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  • From: "Troy W. Martin" <martin AT sxu.edu>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: hard evidence . . .
  • Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 13:56:12 -0500

Greetings Jim:
In an earlier post, you stated that Jews reckoned the day from sundown to sundown.  In a subsequent post, you state, "John 20:19 is interesting because it treats the evening at the end of the1st day as part of that 1st day -- a very un-Jewish way of looking at days of the week."  Actually, the Jewish time-keeping system did not reckon the day from sundown to sundown but from the first three night lights to the first three night lights.  The Evening Watch began at sundown, but one day did not change into another until the first three night lights became visible sometime during the Evening Watch.  Mk 15:42 clearly demonstrates that the day does not change with the beginning of evening. Thus, Jn 20:19 recounts events on the first day of the week after the sun had set.  The second day of the week will not begin until a short time later when the first three night lights appear.   Since Jews count days inclusively, the reference to eight days later in Jn 20:26 also indicates the first day from Sabbath.

I appreciate your concern about how all this relates to Paul and the Pauline communities composed primarily of non-Jews.  I am not sure the reference to the first day of the week in 1Cor 16:1-2 is hard evidence of the "Gentile Mission" since this reference is expressed in terms of a Jewish time-keeping system.   I do think, however, it is important to ask which time-keeping system Paul and his communities observed.  I have argued in several places that Paul and his communities observed a Jewish time-keeping system and rejected the various Pagan options that would have involved them in idolatry.  If you are interested in my discussions of these temporal issues, please see my articles "Pagan and Judeo-Christian Time-Keeping Schemes in Gal. 4:10 and Col. 2:16" New Testament Studies 49(1996) 105-119 and "Time and Money in Translation: A Comparison of the Revised Standard Version and the New Revised Standard Version," Biblical Research 38 (1993) 55-69.  My most extensive treatment is chapter 5 of my book By Philosophy and Empty Deceit: Colossians as Response to a Cynic Critique (JSNT Sup 118; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996).

Thank you for sharing my interest in time.

Troy W. Martin

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