The Lord’s Day

Article 21: The Lord’s Day

21-1 The first day of the week has been recognized by the Church as the Lord’s Day since apostolic times.1 We believe, therefore, that it ought to be observed by all believers, voluntarily and in love2, as a day set apart as holy to the Lord for the corporate worship of God3, remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, and fellowship and mutual encouragement of the saints.4

I want us to use this time to consider the implications of the word voluntary in the article. How does the word voluntary impact the meaning of the article?

So the question we will consider tonight is: Are Christians required to obey the sabbath command? Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.

After the Heavens & the Earth Were Finished

Gen 2:1-3.

Genesis 2:1–3 ESV

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 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.

If someone were to use this text to teach that Christians are required to obey the sabbath command, what would be the main point?

As a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, the rest that God displays in Gen. 2 is disrupted. When we get to Gen. 3 however, God demonstrates His intention to restore fellowship and rest.

Genesis 3:15 ESV

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

God’s Rest

God supplies rest after completing creation.

Man disrupts the rest God supplied through disobedience

God demonstrates His intention to restore His rest through His promise of the seed of the woman.

The strongest argument for the obligation to obey the sabbath command is the appeal to the creation narrative. It’s a creation ordinance, is the argument.

A Creation Mandate?

No command

Nowhere in the creation account is anyone commanded to keep the sabbath.

Some suggest that the 4th commandment unpacks the creation mandate for Adam, but again nowhere do we see Adam or any of the other patriarchs for that matter, observing the sabbath.

It seems best to understand the command to rest on the Sabbath was one given to Israel under the Mosaic covenant.

Exodus 20:8–11 ESV

“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.

The command that was issued

The command centers on the prohibition to work.

Some proponents of the sabbath being a creation ordinance suggest that what observing the sabbath looks like today is worshipping God on Sunday. Working on the Sabbath is fine though.

The command does not clearly link to worshipping God on a specific day.

Consider Deut 5:15.

Deuteronomy 5:15 ESV

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

The slightly broader context (Deut. 5:12-15) recapitulates the injunction from the Decalogue to keep the sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11) but adds something not in Exodus.

The observance of the Sabbath is linked to liberation from Egypt, functioning as a sign that the Lord has freed Israel from their slavery to the Egyptians. This was specific to Israel and was not connected to creation.

The sabbath points back to the rest that was lost in creation and forward to the rest that believers will enjoy in Jesus Christ. This does not mean however, that believers should obey the sabbath that Israel was commanded to observe.

Penalty before the Sinai Covenant

Ex. 16:23-30.

Exodus 16:23–30 ESV

he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘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 they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.

Rebuke before the covenant was ratified

Penalty after Sinai Covenant

Num 15:32-36.

Numbers 15:32–36 ESV

While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. And the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Death after the covenant was ratified.

What does the evolution of the sabbath command make clear?

The regulation in Ex. 16 was not in play at the time of the patriarchs. It was new for the people of Israel, since it related to their redemption from Egypt.

This is another piece of evidence that the sabbath command was not given in creation and was therefore not intended to last forever.

What about Ex 20:11?

Some say rather compellingly: God’s rest on the seventh day functions as a pattern for Israel, and since that rest reaches back to creation, Sabbatarians claim we have a transcendent word.

In addition, we observe NT writers appeal to creation to demonstrate that their claim applies today. (Jesus argues from creation that marriage is between one man and one woman till death do them part - Matt 19:3-12, Paul argues against same-sex unions by appealing to creation - Rom. 1:26-27, and he argues that women are not to be pastors (nor teach men) in 1 Tim. 2:12-13 by appealing to creation).

Bottom line, commands rooted in creation apply today… and many say that’s the format of the argument for obeying the sabbath in Ex. 20.

Four reasons to not apply this line of argumentation to the sabbath:

Four reasons Exodus 20:11 is not a reference to a creation mandate

as already mentioned,

The patriarchs were not commanded to obey this command.

Not everything in the creation account is not mandatory for believers.

(cultivating the land and work as farmers like Adam had to).

The sabbath command is unique to the other commands grounded in creation. The commands regarding marriage, homosexuality and women in the church appeals to creation from the NT, while

The Sabbath command in Ex. 20 appears only in the OT.

The appeal to creation in the case of the Sabbath could indicate that the command still applies today, but it is not as clear as the other commands found in the NT. What we do have in the NT however is substantial evidence that the Sabbath command no longer applies (we’ll get there soon)

The Exodus command’s appeal to creation functions as an analogy.

The writer sees an analogy between God’s resting on the seventh day and Israel’s rest on the Sabbath, and this fits with what I believe we will see the NT teaches about the Sabbath.

Jesus’ Sabbath Controversies

See Mark 2:23-28; Matt 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-5.

Mark 2:23–28 ESV

One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Matthew 12:1–8 (ESV)

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Luke 6:1–5 ESV

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

After the disciples plucked some heads of grain the Pharisees complained to Jesus that they broke the law.

Jesus appeals to David’s taking of the showbread after fleeing from Saul even though the bread was reserved for the priests. (1 Sam. 21:1-6)

The point here is not to demonstrate that it was lawful for Jesus and His disciples to take this wheat on the Sabbath, but to show that

Jesus is the new and final David. Jesus is the King promised according to the covenant with David, and therefore He and His disciples had the right to eat on the Sabbath.

From Matthew’s account, it appears that

The sabbath regulations are subordinate to the temple requirements, but Jesus is greater than the temple. And if the temple requirements are subservient to Jesus, then the sabbath regulations are subservient to Jesus. And if the sabbath regulations are subservient to Jesus, then it is reasonable to conclude that the Sabbath itself stands under the authority of Jesus.

The bottom line here is that this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees suggest (hints at) the possibility that

The Sabbath must be reinterpreted now that Jesus has come.

Matt 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11.

Matthew 12:9–14 ESV

He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

Mark 3:1–6 ESV

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Luke 6:6–11 ESV

On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

One point we can take away from these accounts is that it is fitting to do good on the Sabbath.

But even more significant is that

Jesus exercised His sovereignty over the Sabbath by choosing it as the day He healed others.

He probably healed people on other days, but we are given these accounts to teach us something, and I suggest it is to make clear that

healing on the Sabbath points us back to creation where the Lord’s rest was established in creation, interrupted by man’s disobedience and reestablished through the promise of the seed of the woman.

Jesus’ healing on the sabbath anticipates a world where there is no disease and death.

The sabbath must be interpreted in light of the coming of Christ. If this is true, then this is another indication that the status of the Sabbath was changing.