Last time, we began to consider the Greek phrase, mia sabbaton, which underlies most translations of the English phrase, "first day of the week," in reference to the day of Christ's post-resurrection appearance (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19). Significantly, sabbaton is plural, indicating it was not only the day we call Sunday, but it was the first of the weeks—the first day in the count to the Feast of Weeks.

In addition to these five occurrences in the gospels, mia sabbaton is found in two other places. The sixth appears in I Corinthians 16:1-2:

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week [mia sabbaton] let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. (Emphasis ours throughout.)

What Paul writes here is interesting because he is instructing the Corinthians to gather a collection of food for the brethren around Jerusalem because of a famine in that region. While we do not know if the Passover fell on a Sabbath in the year Paul wrote these instructions, this instance of mia sabbaton at least shows that this "first of the weeks"—Wavesheaf Day—was a common workday. This detail aligns with the Gospel writers usage of mia sabbaton, as well as the historical fact that the day of the Wavesheaf offering was always a workday because it also marked the start of the harvest.

Chronologically, the seventh place mia sabbaton appears is in Acts 20:6-7:

And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week [upon the mia sabbaton], when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow [that is, the morrow after the Sabbath; see Leviticus 23:11, KJV]; and continued his speech until midnight.

Verse 7 contains the exact Greek phrase as in the gospel accounts, literally reading, "upon the first of the weeks." The fact that sabbaton is plural shows Luke is not merely writing about a Saturday night or Sunday, even though that is when this gathering occurred. More significantly, this was Wavesheaf Day.

Notice the chronology. Paul and the disciples eat together after the Sabbath ends at sunset, at the beginning of the count to Pentecost. He preaches throughout the night and leaves the next morning (verse 11).

At this juncture, we should recall that the Wavesheaf ultimately points to the resurrected Messiah, "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (I Corinthians 15:20). Just as He was raised from the dead, so also those who belong to Him will be raised.

Significantly, during the nighttime portion of this Wavesheaf Day in Troas, while Paul was preaching, a death and a subsequent resurrection occurred! Eutychus, a young man in the prime of his life, perished after falling asleep and falling from a third-story window. God is not without a sense of irony: Following Christ's resurrection as the Firstfruits, Eutychus was among "those who have fallen asleep"—literally and terminally. However, also like Jesus, God restored Eutychus to life.

When looking at the time markers in Acts 20:6 (". . . after the days of unleavened bread . . . five days . . . seven days . . ."), there appears to be a problem. If we take verse 6 exactly as translated, it means that this Wavesheaf Day took place some twelve days after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In its notes on Acts 20:7, the Companion Bible picks up on this incongruity:

. . . first day of the sabbaths, i.e. the first day for reckoning the seven sabbaths to Pentecost. It depended upon the harvest (Deuteronomy 16:9), and was always from the morrow after the weekly sabbath when the wave sheaf was presented (Leviticus 23:15). In John 20:1 this was the fourth day after the Crucifixion, "the Lord's Passover." Compare App-156. This was by Divine ordering. But in AD 57 it was twelve days after the week of unleavened bread, and therefore more than a fortnight later than in AD 29.

Even with the disagreements over whether the Sabbath or "the morrow after" is the critical point, nobody in the church of God or any Jewish group has ever proposed to start the count twelve days after Unleavened Bread! Such an outlier calls into question everything the rest of Scripture reveals about when to begin the count.

However, this apparent dilemma disappears when we understand the Greek word translated as "after" in Acts 20:6: meta (Strong's #3326). It does not have a perfect counterpart in the English language. In certain situations, it can mean "after," but it can also mean "with" or "into the midst of." Strong's Concordance indicates it denotes accompaniment, which is why translators most frequently render it as "with." Strong's goes on to mention that it also means "amid."

The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament comments, "Its primary meaning is mid, amid, in the midst, with, or among, implying accompaniment." Likewise, Thayer's Greek Lexicon explains that when used in the accusative—as Luke does in Acts 20:6—it means "into the middle of, into the midst of, or among."

When the word is translated as "after," it triggers a notable contradiction because it places Wavesheaf Day twelve days after the Days of Unleavened Bread. However, the Greek here does not say, "after the days of unleavened bread," but "into the midst of" or "among the Days of Unleavened Bread." Suddenly, a clear picture emerges.

Here, then, is an alternate way of translating Acts 20:6:

And we sailed away from Philippi. Among the Days of Unleavened Bread, we came to them in Troas in five days, where we abode seven days. And upon the mia sabbaton when we came together to break bread [during the evening, after sunset], Paul preached to them, ready to depart on the morrow [Sunday morning], and continued his speech until midnight [Saturday night].

What this shows is that the journey from Philippi to Troas took five days (usually a three-day trip), and they arrived in Troas "in the midst of" or "among" the Days of Unleavened Bread. They stayed seven days and departed on the mia sabbaton—on Wavesheaf Day after Paul resurrected sleepy Eutychus.

To make the picture more precise, the last full day Paul's company was in Troas was a Sabbath. We know that because Luke specifies that the next day was mia sabbaton, "the first of the weeks," or Wavesheaf Day, always a Sunday. Moreover, if they arrived "among" the Days of Unleavened Bread and stayed seven days, they must have arrived on the first day of Unleavened Bread, the previous Sunday. The significance of all of this is that the mia sabbaton—the Wavesheaf Day, the first day in the count to the Feast of Weeks—was on the Sunday immediately after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

This seventh usage of mia sabbaton is a New Testament example that proves it is perfectly fine for Wavesheaf Day to occur outside the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as the first-century Sadducean priests (who controlled the Temple at the time) practiced. In these Sabbath Passover years, we do not need to base our Pentecost observance on a presumed Wavesheaf offering in Joshua 5, as God recorded seven New Testament Wavesheaf Day references for His church to glean from.