The Fourth Commandment
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
Exodus 20:8-11 NASB
It is rare for me to say this, but I will advise you to do some research on this topic on your own. And my advice to you is to be convinced in your own mind how you think that you should keep the Sabbath. And the reason that I say this is that there are many, many, very faithful and intelligent Christians that debate about this commandment and whether it applies to us today, and how it applies to us today. And the reason this is the case is that it is not terribly clear.
It has been this way for a long time. Augustine believed the Sabbath had been abrogated since the words of Paul said,
“Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”—Colossians 2:16-17 NASB
Colossians 2:16-17 NASB
This seems to be the opinion of people like John MacArthur in our day.
“Significantly, the command for the Sabbath is not repeated in the New Testament, whereas the other 9 are. In fact, it is nullified (Colossians 2:16-17). Belonging especially to Israel under the Mosaic economy, the Sabbath could not apply to the believer of the church age, for he is living in a new economy.”
John MacArthur from his comments on Exodus 20:8 from the John MacArthur Study Bible, NASB
Others throughout history have understood the Sabbath to have been changed to the Lord’s Day or the Christian Sabbath. And so, the resurrection of Christ changed the day of rest to the first day of the week rather than the last day of the week. That is the position of the Puritans, which in reality are our forebearers and those who first made it to America, which explains why business were not open on Sundays. They believed that work, recreation, and commerce were to be avoided on the Lord’s Day.
This was also the opinion of early Baptists in America.
“As it is the law of nature that in general a proportion of time, by God’s appointment, should be set apart for the worship of God, so he has given in His Word a positive, moral and perpetual commandment, binding upon all men, in all ages to this effect. He has particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy for Him. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ this was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ it was changed to the first day of the week and called the Lord’s Day. This is to be continued until the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week having been abolished.”—LBCF 22:7—references Exodus 20:8, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2; Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10
“The Sabbath is kept holy to the Lord by those who, after the necessary preparation of their hearts and prior arranging of their common [ordinary or domestic] affairs, observe all day a holy rest from their own works, words and thoughts about their worldly employment and recreations, and give themselves over to the public and private acts of worship for the whole time, and to carrying out duties of necessity and mercy.”
The London Baptist Confession of Faith Chapter 22 Paragraph 8, The Scripture references are Isaiah 58:13, Nehemiah 13:15-22, Matthew 12:1-13
But even among those that held to Sabbath observance there was controversy. John Knox was the foremost leader of the Scottish Reformation who famously said, “Lord, give me Scotland or I die!” apparently went to go visit John Calvin in Geneva. Since Calvin had greatly influenced the Puritans, he was shocked to find Calvin bowling in the yard on a Sunday afternoon. John Knox who lived in Scotland believed that recreation was wrong for the Sabbath. Apparently, John Calvin did not. And the student was shocked at the teacher.
And Martin Luther had a different view than those listed above. It was basically that the fourth commandment was for the Jews and not for us. But we need to set aside a day, and people already worship on Sunday, Sunday is the day to do it.
“Now, in the Old Testament, God separated the seventh day, and appointed it for rest, and commanded that it should be regarded as holy above all others. As regards this external observance, this commandment was given to the Jews alone, that they should abstain from toilsome work, and rest, so that both man and beast might recuperate, and not be weakened by unremitting labor….This commandment, therefore, according to the gross sense, does not concern us Christians; for it is altogether an external matter, like other ordinances of the Old Testament, which were attached to particular customs, persons, times, and places, and now have been made free through Christ.”—Martin Luther, “Martin Luther’s Larger Catechism”
Martin Luther, “Martin Luther’s Larger Catechism”
“Therefore this is the simple meaning of the commandment: since holidays are observed anyhow, such observance should be devoted to hearing God’s Word, so that the special function of this day should be the ministry of the Word for the young and the mass of poor people, yet that the resting be not so strictly interpreted as to forbid any other incidental work that cannot be avoided….But what is meant by keeping it holy? Nothing else than to be occupied in holy words, works, and life. For the day needs no sanctification for itself; for in itself it has been created holy [from the beginning of the creation it was sanctified by its Creator]. But God desires it to be holy to you. Therefore it becomes holy or unholy on your account, according as you are occupied on the same with things that are holy or unholy. How, then does such sanctification take place? Not in this manner, that [with folded hands] we sit behind the stove and do no rough [external] work, or deck ourselves with a wreath and put on our best clothes, but (as has been said) that we occupy ourselves with God’s Word, and exercise ourselves therein.”—Martin Luther, “Martin Luther’s Larger Catechism”
Martin Luther, “Martin Luther’s Larger Catechism”
And I have to admit that I have had many struggles with understanding this command and its application to today. That is why I am giving you so much information. There have been times when I led my family to keep the Lord’s Day rather strictly because I was convinced of it being in force today. Currently that is not the case.
Now, why would I discuss all of this?
The reason is simple. I am going to present the information to you. And since this is such a cloudy subject I want you to know the sides of the discussion. I also want you to
I will now tell you what I currently think.
I believe that the ceremonial aspects of Sabbath keeping have passed away and that one day should be devoted to the Lord. I tend to agree with Luther, and to some extent Augustine and MacArthur on the matter. We are simply not told why, but Christians did begin worshiping on Sunday and it was called “The Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10). And we do know that Christ is the fulfillment and giver of the rest that the Sabbath only pictured. We enter into this rest, the true rest of Christ.
But I do believe that there are three things that we learn from the commandment that are to be applied today.
- We are to rest in Christ.
- We are to go to church.
- We are to work.
We Are To Rest In Christ
Let’s take a look at some of the passages of Scripture that discuss the Sabbath in the Pentateuch.
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
Exodus 20:10 ESV
30 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:30 ESV
2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 26:2 ESV
12 “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.
Exodus 23:12 ESV
3 “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places.
Leviticus 23:3 ESV
12 And the LORD said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
Exodus 31:12-17 ESV
21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
Exodus 34:21 ESV
1 Moses assembled all the congregation of the people of Israel and said to them, “These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do. 2 Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.”
Exodus 35:1-3 ESV
3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:3 ESV
10 “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.
Exodus 23:10-11 ESV
1 The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. 3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, 7 and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.
Leviticus 25:1-7 ESV
[Lev 25:20-22 ESV] 20 And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ 21 I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.
Leviticus 25:20-22
8 “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field. 13 “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property.
Leviticus 25:8-13 ESV
Different things were added and the meaning of the Sabbath had changed for Jews by Jesus’s day, but the teaching seems clear here. It’s not as convoluted as it would one day become. The Sabbath was to be kept and it was a day of resting in the LORD.
12 And the LORD said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
Exodus 32:12-17 ESV
The last two verses mentioned there are about the year of Jubilee, which was a glorious year long Sabbath where debts were forgiven, land was given back to original owners, and many other wonderful things happened.
8 “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field. 13 “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property.
Leviticus 25:8-13 ESV
These times of Sabbath were a resting in the Lord. They were a time to not be doing work and resting in the trust that God was taking care of you and everything else in the world. It was resting in Him.
Now, whatever position that you land on concerning Sabbath keeping in our day, this is plain. We are commanded to rest in the Lord.
Read Hebrews 4.
I have to admit that I have struggled with this commandment. There have been times when I have been convinced that I should keep the Lord’s Day and others I have not. There have been times when I did no work, other than preaching or teaching, on the Lord’s Day and did not eat at a restaurant and other times when I have not. Simply put, I have gone back and forth on the application of this commandment for today.
Have you thought about it? Do you have any thoughts on the matter? We want to honor God with our obedience. But we also want to rightly apply it to today.
I once asked my New Testament professor, Dr. Schreinder his thoughts on the matter. My question was, “The 1689 London Baptist Confession, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Heidelberg Catechism all hold to Sunday being the Lord’s Day and is to be kept as the New Testament Sabbath. Do you think this is the correct view for New Testament believers?” His answer was, “No.” His reason was interesting. After discussing Colossians 2:16 which was sited above and a few other passages, he said that there was a historical reason as well. He said that Jewish believers were given Saturday off and there was no way in the ancient world that they would have survived taking two days off every week. This answer fits rather well with what I know of Church History because Christians had protections in Rome as long as they were considered a sect of Judaism. Once that ended they had not rights and privileges, only persecution.
And then one day, something occurred to me. The Didache was likely a good place to look and see how the early church decided to keep this command. This is in section 14 of the Didache.
On the Lord’s Day [those] of the Lord come together, break bread and hold Eucharist, after confessing your transgressions that your offering may be pure;
But let none who has a quarrel with his fellow join in your meeting until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice be not defiled.
For this is that which was spoken by the Lord, “In every place and time offer me a pure sacrifice, for I am a great King,” saith the Lord, “and my name is wonderful among the heathen.”
Didache, Section 14
Here is where I think we should land with this. The command we are given is to rest in Christ. We rest from trying to achieve salvation on our own. We rest from trying to earn God’s favor. We rest from all of that in Christ. It is Christ alone who earns our favor with God. And it is in Christ that I am to rest. Do you find it difficult to rest in Christ?
But I also find the Sabbath to help me understand myself. I need patterns of rest and work. I am in the middle of moving. I have been for 3 1/2 months now and that pattern is all out of whack. It definitely causes difficulties because that is not the way things are supposed to be. We were meant to have this routine of work and rest built into our lives.
We Are To Go To Church
The thing that almost no one quarrels about is that this commandment calls believers to worship the Lord with other believers. In the New Testament we see people coming together “on the Lord’s Day”. (Revelation 1:10; 1 Corinthians 16:2) And we find that this coming together was commanded.
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV
Now, do you think that going to church is important? This seems to me to be a modern day application of this command.
What are your thoughts on Sunday Sports Leagues?
I’m not talking about being on vacation and not coming to this church. I am talking about the priority it has in your life. Christians have understood that there are legitimate reasons to miss Church throughout the ages. Illness, death, ox in the ditch, police, fire, hospital staff, but here is what I want to drive home. Is attending church important to you? It should be.
We Are To Work
This part of the conversation is left off, but working is found within the Ten Commandments as a good thing that we are to be doing.
Work predated the fall, Adam was commanded to work and keep the garden before the fall. And work is constantly upheld as a good and moral thing to do in the Proverbs. Work is also upheld throughout the New Testament as something we are to be doing.
And here, we see the idea of work being upheld even in the Ten Commandments.
This command actually states that we are to be at work.
If you have the ability, then you should be busy with something. I’ve oftentimes heard people say they get busier when they retire and I think that’s probably a good thing. We should be productive as long as we can be productive.
So, how are you at working?
R. Dwain Minor