gathering at church

²⁵not deserting our assembly, as some are accustomed to do, but consoling one another, and even more so as you see that the day is approaching.

²⁰For wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I, in their midst.”

²⁶What is next, brothers? When you gather together, each one of you may have a psalm, or a doctrine, or a revelation, or a language, or an interpretation, but let everything be done for edification.

¹⁶Let the word of Christ live in you in abundance, with all wisdom, teaching and correcting one another, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing to God with the grace in your hearts.

⁴²Now they were persevering in the doctrine of the Apostles, and in the communion of the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers.

¹³Until I arrive, attend to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine.

⁷Then, on the first Sabbath, when we had assembled together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to set out the next day. But he prolonged his sermon into the middle of the night. The expression “first Sabbath” refers to Easter Sunday, the commemoration of the first Christian Sabbath. In the year in question, Easter Sunday was celebrated some 12 (5 + 7) days or more after “the days of Unleavened Bread”, which refers to Passover. It is unclear how Easter Sunday was calculated at that early time in the Church, but it did not always coincide with Passover.

⁴⁶Also, they continued, daily, to be of one accord in the temple and to break bread among the houses; and they took their meals with exultation and simplicity of heart,

¹¹And the same one granted that some would be Apostles, and some Prophets, yet truly others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers, ¹²for the sake of the perfection of the saints, by the work of the ministry, in the edification of the body of Christ, ¹³until we all meet in the unity of faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as a perfect man, in the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.

²On the first day of the week, the Sabbath, let each one of you take from himself, setting aside what will be well-pleasing to him, so that when I arrive, the collections will not have to be made then.

²that you should preach the word urgently, in season and out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke, with all patience and doctrine.

²⁴And let us be considerate of one another, so as to prompt ourselves to charity and to good works,

¹⁴Is anyone ill among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

¹⁸First of all, indeed, I hear that when you assemble together in the church, there are schisms among you. And I believe this, in part.

¹⁹speaking among yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and reciting psalms to the Lord in your hearts,

¹⁷Therefore, faith is from hearing, and hearing is through the Word of Christ.

¹Alleluia. Praise the Lord in his holy places. Praise him in the firmament of his power.

¹Alleluia. Praise the Lord in his holy places. Praise him in the firmament of his power. ²Praise him for his virtues. Praise him according to the multitude of his greatness. ³Praise him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with psaltery and stringed instrument. ⁴Praise him with timbrel and choir. Praise him with strings and organ. ⁵Praise him with sweet-sounding cymbals. Praise him with cymbals of jubilation. ⁶Let every spirit praise the Lord. Alleluia.

²⁶And they were conversing there in the Church for an entire year. And they taught such a great multitude, that it was at Antioch that the disciples were first known by the name of Christian.

⁴⁶Also, they continued, daily, to be of one accord in the temple and to break bread among the houses; and they took their meals with exultation and simplicity of heart, ⁴⁷praising God greatly, and holding favor with all the people. And every day, the Lord increased those who were being saved among them.

¹⁵But, if I am delayed, you should know the manner in which it is necessary to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and the foundation of truth.

²For if a man has entered your assembly having a gold ring and splendid apparel, and if a poor man has also entered, in dirty clothing,

¹⁷Now I caution you, without praising, about this: that you assemble together, and not for better, but for worse. ¹⁸First of all, indeed, I hear that when you assemble together in the church, there are schisms among you. And I believe this, in part.