A Look at Reformed Rules for Rightly Understanding the Ten Commandments

Chapter 4 of John Colquhoun's book, A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel, is a review of what he and other Reformers term Rule for Rightly Understanding the Ten Commandments.

These rules are required only if you have the view Colquhoun has: that the Decalogue is much more than tablets testifying of the law covenant given to national Israel and are a universal law of some sort. If one rightly discerns the covenant structure of Scripture, accepting that an unchangeable God DOES have different laws for different people under different covenants, it is easier to accept what the Bible plainly teaches about the tablets of stone.

RULE 1. Where a duty is required, the contrary sin is forbidden (Isaiah 58:13); and where a sin is forbidden the contrary duty is required (Ephesians 4:28). Every command forbids the sin which is opposite to, or inconsistent with, the duty which it requires.

Rather than being a categorical teaching on forbidding the contrary sin, Isaiah 58:13 is a very specific rebuke to national Israel for their long-standing, continual abuse of the Sabbath that was given to them as sign to them and no other people (Ezekiel 20:9-20). Where are those in the New Covenant told to keep the weekly Sabbath? Likewise, rather than being a categorical teaching that the contrary duty is required, Ephesians 4:28 is a very specific doctrine wherein one should work with hands to provide for himself and he should be willing to share with others. Telling a thief to stop stealing and to work for his food is not a sweeping command for everyone being rebuked for any sin is to stop that sin and do the contrary duty. Do we see such teaching in the epistles written to the saints? To develop such rules as if they were Scripture puts the teaching of men equal with Scripture.

RULE 2. Where a duty is required, every duty of the same kind is also required; and where a sin is forbidden, every sin of the same sort is prohibited. Under one duty, all of the same kind are commanded; and under one sin, all of the same sort are forbidden. ... When He commands us to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” He requires us to engage in prayer, praise, hearing the Word, receiving the Sacraments, and all the other duties of that holy day.

The Sabbath command has NO instruction anywhere in the Old Covenant law requiring "prayer, praise, hearing the Word, receiving the Sacrament, and all the other duties of that holy day." Reformers have invented a new Sabbath which includes these duties, but the command given to national Israel knows nothing of them.

Colquhoun continues: "Where the duties of children to parents are commanded, not only are all the duties of inferiors to superiors in every other relation required, but also all the duties of superiors to inferiors. On the other hand, when the Lord forbids us to kill, He forbids us also to strike or wound our neighbor, or to harbor malice and revenge against him (Matthew 5:21-22)."

He makes no effort to support the first point, but you will search Exodus 20 in vane looking for it. We do see in Ephesians 6 teaching on children obeying parents (vs 1-3) followed by teaching for slaves to obey their masters (vs 5-9). But Ephesians 6 does not posit the instructions to slaves as being the same command as given to children, but both commands are given in light of who God is in each situation. The basis is not the law given through Moses; it is the revelation of who God is given through the apostle.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not teaching the true meaning of the law given on Sinai; He is contrasting temporal Israel law with kingdom of God law. There is no teaching in the Old Covenant what we read in verse 22; this is a higher law given to those with the Holy Spirit.

RULE 3. That which is forbidden is at no time to be done; but that which is required is to be done only when the Lord affords opportunity. What God forbids is sin, and is never to be done (Romans 3:8); what He requires is always our duty (Deuteronomy 4:8-9), and yet every particular duty is not to be performed at all times (Matthew 12:7).

In general, this rule is not objectionable. There are some things, however, that are sin in one covenant but not in another. For example, Jews were forbidden from eating many foods; part of the law given them in the Mosaic Covenant to set them apart from the other nations. Generation before that law was given on Sinai, the covenant given to Noah and all creation gave similar but different regulations on food: Genesis 9:3-4 (HCSB) "Every living creature will be food for you; as ⌊I gave⌋ the green plants, I have given you everything. However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it." Many creatures were forbidden to the Jews. Peter was adamant that food forbidden by that covenant was unclean for him, a Jew. Yet in the vision given him and in the instructions given through Paul, we see that "everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving" (1 Timothy 4:4).

Again, a proper understanding of the covenant structure of Scripture is essential in rightly applying the Decalogue and Colquhoun's rules.

RULE 4. Whatever we ourselves are commanded to be, do, or forbear, we are obliged to do all that it is possible for us to do, according to our places and stations in society, to make others around us to be, do, or forbear the same. We are strictly bound, according to our different stations, to endeavor that every duty is performed, and every sin is forborne, by all to whom our influence can extend (Genesis 18:19; Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Leviticus 19:17).

This rule not only puts a heavy load to perform everything possible but it also takes being your brother's keeper to more than a full-time job. And none of the Scripture passages cited bear this rule out. Now we are to do all for the glory of God, whatever we put our hand to. How does one determine if his "places and stations in society" make our performance possible or "to make others around us" to do everything possible? I heartily agree we are to influence our neighbors and the world for God's glory; but is it our place "to endeavor that every duty is performed, and every sin is forborne, by all to whom our influence can extend"? Where is that taught?

RULE 5. The same duty is required and the same sin is forbidden, in different respects, in several and even in all the divine commands. The transgression of one precept is virtually a breach of all. They are so intimately connected together that if the divine authority is disregarded in any one of them it is slighted in all (Colossians 3:5; 1 Timothy 6:10; James 2:10; 1 John 4:20).

Here I think Colquhoun sees a truth (to break one law is to break the whole law) and stretches it to cover what it does not. The law of Moses is like chain - break one the chain, the whole law, is broken. Nowhere is it written that breaking one law is breaking all of them. And while the character of God is revealed in all law He has given His creatures, not all require the same duty nor forbid the same sin. If this was true, there would be but one law - kind of like in the New Covenant, where we are not bound by the legal code given to national Israel, but bound BY the Law of Christ.

RULE 6. Where a duty is required, the use of all the means of performing it aright, is required; and where a sin is forbidden, every cause, and even every occasion of it, are prohibited. ... when the Lord forbids the profanation of the Sabbath, at the same time He forbids all the employments and recreations by which men profane that holy day.

This rule is another that, on its face, seems good -even though he has no Scripture references to check. When we see the examples Colquhoun uses, we see the consequence of conflating the covenants in Scripture AND conflating ones confession with Scripture.

The Sabbath command in Scripture does not forbid recreation on that day. The command for the weekly Sabbath was to rest from work, in your home. You, your animals, your slaves. The Westminster Confession of Faith has a different Sabbath command, which forbids recreation and commands worship - things not touched on the weekly Sabbath given to national Israel.

Colquhoun also asserts, "Where He forbids murder, He also prohibits the wrath, malice, and revenge which prompt men to commit that crime (Matthew 5:21-22; 1 John 3:15)." Note how he has no Old Covenant reference to support this rule for interpreting the Decalogue on this item? The Old Covenant did not forbid anger within the law against murder. In the New Covenant, we see that our attitude towards a brother is as important as our actions. 1 John 3:15 doesn't forbid anger; it reveals anger as murder in embryo form, if you will allow that word picture. It's part of the teaching that love is contrary to evil and if we are in Christ we will love one another and not be angry with each other but seek reconciliation.

Life in the New Covenant is not a matter of keeping the law - any law - rightly; it's about loving one another as Christ has loved us; loving God because He first loved us. Natural man needs a legal code so other men can punish him for doing wrong. We have the Spirit of God within Who convicts us of sin and guides us in righteousness.

RULE 7. No sin is at any time to be committed in order to avoid or prevent a greater sin. We must not “do evil that good may come” (Romans 3:8)

Again - in general, I am in violent agreement. But - Rahab was never rebuked for misleading the soldiers of Jericho in order to save the lives of the spies Joshua had sent. As a rule, this one is good - but I don't see how it relates to the Tablets of Stone per se. It does relate to our walk as saints in a very comprehensive way. All three of Colquhoun's Scripture references in this section are from New Covenant passages.

RULE 8. The commandments of the second table of the law must give place to those of the first when they cannot both be observed together. Our love of our neighbor, for instance, ought to be subjected to our love of God.

One thing to note in the way he has phrased this rule is his belief that the first and second great commandments given by Christ are the summation of the Decalogue, as is commonly taught by Reformed preachers, even though the passage in Matthew overthrows this error as Jesus says all of Scripture hangs on or depends upon these two commandments. This is why loving God and others is the fulfillment of the law - all of it! It's not required that a saint keep the law; it's required he love God and the brotherhood. This fulfills the law, which is why we are dead to it.

Now then, Colquhoun is right when he reminds us our love of God must outweigh our love for other people. Jesus made this clear when He said He came to bring division, mother against daughter, etc. (Matthew 10:34-37)

I would add, that one's view of love for God and man would have to be very low if the Tablets are your standard. Consider: Don't have other gods; don't worship an idol, don't blaspheme, rest in your home, honor your parents, don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't covet. Jesus said to love one another as He loved us. We have a very graphic, specific revelation in Scripture as to how He loved and still loves us. We are taught to love our wives as He loves His own people. If a man loves his wife, he will not be tempted to adultery. The last word on the tablets was one not punished by the leaders of Israel - this was for YHWH to identify and punish. So every command on the tablets save the last has to do with BEHAVIOR and is easy for man to check. This is why law-keeping so appeals to our flesh. But love as Christ does - cannot be verified by man, cannot be measured by man. Natural man hates this law.

RULE 9. In our obedience, we should have a special and constant respect to the scope and final end at which the Lord aims by all the commandments in general, or by any one of them in particular. The great end at which God aims in general, in subordination to His own manifested glory, is perfect holiness of heart and life in His people, even as He Himself is holy (2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Peter 1:15).

This is another rule that has no apparent attachment to understanding the Decalogue, but is a most excellent reminder at how we are to live, keeping our focus and heart's affection on the Lord Jesus and His glory. AMEN!

RULE 10. The beginning and the end, as well as the sum, of all the commandments is love. “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). “The end of the commandment is love” (1 Timothy 1:5).

If the right love of God and our brothers is the fulfillment and end of the law, why the focus on law-keeping? The proper focus for the child of God is to love Him and to love those He has purchase as His own. It's far easier, as 1st century Jews knew, to drum up a few hundred rules to follow and convince yourself and other that THIS was the way to walk. Living by sight - focused on religious rites and religious piety - leads people to reduce faith in Christ to faith in checking off their obedience. That is not the way to walk, do not be led down that path, for it is dangerous to your soul.

In his conclusion to this chapter, Colquhoun gives wonderful praise to the Holy Spirit for the work of regeneration and conversion. And claims that He writes the same ten words He supposedly wrote on our hearts before we were converted on the new heart of flesh He gives. No, saints. The Decalogue was only written on stone tablets, given to people with stone hearts, who worshiped God in a Stone temple. In the New Covenant, people with hearts of flesh have the law of Christ written on fleshly tablets, and they are the temple of God!

The Christian's True Sabbath

Had the blessing of preaching at Gracepoint Baptist in Edmond this morning.

Preached on the Christian's True Sabbath - the Christ who promises true rest to all the Father has given Him.

Gracepoint is a wonderful fellowship where some of the saints make comments or ask questions during the sermon. I like this model!

Sermon is here: https://app.box.com/s/2s19yrmh8ldvfwhle0hzu9b3mu9nvvy3

The Christian's True Sabbath

Many people these days have a renewed interest in reformed theology and one thing that inevitably comes up is the doctrine of the Christian Sabbath that is found in those beloved confessions. What is the Christian Sabbath? This is a question that has consumed many men over the years. There are those who think one can only worship on Saturday (including 7th day Baptists) and others who claim the day was moved! Let's dig into this topic, with an eye towards the Scriptures rather than anyone's tradition.

It is clear from Scripture that God gave the weekly Sabbath to national Israel (Ex 16:23) as a sign of the covenant YHWH made with them (Ex 31:13 & 17); a covenant that was not made with the patriarchs (Deut 5:3) nor with the saints of the New Covenant (Jer 31:32). Yet there are many Christians who think the first day of the week is the "Christian Sabbath," having a direct connection with the Jewish Sabbath. Some of them are genuinely pious and try to observe the day as they are convicted. Others are aggressive towards those who do not agree with them on this topic. Many have never considered what the Bible says about the topic but are convinced their position is biblical. This is why it's important for the saints to consider what the Word of God says about the True Sabbath.

Within Baptist circles, there are many who hold to the 1689 LBC; which follows the Presbyterian thought and wording very closely on this topic. Hear what that confession says on this topic in chapter 22:

As it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time, by God's appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he has particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's Day:and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.

The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe a holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy. (paragraphs 7 & 8)

There is no question that the Sabbath command given to Israel was to rest, from all work - but not all “works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employment and recreation.” The commandment only specifies rest from works. Exodus 34:21 makes this clear: even in plowing time and harvest, Israel was to rest from their work on the seventh day just as YHWH had rested from His work on the seventh day. No tending to animals, no working of fields, no work - period. This is a continuation of what He began teaching them in Exodus 16: God’s people are to work (itself a gift from God, mired in a creation cursed by Adam’s sin) yet see every good thing as provision from Him. On the seventh day, work for even the basics of life was prohibited to that His covenant community people would trust Him. The biblical Sabbath command says nothing about words and thoughts - it only commanded physical rest in the family dwelling.

We also do not find anywhere in Scripture is the teaching that there is a law of nature that binds all men in this perpetual sabbath command; nothing showing it was moved from the 7th day to the 1st day; nothing showing it continues to end of the age; and nothing showing it was called "the Lord's Day." Further, a detailed comparison of what the confessions describe as the "Christian Sabbath" with the biblical account of the Jewish Sabbath show virtually nothing in common. Rather than resting in your home, you are commanded to leave your home and gather with the saints while you neither work, speak, nor think about anything other than worship. Not only have they allegedly moved the day, they redefined it.

Biblical Sabbath	1689 “Christian Sabbath”
Every 7th day (Ex 16:27-30, Ex 20:8-11, 31:15, 35:2; Lev 23:3; Deut 5:14)	Para 7: Claims One day in Seven (Ex20:8). Changed from the last day of the week to the first day of the week (citing 1 Cor 16:1-2; Acts 20:7); claiming “Christian Sabbath” as the Biblical Sabbath was abolished (no Scripture citation).
Rest from all work (Ex 16:23, 25; 20:8-10; 35:2; Lev 23:3; Num 15:32; Deut 5:12-15; Jer 17:21)	Para 8: Rest from all works, words, and thoughts (Isaiah 58:13; Neh 13:15-22).
Remain in your dwelling (Ex 16:29; Lev 23:3)	Private and public worship are commanded (para 8; no Scripture citation)
It is a sign to the Israelite (Ex 31:13, 16, 17; Lev 24:8; 2 Chr 2:4; Neh 9:14; Ezek 20:12, 20)
Death penalty for violating it, even minor activities such as picking up sticks (Ex 31:14-15; Num 15:32-36)
No fires for cooking, Sabbath day meals were prepared the day before (Ex 35:3)
Ceremonial bread, made in accordance with a strict formula, was presented (Lev 24:8; 1 Chr 9:32)
Offerings – consisting of lambs, grain, and drink (Num 28:9, 10)
Soldiers/priests guard the temple (2 Kings 11:5-12; 2 Chr 23:4-8)
Gentiles not bound (Deut 5:15; Neh 10:31)	Para 7: Claims “law of nature … by Gods appointment” a “moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages” (no Scripture citation).
Prohibited from business (buying or selling) with Gentiles (Neh 10:31, 13:15-19)
Gentiles invited to join with God’s people and keep the Sabbath (Isaiah 56:1-7)
Israel to keep the Sabbath (Isaiah 58:13)
	Duties of necessity and mercy are permitted (para 8; Matt 12:1-13)
No bearing of burdens (Jer 17:21-27)

What we do see in Scripture is the Lord Jesus taking the Sabbath teaching from Exodus and Deuteronomy and applying to kingdom living in a different way. In His Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6:19-34, as He describes a people who are heavenly-minded, avoiding covetousness, being solitary in their focus on being obedient to their God. He then says be not anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. If we consider His provision for Israel as they were led out of Egypt, the parallel is amazing. In their exodus from Egypt, YHWH had provided Israel manna and quail to eat (Exodus 16:13 & 14), water from a rock (Exodus 17:1-7), and clothes that did not wear out (Deuteronomy 8:4). God provided for His temporal people the necessary things of life in this temporal age. He continues to provide these things for His spiritual children, just as He will discipline us as He disciplined them. Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son (Deuteronomy 8:5 NASB). All that was done was to teach Israel to trust YHWH, to honor Him, to glorify His name amongst the pagan world. These are the continuing messages from our God, who causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28, NASB). This “good” that God orchestrates is for our spiritual good, which is eternal. He will provide what we need in this life, but He works all things together for our eternal good, adding all these things to us in His time.

This is the theme of the Jewish Sabbath: rest from temporal work, trusting God to provide. This is the spiritual application of the Jewish Sabbath: cease from your works of self-righteousness, trusting God to impute His to you and find your rest in Christ (Hebrews 4:9-10). God ceased from creation work when it was finished and He declared it very good. He has ceased from His work of re-creation and He declared “It is finished!” (John 19:30); and He bids us who are weary from labor and heavy laden find our rest in Him (Matthew 11:28-30). His yoke is easy, contrasted with the heavy yoke of the Mosaic Covenant that no man can bear (Acts 15:1-11). Jesus is the true rest, the true Sabbath for the Christian; the Jewish Sabbath is pale, weak shadow. The confessional version of the "Christian Sabbath" is like claiming to admire the sun while fidgeting with a flashlight. We are to honor the Son, not the shadow.

The 1689 LBC cites a passage from Isaiah (chapter 58 verse 13) wherein Creator God holds up the weekly Sabbath as a touchstone of His relationship with Israel. Is this text rightly applied to the New Covenant church? In this passage, not for the first time, a prophet of God is rebuking His temporal people for failing to keep His covenant made with them. The religious people in Israel had turned their Sabbath into the day before the important things of life, as Amos recorded: Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?” (Amos 8:4-6). This is the same behavior found as the nation returned from exile and Nehemiah rebuked them for polluting the Sabbath by conducting business on that day of rest (Nehemiah 13:15-22). Might the proper application for the New Covenant people be to take care of those in need?

It is clear that Sabbath breaking by those in the Mosaic Covenant was a serious affront to God. But is Sabbath keeping required of those in the New Covenant as well? We don't find weekly Sabbath keeping recorded in the record of the early church in the Scriptures. No rebukes for failing to keep a day as when the ancient Jews were put to death for picking up firewood. Ancient witnesses give their perspective:

Justin Martyr [circa 100-165], in controversy with a Jew, says that ... Christianity requires not one particular Sabbath, but a perpetual Sabbath. He assigns as a reason for the selection of the first day for the purposes of Christian worship, because on that day ... Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his assembled disciples, but makes no mention of the fourth commandment. Moreover, all those righteous men already mentioned [after mentioning Adam. Abel, Enoch, Lot, Noah, Melchizedek, and Abraham], though they kept no Sabbaths, were pleasing to God; and after them Abraham with all his descendants until Moses. And you were commanded to keep Sabbaths, that you might retain the memorial of God. For His word makes this announcement, saying, "That you may know that I am God who redeemed you."

John Gill's commentary on Rev 1:10 - Barnabas [thought by many to be the companion of Paul the apostle] ... calls this day the eighth day, in distinction from the seventh-day sabbath of the Jews, and which he says is the beginning of another world; and therefore we keep the eighth day, adds he, joyfully, in which Jesus rose from the dead, and being manifested, ascended unto heaven.

This concept of the eighth day is something we who claim Christ should study and seek understanding. A friend of mine, Terrance O'Hare, has studied this at some depth. He observes, “From another angle, redemption is also the beginning. Hence, the redeemed are free on the eighth day, that is, the first day of the new week. The new week designates a new period of time, a better epoch, and a new generation. It is built upon that which preceded but brings us closer to that which is anticipated; it reaps the blessings earned or bestowed in previous days, and hopes for fulfillment of greater promises.” O’Hare goes on to demonstrate from Scripture how the number eight portrays hope and promise that comes only in the promised seed. “Based on the root word for fatness or abundance, the first mention of eight occurs in Genesis 5, of the number of years that Adam lived after his son Seth was born, years marked by the prodigious growth of his family... Noah in a sense was “translated” to the new world as a family of eight on the eighth day, signifying again the association of eight with the resurrection to immortality in a new day.” O’Hare bases this observation on the record in Genesis 7, wherein the animals were led into the ark by YHWH and seven days later the flood came. On that day, Noah and his family entered the ark, God shut them in, and the ark foreshadowed the rescue of sinners that the Lord Jesus brings (1 Pet 3:18-22). The first day of safety in the midst of the world-destroying flood, was the eighth day after the ark was opened as a refuge (Gen 8:11-12). David was the eighth son of Jesse (1 Samuel 17:12-14). “When David's eighth-position antitype arrives (Jesus Christ), said Isaiah, His kingship and kingdom will be unlike anything that preceded it (Isaiah 9:6-7).”

The eighth day signifies our redemption and the resurrection of our Savior. The seventh day is the Jewish Sabbath, which was a type of the rest promised in the Messiah. The eighth day is our rest, begun when we are raised up by the Spirit of God to new life in Christ (John 5:24) and will be consummated when He returns to take us home. We should agree with Trypho and others, joyfully keeping the eighth day by fellowshipping and worshiping our King with others He has called to Himself.

Paul was provoked on more than one occasion to speak about this issue, which boils down to law keeping as a means of grace. Galatians 4:8-11, 16 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.  But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?  You observe days and months and seasons and years!  I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. ... Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? Romans 14:1 & 5 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. Paul warned us not to waste time on foolish genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless (Tit 3:9). How seldom have I found those who hold to a confessional sabbath be willing to "be at peace" with those of us who do not. May it never be that we make their esteeming a day a "wedge issue!

As for the allegation that the day of the Sabbath was moved, Jonathan Edwards claims national Israel came out up out of the Red Sea on their Sabbath, and since Jesus' resurrection is compared to coming up out of deep waters (Psalms 69), this must mean He changed the Jewish Sabbath from the 7th to the 8th day. Ancient rabbinical "urban legends" claim this but the Bible does not connect His resurrection with the Sabbath, other than to say He came up out of the grave on the day after the Sabbath. Nothing to indicate the shadowy Sabbath was "put to death and resurrected" as part of the New Covenant.

The third claim made on this matter is that the new perpetual "Christian Sabbath" binds all men. Nowhere in the Scripture do we find anyone outside national Israel being told to keep the Jewish Sabbath or punished for not doing so. Nowhere do we find those in the New Covenant community told to keep the "Christian Sabbath" or disciplined for not doing so. Early Christians encouraged one another to gather together for worship and fellowship but not for what the 1689 describes as the "Christian Sabbath." The Lord's Supper, not a weekly Sabbath, is what He has given us as perpetual reminder of His faithfulness as the redeemer and His promise of His return. Is that not a far better things than a list of rules about a religious day?

Lastly, the Baptist confession says the "Christian Sabbath" is "the Lord's Day." This phrase occurs once in the Bible, as John is caught up in the spirit to receive a series of vision of the end of the age, when Christ returns in final victory to judge the nations, gather His saints, and make all things new. It is known as "the Day of the Lord." There is nothing in the context of Revelation 1 to lead one to conclude that John meant the 1st day of the week. While the apostolic church met on the 1st day of the week, they also taught Romans 14:5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. And Colossians 2:16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. Rather than condemn those who don't hold one day higher than another (which "the Lord's Day" as Sunday implies we should) Scripture reveals one may observe the day or not but we should not pass judgment on those who do not. Paul went on to explain, Colossians 2:17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. This is just as the elements of the Levitical religion were types and shadows of the heavenly realm (Hebrews 8). Since various passages refer to the end of the age as "the Day of the Lord" and that that end of the age activity is what John reported in 7 parallel accounts in his apocalypse, the only thing that makes sense to me is that this is what John meant by "the Lord's Day." I am aware of the long-standing tradition that asserts he meant Sunday, but I find nothing in the text to support that - only a phrase in the 1689 LBC and other such documents. While we have a healthy reason for gathering together on the 8th day, we should be careful not to impress others that one day is more important than others. This is one of those things we can differ on as long as don't make it a binding rule.

Each of these teachings in the Reformers' beloved confessions that we reviewed today have one effect: our attention is taken off the Redeemer and drawn to regulations according to human precepts and teachings. We are told in Scripture to fix our minds on the heavenly things (Col 3:2) where we are seated with Christ even now (Eph 2:6). The apostle further instructs us thusly:  Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. And we are not left to imagine how we are to live. Verse 9: What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

We keep our focus on Christ, from where our help comes. He is the author and the completer of our faith, our advocate before the judgment seat. He our refuge and strong tower of safety, our redeemer and friend. In Christ Jesus ALL the promises of God find their yes and amen. Why would we regress to cling towards the shadows once we've been delivered from the domain of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the beloved Son? (Col 13-14) Why would we worry about such things as "touch not, taste not, handle not" that accompany the regulations about Sabbath keeping which have no spiritual value (Col 2:20-23)?

Christ Jesus is our all-in-all. We have no hope of reconciliation with God apart from faith in Him. We find rest in Jesus - this was His promise to all who were weak and weary from their efforts of trying to gain God's favor. Our Sabbath keeps us! We are not legally hand-cuffed to a gilded first revision of the Jewish Sabbath given to national Israel. Let those who think the New Covenant is merely a part of the Old Covenant esteem a day if they like. Let us fix our eyes of faith on the One who doesn't command a rest that we cannot keep but provides the rest that our souls desperately need.

Christ Jesus came to save sinners. He doesn't not command us to rest in a day - He provides us rest in Himself.