If I am a law-abiding citizen and live in exact accordance with every requirement of the constitution and the laws of the country, will government officials praise me for it? I think I will be of no interest to them. But what if, despite all my obedience, I begin to steal a little money from the state treasury, since there is so much of it and no one will notice? When this crime is discovered, will my general righteousness in everything else be credited to me, and will it cover my insignificant violation? And if I am compared with those who brazenly steal billions and openly violate the laws, I will look like a good person beside them.
I think you have correctly answered this question with James 2:10: ‘For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.’ Does this statement apply to the whole law of God, or does it concern only a few important commandments? There are only ten of them, and they were personally spoken aloud by God. It was not Moses who gave this Decalogue to those living on Earth, but the Creator Himself. This law is the foundation of every person’s righteousness, for it defines sin.
There are two commandments in God’s law that some people consider no longer valid. These are the second commandment concerning the worship of idols and the fourth concerning the worship of God. And the pattern is that those who violate these commandments, making such violation a doctrine of their church, become guilty of violating all the other commandments as well.
If I replace God with various images or statues, or put a human being or an animal in His place and call upon you to worship it, then in spirit I become a spiritual adulterer, a murderer of your purity, a thief of your salvation and my own, a false witness, and a blasphemer of God. I make you a slave to tradition and sin and become guilty of all. Many people will agree about the harm of idolatry and acknowledge that it violates God’s requirements. But as soon as the fourth commandment is discussed, the immediate response is: ‘It was given only to the Jews.’ ‘That belongs to the Old Testament, but we now live under the New.’ Or: ‘We are not under the law, but under grace.’ Yet if this is how the matter is to be understood, then it would be fair to declare the entire law invalid. Why tear out of it something inconvenient while retaining what I consider right?
The command concerning the holiness of the Sabbath was given by the same God Who said, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ And the very first verse of Exodus 20 is the key to correctly understanding Whose law this is.
Interestingly, people did not abolish the fourth commandment, understanding that this would leave a breach in the law; instead, they changed it. When adherents of such a teaching are asked to provide a biblical basis for these changes, no one can find one. More educated people claim that the first disciples made Christ’s resurrection a weekly celebration and that this became a good tradition that has continued to the present day. This is asserted without evidence.
Let us be honest. Are we building our faith on the solid foundation of God’s Word or on the shifting sand of human traditions?
Once, while conducting seminars, I offered a reward of 1,000 euros to anyone who could present even one Bible verse concerning the holiness of Sunday. No one came forward, nor could anyone do so, because the Bible does not say a single word about it.
But the commandment concerning the holiness of Sabbath time does exist, and it was given to the world; there is no escaping this fact. Yet some people take it upon themselves to teach others that Sunday is now our Sabbath, that it should be kept holy just as the Sabbath was kept holy in the Bible, and that under no circumstances should anyone work during this set-apart time. But the Bible teaches us to honor the Sabbath, not another day. We have been given very detailed explanations of what should be done on the Sabbath and what should be avoided. And if the Sabbath is only for the Jews, then to what nation do the cattle, donkeys, oxen, and strangers clearly mentioned in this commandment belong? (Deuteronomy 5:14). Strangers are foreigners, people from other nations, and they are certainly not Jews.
The Bible does not teach me to observe Sunday; therefore, every attempt to keep this day holy becomes merely a human ordinance or a good tradition. If, in a certain country, this rule has been elevated to the status of a law prohibiting labor, wisdom from above is needed so that one does not enter into open confrontation with the highest authorities of that country. At the same time, one must correctly understand how to remain obedient to God’s commandment when everyone around is working and going about their usual business and trying to involve me in the same process.
I have also heard it said that by keeping the Sabbath I am saved by works. Nowhere does the Bible teach that salvation comes by works. Salvation is exclusively by grace—not in sin, but from sin. And the commandment itself says in Exodus 20:10: ‘But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.’ ‘Thou shalt not do’ is a call to rest. Yet no one preaches salvation through idleness.
Moreover, God calls us not only to rest on the Sabbath, but also to keep this day holy, to set it apart from other time in a special way, and to spend it worshiping God in spirit and in truth.
There will be little benefit in observing the letter of the law. If there is no love in the heart, the meaning of this commandment—and of every other commandment—is lost. The Pharisees’ scrupulousness in this matter led them into fanaticism, which Christ opposed. The Lord was free from the unnecessary rules with which the Sabbath day had been burdened, and He showed how this special time should be kept holy—not by abolishing the commandment, but by fulfilling it in the spirit of truth. Jesus loved His neighbors and did everything possible to relieve their suffering and teach them obedience. The Bible describes only seven miracles that Jesus performed on the Sabbath. Even these accounts contain symbolic meaning.
Sabbath observance does not save anyone from death. Salvation is God’s prerogative, and He decides who will live eternally and who will be punished. But obedience to the law carries a blessing within itself for everyone who chooses submission. For example, if I decide not to kill anyone, I will have peace in my heart in this area of thought, and I will not tremble with fear while awaiting retribution for shed blood. By keeping the Sabbath, I rest physically and emotionally, and this will affect my overall health and way of thinking. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
I am sometimes accused of speaking only about the Sabbath. This is a strange accusation. All this time we have been speaking about love. And I understand that if there is no love in the heart, such a person will violate the Sabbath in spirit even though its outward form is observed. In marriage, which is important—the official registration or the relationship? Both are important. Without the registration, we are fornicators; without the relationship, we are unhappy formalists.
If I have no relationship with the Creator and do not allow His love to dwell in my heart, I will not be able to keep the Sabbath holy according to the commandment. I will observe it according to the letter, and that is sin, although physically and mentally I will receive rest and relief. Yet this is not all that God desires to see.
The Sabbath is the very commandment that, like a sign, shows the whole world Whose I am and whether I am united with God in the spirit of love and truth. Love is the fulfilling of the Sabbath.
Questions for Reflection
Please read Genesis 2:1–3; Exodus 20:8–11; 31:13–17; Leviticus 23:32; Deuteronomy 5:12–15; Isaiah 56:5–6; 58:13–14; 66:23; Ezekiel 20:12, 20; Matthew 12:1–12; Mark 1:32; Luke 4:16; 1 John 3:22; and Hebrews 4:8–11 in the light of this chapter. Did you learn anything new from this chapter? Do you believe that Sabbath observance saves me from eternal death? If, having a knowledge of the truth, I continue to violate the fourth commandment and observe another day out of love for God, keeping Sunday holy as His day, will this truly bring me under condemnation? How can I understand whether I am obedient to God and whether I am correctly observing the commandment of rest? Why was the Sabbath given to humanity? If I dedicate every day to God, why do I need to keep the Sabbath holy? Can the whole world be mistaken by violating the fourth commandment while at the same time enjoying abundant blessings in everything, yet be under the curse of the law and have no hope of salvation? Will God truly refuse to save good people merely because they did not rest on the Sabbath? What blessing does the Sabbath bring you? How does God sanctify His faithful Sabbath-keeping people? What should I do if the teachings of my church do not permit me to keep the Sabbath holy and the pastor has no intention of changing his views? I love my brothers and sisters and wish to continue believing in God together with them. What is the right course for me to take? Are you certain that you obey the requirement of the fourth commandment in spirit and in truth? What role does love play in obedience and Sabbath observance? Share your understanding and experience of observing the fourth commandment.