Applying Exodus 20:8

*Scroll to the end of this article to see Figure 1, which gives a visual representation of the Tertullian-Calvin-Jesus framework - a helpful guide for your Lord’s Day life.

Applying Exodus 20:8

The fourth commandment can be difficult to apply. Perhaps it is because we desire a clean list of do's-and-don'ts to keep, and without one, we struggle to forge our own record of rules to ensure we are found obedient. Maybe the fourth commandment is hard to apply because we fret being thought of as legalistic for our unwillingness to attend a professional sporting event on the Lord's Day. It is also possible that children of God just simply have not considered their way of life regarding the command "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). In this article, we will visit a second-century rebuttal from Tertullian, insightful instruction from Calvin, and helpful examples from our Savior Jesus, all to assist in guiding our thinking about how we ought to conduct ourselves on the Christian Sabbath, known as the Lord’s Day.

Creation and Redemption

The Hebrew word sabbath means “to cease.” Therefore, ceasing from work to worship is largely what is in view in the fourth commandment. This commandment is explained twice in the Pentateuch, once in Exodus and once in Deuteronomy. Compare the following verses and see if you notice any differences:

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 day 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.

Exodus 20:8-11 

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 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.

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Among the differences above, the most significant is the basis for observing the Sabbath day. In Exodus, Moses grounds the Sabbath day in God's work at Creation. In Deuteronomy, Moses bases the Sabbath day on God’s work in Redemption. The combination of Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15 displays the fulness of the purpose for keeping the Sabbath: That we may look back at God’s work at Creation and look ahead to the reality of our Redemption, both provoking worship in the believer. 

In this way, we can view the Sabbath as a day of rest that produces worship (2LBC 22.8, Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day). The Westminster Larger Catechism contributes to such thinking by stating that keeping the fourth commandment helps us “better to keep the rest of the commandments” (Q 121). Therefore, one way the believer keeps the Sabbath day holy is by resting to remember God’s work back at Creation and anticipating the consummation of his work in Redemption.

General to Specific

The following paragraphs will go from general to specific. Tertullian will provide general categories for our thinking about the Christian Sabbath, Calvin will offer more specific areas within one of Tertullian’s categories, and Jesus will provide specific examples of how to live out the teachings espoused by Tertullian and Calvin (scroll to the end of this article to see Figure 1, which gives a visual representation of the Tertullian-Calvin-Jesus framework).

Tertullian

In Tertullian’s The Five Books Against Marcion, the African theologian from Carthage wrote to his opponent regarding the Sabbath day. Here, he provides two broad, general categories for thinking through how one will apply the fourth commandment: Divine Works and Human Works. He writes:

Similarly on other points also, you reproach Him with fickleness and instability for contradictions in His commandments, such as that He forbade work to be done on Sabbath-days, and yet at the siege of Jericho ordered the ark to be carried round the walls during eight days; in other words, of course, actually on a Sabbath. You do not, however, consider the law of the Sabbath: they are human works, not divine, which it prohibits. For it says, “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.” What work? Of course your own. The conclusion is, that from the Sabbath day He removes those works which He had before enjoined for the six days, that is, your own works; in other words, human works of daily life. Now, the carrying of the ark is evidently not an ordinary daily duty, nor yet a human one; but a rare and sacred work, and, as being then ordered by the direct precept of God, a divine one.[1]

Tertullian's distinguishment between Divine Works and Human Works provides the modern reader with two broad categories to think through when applying the fourth commandment. Perhaps, we may employ these categories in our Lord's Day lives by asking, "Is this activity a Divine Work or a Human Work?"

Calvin

In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin writes a rather well-rounded commentary on the abrogation of the Jewish Sabbath, its replacement with the Lord's Day, and how to apply the principles of the fourth commandment in a post-resurrection context (see Institutes 2.8.28-32). Pastor Kevin DeYoung distills Calvin’s articles well, as follows:

Calvin goes onto insist on the importance of observing the Lord’s Day, maintaining that it was instituted as a substitute for the Sabbath and carries forward on the same principles. In particular, we still find the Lord’s Day is (1) a day to gather to worship, and (2) a day to rest from our labors. And, most importantly, the fourth commandment instructs us (3) to find our spiritual rest in Christ every day of the week.[2]

In Pastor DeYoung’s distillation, we receive three new subcategories to go along with Tertullian’s Divine Works category. What helps us identify a work as Divine or Human? We may rely on Calvin and say that under the heading of Divine Works, we include gathering to worship, resting from our physical labors, and finding spiritual rest in Christ. For specific examples of these three categories, let’s turn to the Creator of the Sabbath.

Jesus

First, let me acknowledge that the life and works of Jesus came before Tertullian and Calvin. However, like a modern-day preacher provides the examples of Jesus to illustrate the application of his sermon’s focal point, it is our Lord and Savior in the Gospel of Luke who best displays how to apply the main thrust of Tertullian and Calvin’s teachings regarding the Christian Sabbath.

Luke 6:1-5

As you are about to see, one of the recurring themes of controversy between Jesus and the Pharisees in Luke’s Gospel is the right use of the Sabbath. On one Sabbath day, Jesus’ disciples “plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands” (v. 1). In response, the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” (cf. Exodus 34:21). Jesus responds to them, saying, “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 priest to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” (see 1 Samuel 21:1-9). Not only does Jesus defend the priority of human necessity on the Sabbath but his reference to David contributes to the revelation that He is the antitype who will sit on the throne of David forever (2 Samuel 7:8-17). Surely, the Pharisees will not indict their beloved King David for eating the showbread? Then, how could they indict the disciples for eating on the last day of the week on this occasion?

But our Lord, does not stop there. He goes on to say, "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (v. 5). “The Pharisees surely did not miss this point. Only God could make such a claim. Jesus, the Son of Man, identified himself as Son of God with divine authority . . . Such authority forces people to choose: follow pharisaic interpretations of the law or follow the Lord of the Sabbath.”[3] And so, when it comes to observing the Lord’s Day, we choose, like Jesus, to prioritize human necessity over ritual.

Luke 13:10-17

Seven chapters later, the Lord of the Sabbath is teaching in the synagogue when he engages a suffering woman. Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, records it like this:

And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her    over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.” 

Instead of rejoicing at the miraculous act of mercy, the leader of the synagogue chides Jesus and the woman, saying, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day” (v. 14). Thankfully, Jesus exposes the leader, defending the woman like he defended the disciples for eating grain. He responds to the leader, stating, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath day untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” With the reference to Satan binding this Jewish woman, Jesus reveals his power over evil and spiritual bondage. His willingness to free her from this bondage, which was characterized by physical disability, displays that the Sabbath day is for spiritual healing, rest, and rejuvenation.

Luke 14:1-6

In the third round of Jesus vs. Pharisees, more Sabbath day lessons become available. In Luke 14:1-6, Luke writes:

One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.

Here in Luke 14, Jesus develops and displays the priority of human necessity and acts of mercy like the two previous examples from Luke. For further application purposes, we note that "he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees" (v. 1). Perhaps, we can think of this episode as similar to "the breaking of bread" in Acts 2:42. Such an example of our Savior shows us the priority of fellowship on the Sabbath, particularly around a meal. Therefore, it is permissible to dine with others on the Lord’s Day. Additionally, the phrase “he went” means that it is okay to traverse to such an occasion of fellowship. And while this scene is helpful for our application of Exodus 20:8, it also develops our Christology.

Notice that in Luke 13, Jesus waits to respond until the leader of the synagogue speaks out loud against Christ’s miraculous act of healing (Luke 13:14). However, in Luke 14:3, Jesus displays his deity by exposing the Pharisees’ unspoken thoughts. When Luke pens, “Jesus responded,” our Savior is responding to the thoughts of the Pharisees and not their words. We know this because there is no record of a Pharisee speaking and the text says in verse 4, “But they remained silent” (emphasis added). How amazing is it that the Lord of the Sabbath knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Jeremiah 17:10)?

And finally, one last comparison between Luke 13 with Luke 14. In Luke 13:15, Jesus says, “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?” But in Luke 14:5, he says to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” The difference here is that in Luke 13, Jesus refers to the ox and donkey when explaining the priority of healing the woman with the disabling spirit. He shows that this woman is of greater value to him than the ox or donkey who receives sustenance on the Sabbath. But in Luke 14:5, he compares the man with dropsy not just to the ox but to the sons of the Pharisees. Therefore, we conclude that Jesus views this man as nothing less than a son. Praise God for his Fatherly love and concern for us, his beloved children!

Conclusion

When contemplating how to keep the Sabbath holy, use the Tertullian-Calvin-Jesus map as a guide. Tertullian asks: Is the work divine or human? Calvin says that a divine work is: 1) Gathering for corporate worship, 2) Physically resting, and 3) Spiritually resting in Christ. Jesus shows us several examples of Calvin's categories by teaching in the synagogue, prioritizing human necessity over religious ritual, mercifully acting toward those in physical and spiritual need, and dining in fellowship with other Jews. May your observance of the fourth commandment help you better keep the other nine and thus glorify your Creator, who rested one in seven (WLC Q121).

[1] Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4, Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian I. Apologetic II. Anti-Marcion; III. Ethical (1885; repr., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 313-314.

[2] Kevin DeYoung, The 10 Commandments: What They Mean, Why They Matter, and Why We Should Obey Them (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 72.

[3] Trent C. Butler, Luke: Holman New Testament Commentary . . . Max Anders, ed (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2000), 90.