Chapter XIV.—Christian Assembly on the Lord’s Day

Chapter XIV.[2490]—Christian Assembly on the Lord’s Day.

1 But every Lord’s day²⁴⁹¹Comp. Rev. i. 10. Here the full form is κατὰ κυριακὴν δὲ Κυρίον. If the early date is allowed, this verse confirms the view that from the first the Lord’s Day was observed, and that, too, by a eucharistic celebration. do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions,²⁴⁹²Comp chap. iv. 14. No parallel in Apostolic Constitutions. that your sacrifice may be pure.²⁴⁹³On this spiritual sense of “sacrifice,” comp. Rom. xii. 1; Phil. ii. 17; Heb. xiii. 15; 1 Pet. ii. 5. 2. But let no one that is at variance²⁴⁹⁴“That hath the (or, any) dispute” (ἀμφιβολίαν); comp. Matt. v. 23, 24. with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. 3. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice;²⁴⁹⁵[See Mal. i. 11. See Irenæus, cap. xvii. 5, vol. i. p. 484.] for I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations.²⁴⁹⁶Mal. i. 11, 14. Quoted in Apostolic Constitutions and by several Ante-Nicene Fathers, with the same reference to the Eucharist.