Catechism Question 59
What is the fourth commandment, and what does it teach us?
The fourth commandment is “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” It teaches us that we must not work constantly, but that we must set aside a weekly time for rest and worship of our Creator and Redeemer.
Focus and Purpose of this Question
This question focuses on the fourth commandment. In this commandment we are learning that there is to be a time for rest and worship each week. Just as God worked six days and then rested one, so His people are to work six days and then set aside a day for rest and worship.
There are several reasons we are called to do this. First, because we were created by God. This weekly day of rest and worship reminds us that we are created and not self-sufficient like God. We need rest, and the Sabbath provides this for us. This reason is given in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.
Second, we celebrate the Sabbath because we have been redeemed by God. This time of weekly rest and worship gives us the opportunity to remember the salvation we have been given in Christ, and to worship God and give Him thanks for saving us. This reason is not given in Exodus 20, but it is given in Deuteronomy 5:15.
Third, we celebrate the Sabbath because it is a foretaste of our eternal Sabbath rest. Every time we set aside this weekly day of rest and worship it reminds us of the great rest that awaits us in heaven, and thus encourages us to serve God now. This reason is given in Hebrews 4.
It is not often mentioned, but we should note that this commandment not only tells us when not to work, but it also commands us that we are to work. We are to set aside the one day, but we are to work the other six. God expects His people to be productive and to give themselves to serving others through the labors of their hands.
Thus, the fourth command really deals with the time of true worship. Although there is a sense in which all of life is worship, God calls us to set aside a day for rest and worship specifically. And this is so important it is not to be done once in a while but is to be a regular, weekly occurrence.
It should be noted that some groups point out that in the Ten Commandments the seventh day is specified as the day of rest and worship. This was true in the old covenant. However, in the New Covenant it is no longer true. This is true because we are no longer bound by specific days (Colossians 2:16-17), but even more, because our new creation and our redemption occurred on the first day of the week when Christ was raised. This is why the early church shifted their day of rest and worship to Sunday which was often called the Lord’s Day in honor of the resurrection (see Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; and also Didache 14:1 and other early church writings.) Furthermore, this fits with the new covenant where we receive our rest in Christ, and then we work from that rest to show our gratitude to God. For all of these reasons Christians are no longer required to worship on Saturday, and most have gathered on Sunday instead.)
Additional Questions:
What is the fourth commandment? What does it teach us?
What is the fourth commandment? What does it forbid us from doing? What does it teach us to do?
Scripture References:
Exodus 20:8–11
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Deuteronomy 5:12–15
Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
Genesis 2:2–3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Leviticus 19:3
Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 23:3
There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord.
Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.
1 Corinthians 16:2
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
Mark 2:27–28
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Isaiah 58:13–14
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Hebrews 4:8–11
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
Questions for Further Discussion:
What does the fourth commandment teach us? What does it forbid? What does it command us to do?
Why is it important for Christians to set aside a regular day for rest and worship? What does this practice teach us?
What are three reasons that we need to practice a regular day of rest and worship?
Why don’t Christians observe a Sabbath on the seventh day? Isn’t this commanded in the Ten Commandments? What reasons can be given for gathering for worship and rest on Sunday instead of Saturday?
What does this command positively teach us about work? Does it matter if Christians are good workers at their jobs?
According to Mark 2:27-28, who needs us to have a Sabbath of rest and worship? Who suffers if we fail to do this – God or us?
Additional Information:
This question is based on questions 103 of the Heidelberg Catechism, questions 57-62 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and question 10 of the New City Catechism. Any resources you find on the Heidelberg, Westminster Shorter, or New City Catechisms will have a good discussion on this question.
For additional information, see the teachings “The Covenant of Creation – Part 3” (January 26, 2020), “The Lord of the Sabbath” (March 31, 2019), “Jubilee” (June 5, 2018), and “The Resurrection Changes Everything!” (April 19, 2020).
Suggested Worship Song:
O Day of Rest and Gladness (Christopher Wadsworth)
Available at http://hymnbook.igracemusic.com/hymns/o-day-of-rest-and-gladness
O day of rest and gladness,
O day of joy and light,
O balm of care and sadness,
Most beautiful, most bright:
On Thee, the high and lowly,
Through ages joined in tune,
Sing holy, holy, holy,
To the great God Triune.
On Thee, at the creation,
The light first had its birth;
On Thee, for our salvation,
Christ rose from depths of earth;
On Thee, our Lord, victorious,
The Spirit sent from heavn,
And thus on Thee, most glorious,
A triple light was givn.
Thou art a port protected
From storms that round us rise;
A garden intersected
With streams of paradise;
Thou art a cooling fountain
In lifes dry dreary sand;
From Thee, like Pisgahs mountain,
We view our promised land.
Today on weary nations
The heavnly manna falls;
To holy convocations
The silver trumpet calls,
Where gospel light is glowing
With pure and radiant beams,
And living water flowing,
With soul-refreshing streams.
New graces ever gaining
From this, our day of rest,
We reach the rest remaining
To spirits of the blessed.
To Holy Ghost be praises,
To Father, and to Son;
The church her voice upraises
To Thee, blessed Three in One.