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How can we know for sure if Luke is talking about Saturday or Sunday midnight?

7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. 9 And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, "Do not be troubled, for his life is in him." 11 When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. 12 They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted. — Acts 20:7-12 (NASB)

TruthSeeker
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  • Jewish custom to this day is that Sunday - not Monday - is viewed as the first day of the week. In modern day Israel, the workweek is Sunday through Thursday, with people having their weekend on Friday and Saturday. I worked for an Israeli company once and it wreaked havoc on collaboration. – user33515 May 10 '17 at 01:50
  • In Acts 20:7, it's "the first day of the week" and Paul intends to leave "the next day" (NKJV), speaking till midnight. In verse 11, he leaves at sunrise. This seems to suggest that the time after midnight (at sunrise, v. 11) is the same timeframe as verse 7's "the next day" (NKJV). If so, "the next day" would occur after midnight, meaning that Acts is using Roman time. Does this make sense? – The Editor Jul 05 '22 at 22:44

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The “first day of the week” is Sunday. This is in fact the normal name for “Sunday” in New Testament Greek (as well as in Hebrew, Syriac etc. etc.). But the 24-hour day begins at sunset. So “midnight on the first day of the week” is what we would call 0:00 on Sunday.

fdb
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  • If I understood you well, your answer is that it was Saturday midnight? – TruthSeeker May 10 '17 at 18:14
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    No, it is midnight on Sunday. – fdb May 10 '17 at 18:22
  • Genesis 1:5 "God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day." God defines a day as foolow: from beginning of the evening to end of the morning (daylight), sunset to sunset. Gen 2:2 states the last day of the week is Sabbath. Then the last day of the Hebraic week ends Saturday at sunset. Then the first day of the next week starts Saturday at sunset and finishes Sunday at sunset. How can you then place midnight beyond this time frame? Thank you for your help. – TruthSeeker May 10 '17 at 18:37
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    @TruthSeeker - You and fdb are saying the same thing. Saturday at sunset is when Sunday begins according to the Bible. The first day of the week begins at sunset, but the current standard for the rest of the world is that a new day begins at 12:00am, or as fdb said, 0:00 Sunday. –  May 10 '17 at 18:57
  • @Bʀɪᴀɴ - I apologize. I did not realize that midnight = 0:00 = 12:00 a.m. of the same given day. Then maybe I need to correct my question as follow: "Did Acts 20:7 take place on Sunday or Monday midnight?" In the end, if fdb is meaning the midnight as the transition time period from Saturday to Sunday then I agree (so far). I will come up with a new question... – TruthSeeker May 10 '17 at 20:13
  • @fdb - Many scholars believe that Luke used the Roman new standard and popular time reckoning (Julian calendar at that time, Gregorian today) - midnight to midnight (vs sunset to sunset) - and infer that Eutychus incident occurred on Monday midnight. How can you prove that this was not the case and that Luke was still using the Hebraic calendar? Thank you very much. – TruthSeeker May 10 '17 at 20:29
  • @TruthSeeker - Luke uses standard Hebrew time reckoning in his gospel book, why would he change and start using some other method in Acts? You will need to demonstrate otherwise by revising your question to include arguments made by these "many scholars." –  May 10 '17 at 20:40
  • @Bʀɪᴀɴ - I agree with you Brian. The burden of proof is on these scholars to demonstrate otherwise. The reason why they make this assumption is to allow Sunday night Lord's supper commemoration since they believe Troas church took this holy communion meal before Monday midnight. – TruthSeeker May 10 '17 at 21:02
  • @Bʀɪᴀɴ - By the way, how do we know that Luke used standard Hebrew time reckoning in his gospel? Thank you. – TruthSeeker May 12 '17 at 20:12
  • @TruthSeeker - See Luke 23:44-56 where Jesus 'breathed His last' at about the sixth hour. It was still daylight (although the sun was darkened). Verse 54 says that the day was the Preparation (Friday), and that the Sabbath drew near. Verse 56 then has the women returning to Galilee and resting on the Sabbath (which would have begun at sunset). Luke 24:1 then has the women coming back to the tomb early in the morning on the first day of the week. All this is Hebrew time reckoning. :) [I re-added this to fix my bad grammar since comments can't be edited after 5 minutes: began → begun.] –  May 12 '17 at 23:14
  • @user6503 In Acts 20:7, it's "the first day of the week" and Paul intends to leave "the next day" (NKJV), speaking till midnight. In verse 11, he leaves at sunrise. Does this suggest that the time after midnight (at sunrise, v. 11) is the same timeframe as verse 7's "the next day" (NKJV)? If so, "the next day" occurs after midnight, meaning that Acts is using Roman time. Does this make sense? – The Editor Jul 05 '22 at 22:41
  • @fdb I am not so sure of this anymore but I will offer what I learned over 40 years ago in the Worldwide Church of God. The day began and ended at sunset. The Christians celebrated the Sabbath and when the Sabbath was over at sunset, the "first day of the week" began. The Christians were gathered to "break bread" and to listen to Paul before his departure the next day. His departure would be on the next daylight period which would be Sunday daytime, a common work day. It was after sunset that Paul began his speech and he continued it until midnight. – Saber Truth Tiger Jun 04 '23 at 02:36
  • @fdp Paul would not travel long distances on the weekly Sabbath but he could make a long trip on Sunday daytime. So this was on Saturday night. Anyway, this is what I learned back in the 70s. I am a little fuzzy on the details but I think I got it right. Some erroneously believe Paul and the Christians had a Sunday morning service on the "first day of the week" and after that he spoke several hours, all day well into the night after sunset. That would make it a Sunday night and his departure the next day would be on Monday. – Saber Truth Tiger Jun 04 '23 at 02:41