First, the history of this command in Scripture must be considered. It can be summarized in the answer to question 59 of The Westminster Shorter Catechism. “From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath.”
In the creation account in Genesis, God sets the seventh day apart from the others. “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation,” (Gen. 2:3). It is with this explanation that the commandment is given to Moses:
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 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. For in six days the LORD made heaven and 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." (Ex. 20:8-11)However, the command itself does not tell us that we must keep the last day of the week as Sabbath but that we must keep one day out of every week. In the New Testament, the Sabbath is seen as the first day of the week. This is where it becomes known as “The Lord’s Day,” since it was the day Christ rose from the dead. This practice of the early Christian Church was probably in response to men in the apostolic period who wanted to perpetuate Jewish religious customs.
An illustration of this new observance can be found in I Corinthians where Paul instructs the church on giving and says, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come,” (16:2). Another instance is found in Acts 20:7, which says, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread….” Therefore, the New Testament does not show that the fourth commandment should be abolished since Jewish sabbaths are no longer a part of God’s ordinance, but Christians have the Lord’s Day as Sabbath.
With the history of observing the fourth commandment established, it should be clarified at this point that Scripture is singularly sufficient for supplying the knowledge needed in correctly observing the Sabbath. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “The Word of God which is contained in the Old and New Testaments is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.” II Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Therefore, God has supplied in Scripture all the instruction necessary to understand and live out His law.
Now, Scripture can be used to determine how the church should apply the fourth commandment. One application of observing the Sabbath is found in Exodus 16 when God provides manna for His people in the wilderness. Verse 26 states God does not provide manna on the seventh day. So, in verse 22 God tells the Israelites to gather twice as much on the sixth day. God instructs his people in verse 23, “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.” So, here is an instruction that in order for God’s people to observe “a day of solemn rest” they must prepare anything they need the day before, just as He has done with providing twice as much manna on the sixth day.
The New Testament presents other illustrations of correctly observing the fourth commandment. Jesus is rebuked many times by the Jews, and more specifically the Pharisees, for healing on the Sabbath. John 5 gives an account of some Jews who rebuke an invalid whom Jesus had healed, because the man had picked up his bed after Jesus told him to, which was considered unlawful for the Sabbath. “And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working,’” (John 5:16-17). Also in Matthew 12:5 Jesus says, “Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?”
I believe an accurate explanation and application of the principles found in these passages can be seen in the answer to the question “How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?” in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. It says:
The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; spending the whole time in public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.To clarify further, the command itself says that no one is to do any work, even servants and animals. However, we also see that there are exceptions in Jesus’ own healings on the Sabbath. It can be concluded that acts for worship and mercy are permitted. Jesus says that if His Father is working, Jesus will be working (John 5:17), which I believe could be interpreted as an act of worship. This is also an explanation as to why the priests who work in the temple on the Sabbath (Matt 12:9) remain guiltless.
It can be demonstrated through a few denominations’ confessions of faith how the Sabbath is practiced in the church today. The Westminster Confession of Faith, which is the confession of faith for the Presbyterian Church in America, says this about the Sabbath:
This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs before-hand, do not only observe [a] holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.The Baptist Faith and Message provides another example, but with some inconsistencies. In its 1925 version, it states:
[The Sabbath] commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private, and by refraining from worldly amusements, and resting from secular employments, works of necessity and mercy only excepted.This differs little from the Westminster Confession of Faith. However, in the 2000 version, the specification of what a person should refrain from and what a person should engage in is replaced with, “Activities on the Lord's Day should be commensurate with the Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”
In conclusion, basic principles can be seen in Scripture as to how the fourth commandment to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” should be observed. I believe that the principles presented are consistent with what is laid out in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which is resting from worldly employments and recreations to worship with the exceptions of acts of mercy and necessity. It appears that these principles have transcended into application in parts of the church but may not be in others, since “the Christian’s conscience” does not seem to encompass any guidelines laid out in Scripture for observing the Sabbath.
Works Cited
“Comparison of 1925, 1963 and 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.” SBC.net
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
“The Westminster Confession of Faith.” PCAnet.org
The Westminster Confession of Faith: For Study Classes by Williamson
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