16:2) we conclude that this must have been the Lord’s Day, the day the Christians treated as what the Westminster Confession calls the “Christian Sabbath” (not the same as but continuous with the Jewish Sabbath).
When we put his with the New Testament references to the distinction of the first day of the week as a day for Christian gathering and worship (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. Third, the Apostle John tells us that he “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” For him to say such must mean that there was a day known among first century Christians as the Lord’s in a way different from every day being the Lord’s. For us the fourth command like the other nine reveals God’s will for man as man, convicts us of sin and drives us to Christ for forgiveness and righteousness, and then for the Christian becomes a guide to the showing of gratitude. It is interesting that many Christians get quite exercised in favor of the public display of the Commandments and against attempts to remove them, but are themselves unable to recite the short form of them, and, when it comes to the fourth, their keeping seems to be based on a misreading of the text: “Forget the Sabbath day and about keeping it holy.” The historic Reformed (and I believe correct) way of understanding the Law is that the Ten Commandments are a summary, taking into account the fact of sin, of the Law which Adam knew intuitively and kept instinctively and which remains written on the heart (though obscured) of Everyman. It seems to me impossible to separate it out from the other Ten as though it were to abolished or subject to radically different rules of interpretation than the other nine. Second, the Sabbath is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. We might say of these ordinances, “Ignore at your own risk!” In Genesis 2 we find three “creation ordinances” (also marriage and labor) which seem to be part of the “fabric of the universe” which apply to all creation and to all people of all times. “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” (Genesis 2 1-3). But it seems to me that this argument just does not work for three reasons: First, the Sabbath command predates sin, Israel, and the giving of the Law at Sinai. Some offer us a “theological way” out of worrying about the Sabbath by arguing that the Sabbath was a part of the Old Testament ceremonial laws which have served their purpose and now after and in Christ are fulfilled and of no continuing obligation for God’s people. There was a time when I thought that this day was like what teenagers of my day called “restriction.” When your parents put you on restriction you couldn’t go anywhere but church and often the rest of the time you were confined to your room deprived of TV, stereo (isn’t that a dated term?) and anything else you might be liable to enjoy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work…” What do you do with the day the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) calls us to keep holy? It would seem that many Christians would prefer not to think about it, and if they do, they find it such thought vexing and perhaps painful. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
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