{"id":25003,"date":"2016-10-24T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T09:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/\/uk\/?p=25003"},"modified":"2024-07-26T16:57:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-26T15:57:44","slug":"the-fourth-commandment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banneroftruth.org\/uk\/resources\/articles\/2016\/the-fourth-commandment\/","title":{"rendered":"Applying the Fourth Commandment Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following constitutes an appendix in Sinclair B. <\/em>Ferguson’s book Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification<\/a> (296 pages, \u00a38\/$9).<\/em><\/p>\n

In almost any discussion of the role of the law in sanctification\u00a0there is one commandment that causes considerable debate\u2014the\u00a0commandment on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). It is certainly\u00a0the\u00a0commandment that seems to give evangelical Christians\u00a0the greatest\u00a0difficulty. Many, while holding that the other nine commandments\u00a0remain in place, believe that the fourth commandment has ceased to\u00a0have an obligatory role to play in the Christian life.<\/p>\n

Here, more than anywhere else, any suggestion that there might be a moral commandment related to the way we use Sunday as a Christian Sabbath is likely to be described as \u2018legalism\u2019.1<\/a><\/sup>In some ways this is the least helpful of criticisms because of the undifferentiated\u00a0use of the term \u2018legalism\u2019\u2014what is meant by it in this context? And why\u00a0would obedience to this commandment constitute \u2018legalism\u2019 whereas in the\u00a0case of the other nine it would be commendable? If keeping the Sabbath day\u00a0is \u2018legalism\u2019 this needs to be demonstrated theologically not simply announced\u00a0arbitrarily.<\/span><\/p>\n

The debate here is both sensitive and important. On the one hand if\u00a0we observe what God has not commanded us to do, we are at the very\u00a0least in Paul\u2019s category of \u2018the weaker brother\u2019.2<\/a><\/sup>See his extended discussion in Romans 14:1\u201315:7. Notice the paradox in\u00a0this context: those who would say they had a \u2018strong conscience\u2019 about observing\u00a0days and not eating meat are described by Paul as \u2018weaker\u2019 Christians. The\u00a0paradox is that such usually regard themselves as \u2018strong\u2019, not weak.<\/span> And on the other hand\u00a0if we insist that other Christians observe what God has not commanded,\u00a0we are in danger of a form of legalism.<\/p>\n

While we cannot in a brief article settle a dispute that has been\u00a0extended through centuries, it may be helpful to some readers to note\u00a0the following:<\/p>\n

The biblical considerations appealed to in favour of dismantling the\u00a0fourth commandment are several:<\/p>\n

1. The New Testament sees the Sabbath commandment as a type of\u00a0our rest in Christ. It is part of the law that has found its fulfilment in\u00a0him. This is indicated by Paul\u2019s teaching in Romans 14:5 and hinted at\u00a0in Colossians 2:16.<\/p>\n

2. While the other nine commandments appear to be quoted or\u00a0alluded to in one way or another in the New Testament, the fourth\u00a0commandment is conspicuous by its absence.<\/p>\n

3. While the other nine commandments are clearly of a moral nature,\u00a0the Sabbath commandment is a ceremonial ordinance given to the old\u00a0covenant people. Like all liturgical and ceremonial laws that were part\u00a0of the Mosaic ordinances it is no longer applicable to the new covenant\u00a0people.<\/p>\n

To these considerations the following responses may be made:<\/p>\n

1. What Paul refers to in Romans 14:5 and Colossians 2:16 is not the\u00a0weekly Sabbath as such but the application of the Sabbath principle\u2014\u00a0i.e. the additional \u2018Sabbaths\u2019 or holy days in the Levitical law. While\u00a0he regards these as no longer binding on Christians he does not regard\u00a0their observance by Jewish Christians (and perhaps by others influenced\u00a0by them) as a wholesale denial of the gospel\u2014although he does see it as\u00a0the sign of a \u2018weak brother\u2019 whose conscience has not been fully liberated\u00a0by all the implications of the gospel.3<\/a><\/sup>See, for example, the brief discussion in John Murray, The Epistle to the\u00a0Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, 1965), 2, 257-259.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. An argument can be made on the basis of the flow of 1 Timothy\u00a01:8-11 that Paul includes the fourth commandment in his general thinking\u00a0about the law of God:<\/p>\n

The law is laid down for the lawless and disobedient, for the
\nungodly and sinners, for:
\n\u2022 The unholy and profane
\n\u2022 Those who strike fathers and mothers (commandment 5)
\n\u2022 Murderers (commandment 6)
\n\u2022 Sexually immoral (commandment 7)
\n\u2022 Enslavers (commandment 8)
\n\u2022 Liars, perjurers (commandment 9)
\n\u2022 Whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here there is clear and ordered reference to commandments five to\u00a0nine. It is certainly arguable therefore that the reference to those who\u00a0are \u2018unholy\u2019 and \u2018profane\u2019 has in view the breach of the fourth commandment\u00a0since the Sabbath day was \u2018holy\u2019.4<\/a><\/sup>Cf. George W. Knight III, The Pastoral Epistles\u2014A Commentary on the\u00a0Greek Text (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 83-85, especially 84. Cf. Gen.\u00a02:3.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. The fulfilment of this commandment in Christ does not mean that\u00a0the law is now a dead letter. After all he fulfils not only the fourth commandment,\u00a0but all of the commandments.<\/p>\n

4. The fourth commandment summoned Israel to \u2018remember\u2019 the\u00a0Sabbath day. It is natural to understand this as a reference back to a\u00a0reality already in place (and rooted in Genesis 2:2-3) rather than referring\u00a0to something altogether new in Moses\u2019 day.<\/p>\n

5. The Exodus and the giving of the Law to govern new life in the\u00a0Promised Land suggest a return to Eden. New creation echoes and\u00a0restores original creation. In this latter context God made man as his\u00a0image and gave him a Garden-Temple to expand to the ends of the\u00a0earth.<\/p>\n

The Cosmic Gardener worked for six days and rested on the seventh\u00a0in order to provide a pattern for the Earth Gardener. So \u2018God \u2026 rested\u00a0on the seventh day \u2026 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,\u00a0because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.\u2019\u00a0This explains why the Exodus people knew of Sabbath days before\u00a0the law was given.5<\/a><\/sup>Exodus 16:22-26. It may be responded that there is no reference to the Sabbath\u00a0day between Adam and Moses. There is nothing particularly surprising\u00a0about this. The New Testament tells us that the early Christians met on the first\u00a0day of the week, but this fact is almost entirely absent from the greater part of\u00a0the New Testament. What happens regularly often goes without mention precisely\u00a0for that reason.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, Sabbath is not, first of all, a redemptive ordinance but a\u00a0creation ordinance that is shaped in Scripture to each major stage in\u00a0biblical history (Adam to Moses; Moses to Christ; Christ to the end\u00a0of history). As such it may now be \u2018de-Mosaicized\u2019 in certain respects,\u00a0but it continues\u00a0to be an integral part of God\u2019s pattern for his image, in\u00a0creation,\u00a0in typological redemption in the Mosaic ordinances, and in the\u00a0fulfilment of his promise to give rest in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

6. A further consideration here is rarely recognized. If there is no\u00a0Sabbath, is the seven-day week simply an accident of history? Is there\u00a0no divinely-planned rhythm to life? Often in this debate it is forgotten\u00a0that the fourth commandment regulates not merely one day in the week\u00a0but seven. It is actually a commandment about work as well as rest!<\/p>\n

Should Christians have not only acquiesced but positively encouraged\u00a0the proposal during the days of the French Revolution to move to a tenday\u00a0week? But if the concept of the week is an element in the structure\u00a0of creation, we are bound to recognize the significance of the day of\u00a0rest\u2014and then to understand that the resurrection of Christ changed\u00a0the day from the end of the week to the beginning and on this day the\u00a0Lord\u2019s people sought to meet together. Many of them were not at liberty\u00a0to choose which if any day in the week they might use for their own rest\u00a0and refreshment since they were slaves. This advises us both that we\u00a0should not under-read the significance of the Sabbath-Lord\u2019s Day, nor\u00a0perhaps should we over-read how it was used by the earliest Christians<\/p>\n

7. There is a further general consideration here that rarely seems to\u00a0enter the debate about the Decalogue, although it is important to it.\u00a0Twice in his \u2018word of exhortation\u2019 the author of Hebrews cites Jeremiah\u00a031:33:<\/p>\n

For this is the covenant that I will make with them
\nafter those days, declares the Lord:
\nI will put my laws on their hearts,
\nand write them on their minds.6<\/a><\/sup>Cited in Hebrews 8:10; 10:16.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the context of our discussion the question arises, \u2018which laws does\u00a0God put on the hearts of the people and write on their minds\u2019? Presumably\u00a0the author of Hebrews did not think this included the ceremonial\u00a0and civil aspects of the law, since he is teaching believers outside the\u00a0Promised Land that the ceremonies were all fulfilled in Christ.\u00a0Is this then merely a broad metaphor for the idea of obedience? To\u00a0his first readers and hearers the most natural way to interpret his words\u00a0was as a reference to the Decalogue. Was he therefore crossing his\u00a0fingers\u00a0behind his back hoping that they would all understand he meant\u00a0that only nine of the laws would be written on their hearts?<\/p>\n

Application<\/h3>\n

If the fourth commandment continues to be God\u2019s word for our blessing\u00a0and for the shape of the Christian life, how is this relevant to our\u00a0ongoing sanctification?\u00a0The Sabbath was not inaugurated at Mount Sinai but in the Garden\u00a0of Eden. The giving of the Ten Commandments contained a deliberate\u00a0echo of the pattern that God had given to Adam and Eve. He had\u00a0worked for six days in bringing creation into being. They were his\u00a0image\u2014and therefore he made provision for them to imitate him. So he\u00a0therefore \u2018blessed\u2019 the seventh day and set it apart from the other days\u00a0(Gen. 2:1-3). It was not only the seventh day, it was the rest day\u2014a day\u00a0free from work; a day to bless and call holy, just as God himself had\u00a0done\u2014a day to reflect on and enjoy the wonders of God and to worship\u00a0him for them.<\/p>\n

The significance of this should not be missed. The gift of the Sabbath\u00a0provided a wonderful way of regulating the whole of life. It provided an\u00a0inbuilt weekly time-and-motion study to help us to live well.7<\/a><\/sup>When Christians ask: \u2018Is it ok for me to do X on Sundays?\u2019 the first response\u00a0should normally be not \u2018yes\u2019 or \u2018no\u2019 but \u2018Why would you be doing it?\u2019 The\u00a0most common answer to that question is probably \u2018Because I don\u2019t have time\u00a0for it in the rest of the week.\u2019 This highlights the importance of understanding\u00a0the whole of the fourth commandment. The problem here is not how we spend\u00a0Sunday; it is how we are using Monday to Saturday. We are living the week the\u00a0wrong way round, as if there had been no resurrection! Use Sunday as a day of\u00a0rest, worship, fellowship first and we will almost inevitably begin to discipline\u00a0our use of time in the other six days of the week. Grasp this and the Sabbath\u00a0principle becomes one of the simplest and most helpful of all God\u2019s gifts. The\u00a0burden-free day at the beginning of the week both regulates the days that follow\u00a0and refreshes us for them.\u00a0The Old Testament (perhaps to our surprise) tells us very little about how\u00a0believers actually kept the Sabbath day. Its regulations were few and simple and\u00a0focused on the twin principles of resting from work and delighting in the Lord.\u00a0By either neglecting God\u2019s gift, or by going beyond Scripture in the way we\u00a0regulate it, we may forfeit both rest and delight.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the fourth commandment was given it was set within the\u00a0context of the Exodus. It had, as at creation, a weekly application. But\u00a0the seven-fold rhythm was extended further and applied to the whole\u00a0of life in the regulation of the Sabbath years and every fifty years in the\u00a0Sabbath-Sabbath Year of Jubilee. So there was a basic application of the\u00a0commandment each week, and an extended application of it every seven\u00a0years, and then in a major way every fifty years. Not only weeks but\u00a0years were governed by this principle of working and looking forward\u00a0to the time of rest.
\nBut when Moses received the commandment at Sinai it was also a\u00a0reminder that the people had been redeemed from their bondage in\u00a0Egypt. Now it was a reminder of both creation and redemption. Yet\u00a0something remained\u2014whether in Eden or at Sinai the time of rest lay\u00a0at the end of the week, and at the end of six years, and at the end of\u00a0forty-nine years.<\/p>\n

This was what the resurrection changed.<\/p>\n

Although no commandment is given to this effect, and indeed the\u00a0New Testament provides us with no extended explanation, it is a very\u00a0remarkable phenomenon that Christians seem to have begun almost\u00a0immediately to live life according to a different weekly rhythm. They\u00a0met on the first day of the week, not the last day;8<\/a><\/sup>The reference to \u2018the first day of the week\u2019 in 1 Corinthians 16:2 is not\u00a0because offerings should be calculated on Sundays per se but because this was\u00a0the day Christians gathered. The offering in view here was the special collection\u00a0Paul discusses in 2 Corinthians 8-9, not what churches today call \u2018the offering\u2019.<\/span> they called that\u00a0day \u2018The Lord\u2019s day\u2019. It was the day on which the Lord had risen,\u00a0and the day on which he had gathered with them. What creation had\u00a0looked forward to\u2014the new creation in Christ; what the Exodus had\u00a0pre-figured\u2014the exodus that Jesus would accomplish in Jerusalem\u00a0(Luke 9:31)\u2014had now been realized. Now the new creation had been\u00a0inaugurated\u2014and it had a different calendar from the old. The Lord\u00a0of the Sabbath had come; he had entered into his rest from his atoning\u00a0labours; now he fulfilled his promise to give rest to the weary and\u00a0heavy-laden who trusted in him.<\/p>\n

Old covenant believers lived by faith looking forward to the dawning\u00a0of the new age of restoration; new covenant believers live in the light of\u00a0its dawning (1 Cor. 10:11), and in the power of the Spirit. So there is\u00a0discontinuity; but there is also deep-seated continuity. We can put the\u00a0big picture in the following way:<\/p>\n

Creation covenant believers (Adam and Eve) had God\u2019s law clearly\u00a0written in their hearts. In addition they were given a further commandment\u00a0related not so much to God\u2019s character as to his activity in creation\u00a0which they were to image: six days of work followed by one day of rest.<\/p>\n

So they received God\u2019s law directly from God\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

Old (Sinaitic) covenant believers were sinners. Their understanding\u00a0and their instincts were now distorted. In order for them to know God\u2019s\u00a0will for his image-bearers they now needed to have his law given to\u00a0them in writing. Further, they needed it to be expressed in a way that\u00a0was appropriate for sinners (\u2018You shall not \u2026\u2019). In addition, since for\u00a0the time, until the coming of Christ, they were a single people group in a\u00a0specific land, it was shaped to their particular national experience. They\u00a0received the law in an appropriate way through Moses.<\/p>\n

This leads us to the third stage. In the new covenant in Christ, with\u00a0the promise of the Spirit at its centre, the law is now written in our\u00a0hearts again by the Holy Spirit. In this sense, while Adam received the\u00a0law from the hands of the Creator, and Israel received it from the hands\u00a0of Moses, we now receive it from the hands of Jesus. The rhythm of\u00a0our obedience is transformed. Unlike old covenant believers we are\u00a0not waiting for the day of fulfilment\u2014it has already come in Christ.\u00a0Our Sabbath day is therefore changed from the last day to the first day\u00a0(since we live the whole week in the light of the resurrection and in the\u00a0presence of the risen Christ who has given us rest).<\/p>\n

But if the day of fulfilment has come why would we need a Sabbath\u00a0day? Because the day of fulfilment is not yet the day of final consummation.\u00a0Yes, we have been raised with Christ, but he has not yet\u00a0returned. Yes, we have died to sin, but sin has not yet died in us. Yes,\u00a0we have been set free from bondage to the evil one, but we still live in\u00a0the world he influences, deceives, and blinds. The Christian life is therefore\u00a0marked by a new setting in time between the \u2018already\u2019 (Christ\u2019s\u00a0death, resurrection, and Pentecost) and the \u2018not yet\u2019 (his return and our\u00a0glorification with him). Using the first day of the week well, like using\u00a0the other six days well, involves discipline\u00a0and, yes, self-denial. That is\u00a0written into the gospel we believe.<\/p>\n

The Pharisees who entered into controversy with Jesus got all this\u00a0disastrously wrong not only in relation to the fourth commandment but\u00a0in relation to all of the commandments. Our Lord\u2019s teaching makes this\u00a0crystal clear. They were not, and are not, to be trusted. We do not receive\u00a0the law from the hands of the Pharisees but from the hands of the Lord\u00a0Jesus. Because we are not yet set free from the presence of sin we will still\u00a0find that our sinful wills can both twist and resist the commandments.\u00a0In our fallen nature we often fail to keep them fully even while overall\u00a0we find them our delight. It should no more surprise us that this is true\u00a0of the fourth commandment than it is, say, of the commandment not to\u00a0covet, or of Jesus\u2019 insistence that the seventh commandment has got to\u00a0do with our eyes and our inner thoughts and desires and not only with\u00a0outward actions.<\/p>\n

Perhaps a simple if personal illustration will help here. I was brought\u00a0up by devoted parents who\u2014although they did not attend church until\u00a0after I became a Christian in my early teens\u2014made sure I \u2018kept the\u00a0Sabbath day\u2019. No work was done in the house; the idea that I would be\u00a0allowed to go out to play was as remote as my flying to school! And so\u00a0the Sabbath day was a day of prolonged misery; a real burden; a day of\u00a0\u2018not doing\u2019; not a day to which I looked forward.<\/p>\n

I can still sense the transformation that took place in my experience\u00a0of Sunday when I became a Christian. It was now no more of a\u00a0burden than a bird\u2019s wings. Rather than crush me it seemed to sustain\u00a0me. Boredom was gone. It became the best day of the week. And yet it\u00a0was still Sunday; it was still the first day of the week. But the sense of\u00a0duty in going to the church services which I had attended and the Bible\u00a0reading which I had been doing for several years, believing that doing\u00a0these things might make me a Christian\u2014these seemed overnight to be\u00a0transformed into a delight.<\/p>\n

What was the explanation? Simple: we need to come to Christ to find\u00a0true Sabbath rest. For then God writes his law into our hearts by the\u00a0Holy Spirit. Then at last we receive the law from the hands of the one\u00a0who came to bring us forgiveness and power, and no longer from the\u00a0hands of the Pharisees. Then we can \u2018call the Sabbath a delight\u2019 (Isaiah\u00a058:13).<\/p>\n

\n

Buy the Book:<\/h3>\n