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1 Cor 16:2 "every one at his own house lay by"
#1
Shlama,

This is a difference I noticed between Peshitta and GNT, but doesn't necessarily make a case for or against primacy.

On each first day of the week let every one of you at his own house lay by and keep something of that which cometh unto his hands, lest when I come there be then collections. [Or, choosings, selections.] (Ehteridge)
On each first day of the week, let every one of you lay aside and preserve at home, what he is able; that there may be no collections when I come. (Murdock)
Upon the first day of every week, let each of you put aside and keep in his house whatever he can afford, so that there may be no collections when I come. (Lamsa)

The aramaic word underlying what I bolded, bebehtay, is absent in any form from the greek text, leaving us with simply: "let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper" or something similar in the vast majority of english translations.

Because of the association of this command with the "first day of the week" it is often argued by western christians that early christians must have gathered and worshipped on Sunday, or else how could they take up an offering? The original language of this verse doesn't make a very strong case for that position, certainly nobody needed to be gathered together in order for "each" to put aside "in his own home."

If we assume aramaic primacy, it is easy to speculate why a less-than-completely-honest Zorba would omit this single clause, perhaps to paint a more western picture of a Sunday-worshipping early church.

(Not interested in discussing whether or not the earliest believers worshipped corporately on Sundays, just noting that 1 Co. 16:2 doesn't, at face value, help us answer that question.)

Shlama,
Brian
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