This is my growing set of personal notes on the subject of the Sabbath. Sabbath in the Bible The Sabbath in church history Theological issues Appendices Of all the Ten Commandments, the fourth is the most visibly rejected in modern society. By way of justification, they say that the fourth commandment is “Old Testament, not New Testament”—an argument rarely given to justify violations of the other nine In the Reformed community, one would expect a greater respect for the fourth commandment, because of the distinctly positive attitude toward the law in Reformed theology (chapters 12, 13). Indeed, there are in the Reformed community proportionately more serious Sabbath keepers than in other Christian traditions, and there are affirmations of Sabbath keeping in the Reformed confessions. John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 515 "I have observed that when candidates for ministry in the Presbyterian Church in America are asked to state their exceptions to the Westminster standards, the most common exception by far is to the prohibition of recreation on the Sabbath in WCF, 21.8, and WLC, 119. In fact, it has seemed of late that nearly every candidate has taken such an exception. So this view appears to be gaining strength in confessional Presbyterianism, almost to the extent that the Westminster standards’ prohibition of recreation has become a dead letter." - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 524 Samuele Bacchiocchi: Sunday observance, he suggests, arose in Rome during the reign of Hadrian (A.D. 117–135) when Roman repression of the Jews prompted the church to adopt policies of deliberate differentiation. Sunday was chosen, as opposed to some other day, because Christians could easily adopt the symbolism of the powerful pagan Sun cults and Christianize them. (15) We think, however, that although Sunday worship arose in New Testament times, it was not perceived as a Christian Sabbath. (16) D. A. Carson, ed, From Sabbath to Lord's Day, 16 Let not th’ observer, therefore, entertain Joseph Hart, quoted in D. A. Carson, ed, From Sabbath to Lord's Day, 18 That is, is recreation an aspect of Sabbath rest or a form of work appropriate only on the other six days? The Larger Catechism favors the latter view, forbidding “all needless works, words, and thoughts, about our worldly employments and recreations” (WLC, 119).
But we have seen that the prohibitions of Scripture are directed to work, not recreation as such. Some have thought that Isaiah 58:13–14 includes a prohibition of recreation:
If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
then you shall take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Note that the word “pleasure” occurs twice in verse 13. If we equate “pleasure” with “recreation,” the passage would seem to exclude recreation. But that is not what the passage means. “Pleasure” here comes from the Hebrew hefets, which often refers simply to the will of a human being or God (as in Isa. 44:28; 46:10; 48:14; 53:10). The contrast in Isaiah 58:13–14 is not between doing pleasant things and unpleasant things, but between doing our will and God’s. Indeed, the passage itself emphasizes that the Sabbath is to be a pleasant experience, a “delight.” - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 544-545 there is no reason to think that God through Isaiah is telling the people to forsake Sabbath recreation. To determine what God specifically forbids and permits, we must go to other passages, as we did in the previous section. But as we have seen, the focus of these other passages is to forbid work: daily business and heavy lifting. These passages do not forbid pleasurable activities as a distinct category. So we may conclude that Scripture permits Sabbath recreation, since there is no reason to think that recreation is a form of work appropriate only to the other six days. This is a negative argument. (545) Nehemiah 8:9–10, where the Levites are teaching the law to Israel, newly regathered from exile. It is a “holy” day (v. 9), like a Sabbath. There is a solemnity about it, as God convicts the people of sin. But the Levites urge the people to make a feast of it, to enjoy good food and drink and not to mourn. (545-546) the rejoicing in the New Testament over sinners being found (Luke 15), (546) by its very nature the Sabbath is a feast, not a fast. It is a time of abundance, not deprivation. It should be a delight, a time of play and joy. There is of course a difference between feasting before the Lord and mere secular entertainment. (546) This doesn’t mean that all forms of recreation are appropriate for the Sabbath day. Some kinds of recreation require other people to carry on their daily labors, such as commercial sports and entertainments. To attend these, we must engage in buying and selling, which God forbade to Israel on the Sabbath.
Some forms of recreation promote values opposed to God’s Word, such as certain kinds of music recordings and videos. (546-547) We should plan the Sabbath day as a total experience for ourselves and our families, including worship, recreation, and deeds of necessity and mercy (547) Nor, I think, is it always wrong to go to a restaurant to eat on the Sabbath. I would be pleased if fewer restaurants were open on Sunday, but some should be open, since food is as much of a necessity as medical care. For my own family, I prefer that restaurant meals on the Sabbath be rare, for I prefer to discourage the massive Sunday commercialism of our time. - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 549 Meredith G. Kline finds in Genesis 3:14–9:17 the establishment of a “sphere” or “order” of common grace, which he describes as follows: This sphere is common not only in the sense that its benefits are shared by the generality of mankind, the just and unjust alike, but in the sense that it is nonsacred. Kline: "The withholding of the Sabbath sign from common grace culture is a clear indication of the secular, nonholy character of that culture." (534) Frame: I do not see biblical evidence of an “order” or “sphere” of common grace. (535) Now it is a fair question, and germane, to ask why God does not reiterate the Sabbath command in the Noachic covenant of Genesis 9. The flood is like a de-creation and re-creation. So, as after the original creation, God gives the cultural mandate to the new creation after the flood. He tells Noah and his family, as he told Adam and Eve, to “be fruitful and multiply” (vv. 1, 7) and to take dominion of other life (vv. 2–6). Why, then, does he not renew the Sabbath commandment as well? (536-537) So I believe that the Sabbath ordinance of Genesis 2:2–3 was in force from Adam to Moses and then was renewed in the Decalogue. I cannot establish the extent to which people actually observed the Sabbath during this period. There are no clear references to Sabbath observance until Exodus 16, four chapters before the Decalogue, where God tells Israel to gather a double portion of manna on the sixth day and the following day to observe “a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord” (v. 23). Clearly, Exodus 16:23 assumes that Israel knew what a Sabbath was (538) Kline: "Characteristically, members of that [Dooyeweerdian] school have been critical of schematizations that distinguish between the city of man and the city of God. In particular they would frown on the suggestion that the city of man is common, in the sense of nonholy. They believe they can detect a scholastic nature-grace dualism lurking in any such approach. But to dismiss every two-cities scheme on the grounds of such a suspicion is too hasty and undiscriminating.… The Scriptures compel us to distinguish between the kingdom of God as realm and reign and to recognize that though everything is embraced under the reign of God, not everything can be identified as part of the kingdom of God viewed as a holy realm." (539) John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 534ff Dressler gives arguments against Gen 2 as commanding a Sabbath - D. A. Carson, ed, From Sabbath to Lord's Day, 28- As a celebration of the finishing of the world-temple, the Sabbath proclaims the name of the Creator to be Consummator. To be the builder who arrives at the seventh day of completion, to be the Sabbath attaining Creator, is to bear the name “the Last” along with the name “the First.” (Kline, quoted on 528) So Frame sums up: The Sabbath introduces eschatology into Scripture for the first time. “God created the heaven and the earth to be his cosmic palace and accordingly his resting is an occupying of his palace, a royal session. The dawning of the Sabbath witnesses a new enthronement of Elohim.” (Kline quoted on 529) "the Sabbath celebrates both God’s lordship over creation (Gen. 2:2; Ex. 20:11) and his specific lordship over Israel, his redeemed people (Deut. 5:15)." (530) Our Sabbath rest is implied in Genesis 1 because we are called to imitate God. (531) Since God doesn't need rest, Genesis 1 implies that this is for humanity. (532) "Surely a Jewish reader of Genesis during the wilderness period would see Genesis 2:2–3 as the beginning of Sabbath observance, the background of the fourth commandment." (532) "But the clinching argument is the language of the fourth commandment itself. There the Lord says that Israel should keep the Sabbath because of the event of Genesis 2:2–3" (532) "It is one of those institutions like marriage, labor, and the cultural mandate given to Adam and Eve before the fall and therefore to all mankind." (533) "Certainly in the postfall period it symbolizes the completion of God’s redemptive purposes. But what it symbolizes as a redemptive ordinance does not come to pass until the final judgment. So there is little likelihood that Sabbath observance will ever be abrogated between creation and consummation. Indeed, on this understanding it is likely that Sabbath observance will still be a norm for human beings even in the eternal state following the last judgment" (533) - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 528- D. A. Carson, ed, From Sabbath to Lord's Day, ch 2 The OT texts on the Sabbath, according to Dressler: the Sabbath was introduced to remind the people of Israel of a divine timetable. This timetable, the seven-day week, is to be followed on earth. This is followed by a social concern, workers need a period of regular rest, which is provided for everybody—animals, servants, and aliens. But the Sabbath is more than an imitation of a divine pattern or an expression of social concern; it is a sign, a “perpetual covenant” between God and His people. This sign tells of God’s grace (sanctifying His people), God’s holiness (for the people and Yahweh), and God’s authority (a covenant that must be obeyed). (26) A holy day is profaned when it is considered like any other day, lacking any special significance. (27) As Israel developed into a commercial nation, an additional prohibition would forbid carrying wares and goods into the community to sell (Jer. 17:21–22; cf. Neh. 13:15–22). (27) D. A. Carson, ed, From Sabbath to Lord's Day, 24-27
"The motive of Sabbath keeping in the Exodus passage is creation; in Deuteronomy, redemption." "The Deuteronomic formulation affirms the earlier Exodus language by the phrase “as the LORD your God commanded you.”" John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 514 Carson et al Calvin and the Heidelberg Catechism Synod of Dort Nevertheless, as we move historically from Calvin to Dort, this tradition tends to bring in through the back door what it has expelled through the front." (520)
*"I have observed that, as a rule, members of Reformed churches of Continental background, who subscribe to the Heidelberg Catechism and the Decrees of Dort, tend to be more Sabbatarian in practice than members of Presbyterian churches who subscribe to the Westminster standards, even though the latter documents are themselves far more restrictive." (520) Kline later view Frame and Kline earlier view Westminster - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 515-527, 540. I agree that works of mercy are appropriate on the Sabbath day, but I do not regard these as exceptions to the biblical meaning of the Sabbath. Rather, deeds of mercy are central to that meaning. We can see that easily if we recognize that the fourth commandment tells us, not only to rest ourselves, but to give rest to others: “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” (Ex. 20:10; cf. 23:12). Deuteronomy 5:14 gives particular emphasis to this point: “that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.” (551) The connection is that since God delivered Israel from the toil of slavery, they should also relieve the toil of others. So by its very nature, the Sabbath is a time for giving mercy.
Mercy is also prominent in the system of sabbatical years. (551 QV) So it is not accidental that the great plea for justice and mercy for the oppressed in Isaiah 58:1–12 immediately precedes the plea for Sabbath observance in verses 13–14. The Sabbath is a time “to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke … to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh” (vv. 6–7). - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 551 An example of a work of necessity is given in Matthew 12:1, where Jesus’ disciples, on a Sabbath, pick heads of grain to eat. Other examples of works of necessity include the priests making arrangements for worship (Matt. 12:5–6). It was generally understood also that warfare could take place on the Sabbath. In Joshua 6:12–20, Israel blew trumpets for seven days as they surrounded Jericho. In 2 Kings 11 and 2 Chronicles 22:10–23:15 we read of the plot of Jehoiada against the wicked queen Athaliah to install the rightful king Joash, which took place on a Sabbath.
Another biblical example of a work of necessity is the rescue of a person or animal (Luke 14:5). (548) - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 548
Is it ever legitimate for a Christian Sabbatarian to take a job that requires Sunday work? As we have seen, a number of businesses carry on activities that are unquestionably appropriate for the Sabbath: police and fire departments, physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel. (550) I would say that supporting one’s family is also a work of necessity. One should certainly not decide hastily to take such a job, and if one has such a job he should seek to find other employment as soon as possible. (550) - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 550 There is in Isaiah 58:1–12 at least the suggestion that some Sabbath activities are especially pleasing to God. These are the works of mercy for the poor and needy, which I shall discuss later. Verse 3 uses the phrase “your own pleasure,” the same language as in verse 13, to refer to oppression of the poor. (545) Gary North, oddly a theonomist but not a Sabbatarian, published an article called “The Economics of Sabbath Keeping,” in which he argues that keeping the Sabbath is incompatible with the structure of modern civilization. Many modern industries cannot be shut down for one day a week. Steel mills, for example, take several days to be shut down and started up. So, North argues, on a strictly Sabbatarian basis the steel business must be abandoned as ungodly. And if Sabbatarians were consistent in their position, North argues, they would shut down the electricity and heat to their homes on the Sabbath day, for delivery of that electricity and heat requires people to work in factories. If we use electricity and heat, we are in effect paying someone to gather sticks on the Sabbath, for which the man in Numbers 15:32–36 was executed. Brian Schwertley, a conservative Sabbatarian, argues to the contrary that maintenance of steel mills and electric plants should be considered works of necessity....The medical and environmental benefits alone render a central, dependable, clean source of energy a necessity. - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 548-549 The mention of an animal leads us to consider a more general observation: that farming and herding, even though they are businesses, require some attention on the Sabbath day. Animals must be milked and fed each day. One can easily understand that matters of life and death must be dealt with on the Sabbath day. (Hence physicians and nurses, police and firefighters, must work on the Sabbath.) - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 548
When Scripture mentions specific violations of the Sabbath, they are in the category of illegitimate work, not failure to engage in Sabbath worship (Ex. 31:13–17; 34:21; 35:3; Num. 15:32–36; Neh. 13:15–18; Jer. 17:21–22; Amos 8:4–6). Jesus’ confrontations with the Pharisees on the Sabbath concerned work rather than worship, as in Matthew 12:1–14. (541) The Sabbath is a day on which to be “refreshed” (Ex. 23:12; 31:17), a “delight” (Isa. 58:13). I therefore believe it is legitimate to spend part of the Sabbath day in sheer physical rest. (541) But Jeremiah 17:22 forbids the carrying of heavy burdens “out of your houses” on the Sabbath, suggesting that such hard work is inappropriate even when it does not have a commercial purpose. The case of the man gathering sticks in Numbers 15:32–36 has occasioned much discussion (542) Exodus 35:3 forbids kindling fires in homes on the Sabbath day, so it is natural to assume that the man in Numbers 15 was preparing to violate that provision. Exodus 35:2 does specify the death penalty for people who work on the Sabbath. But if it were that simple, it is hard to understand why Moses didn’t carry out the penalty immediately, rather than waiting for further revelation. Many commentators think that what Exodus 35:3 forbids is not the burning of wood on the Sabbath, but “kindling” a fire in the sense of starting one from scratch. One could add wood to a fire that had been started earlier, to keep warm, but one could not start up a new fire. God may have revealed to Moses that the stick gatherer had sinned with a high hand. The theme of redemption as rest is especially appropriate since the fall brought about a curse on the earth and made man’s labor a hard task (Gen. 3:17–19). (543) So Ecclesiastes 2:9–11 speaks of man’s toil as “vanity,” and Psalm 90 expresses similar weariness of the world. The wicked, indeed, have no genuine peace or rest (Isa. 48:22; 57:21), but God gives rest to his people as a redemptive blessing (Ps. 127:2). Jesus promises rest to those who come to him (Matt. 11:28) (rest by taking on a yoke!), and God gives rest from their labors to the glorified saints (Rev. 14:13).
In all of this, the biblical emphasis is not on rest as a symbol of grace (with work as a symbol of sin), as Calvin and others supposed. The rest is not a rest from sin as such, but a rest from the toil that sin has brought upon our working life. (543) - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 541-543
(ie the reasons I found worth including) - John M. Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, 552-554Introduction
Table of contents
Current practice of the Sabbath
From Saturday to Sunday
Against his brother any secret grudge;
Nor let the non-observer call him vain;
But use his freedom, and forbear to judge.
Thus both may bring their motives to the test;
Our condescending Lord will both approve.
Let each pursue the way that likes him best;
He cannot walk amiss, that walks in love.Recreation on the Sabbath
.Sabbath and common grace
Sabbath as creation ordinance
Sabbath in the Old Testament
Pentateuch Ex 16.22-30 Manna, "a few months before the actual commandment of the Sabbath (i.e., in the Decalogue), the people of Israel were trained in the keeping of the Sabbath" (24) Ex 20.8-11 Fourth commandent Ex 23.12 A short reminder within the law Ex 31.12-17 A sign and a perpetual covenant. "This, then, is the most forceful and explicit statement of the Sabbath law. It explains the Sabbath in terms of a sign, a covenant between God and His people, and commands the cessation of work by everyone on threat of the death penalty." (25) Ex 34.21 Short reminder Ex 35.2-3 "the Sabbath commandment is repeated in its most solemn form" (25) Lev 19.3, 30 My sabbaths Lev 23.3 A list of appointed feasts begins with the Sabbath. Lev 26.2 Exact repetition of 19.30 Dt 5.12-15 Fourth commandment Views on the Sabbath (general notes)
Frame's six views on the Sabbath
Works of mercy on the Sabbath
The Sabbath is fundamentally a day of rest, but it is a communal rest, a shared rest. It is a rest that we give to one another (552)Works of necessity on the Sabbath
Worship on the Sabbath
Bibliography
D. A. Carson, ed. From Sabbath to Lord's Day: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1999) John M. Frame Doctrine of the Christian Life. (Philipsburg, PA: P&R Publishing, 2008) (chapters 28-30)