone insisting on a particular time of the day is obligated to show what scripture authorizes such. Would such individual be willing to insist that the church must fix her prayers at 3pm (ninth hour) because there was such example in the New Testament of members of the church going to the temple to pray at that time (cf. Acts 3:1)? Or would such insist that because the apostles started speaking in tongues at 9am (third hour) on that Sunday morning (Pentecost Day – Acts 2:15), the church today must start their worship at 9am every Sunday? If not, why insist that the church must meet to partake of the Lord’s Supper at a particular time of the day when the Lord has not fixed anytime?

In fact, Acts 20:7-11 really does not indicate when the worship began, nor does it tell emphatically what time of day the Lord’s Supper was taken. We are only told that Paul preached until midnight. At what time did Paul start his preaching and at what time exactly the Lord’s Supper was taken is not revealed! To insist that because Paul preached until midnight means that the disciples at Troas took the Lord’s Supper at night is simply reading into the text and it is an assumed inference.

Also notice that the Lord’s Supper was taken in an upper room (a three storey building) by the brethren at Troas (Acts 20:8-9). Even Jesus ate the Passover at an upper room where He instituted the Communion feast (Luke 22:12). Would anyone be willing to bind this too? If not, why not?

The truth is: we know that it was on the first day of the week that the brethren came together, and in the context of the assembly of the church—it was not every day. Was it in the morning or afternoon or evening? Was it at the beginning of a service, middle, or at the end? Scripture does not specify these things. And if anyone argues that we have no authority to take the Lord’s Supper in the morning of the first day of the week, such would be seeking specific authority for something generically authorized. A congregation is free to chose any time within the first day of the week to observe this great feast in remembrance of Christ (Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 11:26).

Osamagbe Lesley Egharevba