Articles
The Ekklesia Assembled Together
Jesus said, "...upon this rock I will build my church (ekklesia) and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18, emp LS). What does the ekklesia (God’s people) of Christ do?
When the ekklesia of Christ was established on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1ff), about 3,000 people (Acts 2:41) that obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ were added by the Lord to the people of Christ (Acts 2:47 KJV) and assembled together to worship God. We learn that the first Christians "continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). Later we see that the ekklesia of Christ was still assembling together to worship God, "And upon the first day of the week‚ when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight" (Acts 20:7, emp LS).
The ekklesia of Christ meet for the first time on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), which was the first day of the week, Sunday. Did you notice that the ekklesia "continued stedfastly" in assembling together on the "first day of the week" (Acts 20:7) to worship God?
The apostle Paul, when he wrote to the church at Corinth, instructed the church in some discipline matters and told them, "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (I Corinthians 5:4-5, emp LS). The ekklesia at Corinth was in the habit of assembling together.
Paul also says that the ekklesia at Corinth was gathering together and were abusing the Lord's supper (I Corinthians 11:17ff). Paul was not condemning them for assembling together, but for making a common meal out of the Lord's supper. Later, Paul tells the Corinthians, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the (every, NASB, ESV) week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come" (I Corinthians 16:1-2, emp LS). Paul knew the Corinthians were assembling together on the first day of the week to take the Lord's supper (I Corinthians 11:17ff, Acts 20:7). He instructed them that on that same day (Sunday, the first day of the week) to "lay by him in store", that is, to give a portion back to God that He had prospered them (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).
The Bible teaches that each individual Christian has the responsibility to assemble with the saints on the first day of the week and worship God. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25).
