Calvin on the
Sabbath
Rev C Bouwman
In discussions relating to the
Sabbath and how today’s Christian
ought to keep the Sabbath, one hears
from time to time references to the
thoughts of John Calvin on the point.
Calvin, I once read in a reformed
periodical, "strongly opposed any
suggestion of an observance of days and
a literal abstention from work or
recreation on the basis of it being commanded
by the 4th commandment."
In the Catechism, the article continued,
the church echoes this position, for LD
38 makes no mention of not working on
the Sunday; LD 38 explains the fourth
commandment in terms of resting not from
work but from evil. So: the
Christian may give himself to work and
recreation on the Sunday as long as this
work or recreation does not interfere
with the worship services.
The question I wish to address in
this article is this: what in fact does
Calvin say?
Calvin
In his Institutes of the Christian
Religion, Calvin begins his
treatment of the fourth commandment with
these words (II,8.28):
"The purpose of this
commandment is that, being dead to our
own inclinations and works, we should
meditate on the Kingdom of God, and
that we should practice that
meditation in the ways established by
him. But, since this commandment has a
particular consideration distinct from
the others, it requires a slightly
different order of exposition. The
early fathers customarily called this
commandment a foreshadowing because it
contains the outward keeping of a day
which, upon Christ’s coming, was
abolished with the other figures. This
they say truly, but they touch upon
only half the matter. Hence, we must
go deeper in our exposition, and
ponder three conditions in which, it
seems to me, the keeping of this
commandment consists.
First, under the repose of the
seventh day the heavenly Lawgiver
meant to represent to the people of
Israel spiritual rest, in which
believers ought to lay aside their own
works to allow God to work in them.
Secondly, he meant that there was to
be a stated day for them to assemble
to hear the law and perform the rites,
or at least to devote it particularly
to meditation upon his works, and thus
through this remembrance to be trained
in piety. Thirdly, he resolved to give
a day of rest to servants and those
who are under the authority of others,
in order that they should have some
respite from toil."
This opening paragraph requires a
number of comments.
In the first sentence quoted above,
Calvin claims that at the heart of the
teaching of this commandment lies the
conflict between spiritual meditation
on the one hand and our own sinful
inclinations and works on the other.
Calvin sees the human race as so
corrupted by sin that no man has it in
him to spend his days in contemplation
of God and His saving work in Jesus
Christ. With the fourth commandment,
says Calvin, God gave to Israel an
opportunity one day in seven to step
back from the works of this life and
focus attention specifically on the
Lord God. The Sabbath, then, is an
institution belonging to the fallen
world.
Calvin, in agreement with the early
fathers, saw in the fourth commandment
a "foreshadowing" of Christ’s
coming. Specifically, the pattern of
one day free from labour after six
days of toil foreshadowed for Israel
the deliverance which Christ would
obtain from bondage to sin and Satan.
Since Christ has set His people free
from bondage to sin and Satan, the
Sabbath as a sign is fulfilled. So God’s
people today need not rest one day
after six days of labour; instead, in
the New Testament dispensation God’s
people may rest every day – not from
work itself but from evil.
Calvin, in disagreement with the
early fathers, saw more in the fourth
commandment than they did. "They
touch upon only half the matter."
Calvin sees three
"conditions" requiring
attention in a consideration of the
fourth commandment. They are:
the matter of "spiritual
rest, in which believers ought to
lay aside their own works to allow
God to work in them" (see
points 1 and 2 above);
the need for "a stated
day" on which the people of God
may "assemble to hear" the
Word of God;
the will of God to give "a
day of rest to servants".
Calvin appears to be unclear in his
own mind why in the fourth commandment
God gave one day free in seven
(as opposed to, say, one in five or
nine). He says:
"If anyone dislikes this
interpretation of the number seven
as too subtle, I have no objection
to his taking it more simply, thus:
the Lord ordained a certain day on
which his people might, under the
tutelage of the law, practice
constant meditation upon the
spiritual rest. And he assigned the
seventh day, either because he
foresaw that it would be sufficient;
or that, by providing a model in his
own example, he might better arouse
the people; or at least point out to
them that the Sabbath had no other
purpose than to render them
conformable to their Creator’s
example. Which interpretation we
accept makes little difference,
provided we retain the mystery that
is principally set forth: that of
perpetual repose from our labors"
(II.8.31).
On the basis of his indefiniteness
on this point, Calvin later says that
it matters not to him which day of the
week the New Testament church meets
together for worship. Stronger, even a
pattern of one in seven could be
changed to a pattern of one in five….
Calvin is insistent that God wishes
His children in all times and places
to assemble together. However, Calvin
does not base this habit on the fourth
commandment. He says:
"Meetings of the church are
enjoined upon us by God’s Word;
and from our everyday experience we
well know how we need them. But how
can such meetings be held unless
they have been established and have
their stated days? According to the
apostle’s statement, "all
things should be done decently and
in order" among us [1
Corinthians 14:40]" (II.8.32).
Notice Calvin’s argument. Both
Scripture and experience teach us that
we need to meet as church. How shall
the frequency and dates of the
meetings be determined? Calvin finds
the answer not in the fourth
commandment but in Paul’s
"decently and in order"
argument.
In fact, Calvin would prefer that
distinctions between days be removed
altogether, and that God’s people
assemble "daily". He
recognises, however, that the weakness
and spiritual immaturity of many in
this broken life makes the realisation
of this ideal impossible. So, setting
aside one day in seven provides for a
partial realisation of the ideal, of
which all people are capable
(II.8.32).
I note: this accommodation to the
brokenness of this life does not do
much justice to the authority of (one
of) the ten commandments.
As logical consequence of the
above, Calvin does not consider the
shift from Sabbath observance on the
last day of the week to observance on
the first day of the week as decreed
by God (II.8.34). The shift instead
came about by the will of the New
Testament church. Calvin agrees that
their decision to have God’s people
come together on the first day of the
week was a happy decision, since
Christ arose on this first day of the
week.
As Calvin draws to a close his
discussion in the Institutes
about the fourth commandment, he gives
this summary:
"To sum up: as truth was
delivered to the Jews under a
figure, so is it set before us
without shadows. First, we are to
meditate throughout life upon an
everlasting Sabbath rest from all
our works, that the Lord may work in
us through his Spirit. Secondly,
each one of us privately, whenever
he has leisure, is to exercise
himself diligently in pious
meditation upon God’s works. Also,
we should all observe together the
lawful order set by the church for
the hearing of the Word, the
administration of the sacraments,
and for public prayers. In the third
place, we should not inhumanly
oppress those subject to us"
(II.8.34).
The reader will notice much of the
above discussion repeated in Calvin’s
conclusion. His closing words on the
matter are these:
"But we ought especially to
hold to this general doctrine: that,
in order to prevent religion from
either perishing or declining among
us, we should diligently frequent
the sacred meetings, and make use of
those external aids which can
promote the worship of God."
Notice how this closing word
focuses on the practical element of
the fourth commandment. This is a
rule, according to Calvin, valid for
all people at all times.
Calvin, of course, wrote much more
than simply the Institutes. From
his hand have come also commentaries on
most of the books of the Bible, as well
as various tracts, letters and –not to
forget-
catechisms. Especially throughout his
commentaries Calvin has commented at
length about the Sabbath, specifically
where he had to deal with passages of
Scripture that speak of the Sabbath. Yet
in all that Calvin writes further about
the Sabbath, nowhere does he depart
substantially from what he has written
in the Institutes. Repeatedly we
find the same three emphases as
mentioned above, with the accent on the
first of the three, the "spiritual
rest".
Evaluation
The careful reader will have
perceived in the above points that I
disagree with Calvin’s exposition of
the fourth commandment.
In point 1 above, I draw attention
to Calvin’s claim that the conflict
between spiritual meditation on the
one hand and our own sinful
inclinations and works on the other
lies at the heart of this commandment.
This claim presumes that the
fourth commandment can only function
in an environment of sin. Yet the Lord
has told us in Gen 2 that He
kept the Sabbath. And in the reason
for the Sabbath as given in the fourth
commandment on Mt Sinai (Ex 20:8-10),
God specifically connects the human
Sabbath day to the divine Sabbath of
Gen 2. It is a basic error in Calvin’s
teaching about the Sabbath that he
failed to reckon with the Sabbath as a
creation ordinance.
Furthermore, it is certainly true
in the fourth commandment the Lord
would teach His people that they need
to rest from sin. But this
instruction holds true for every
commandment! When God says in the
sixth commandment that I am not to
murder, He tells me not only never to
take my neighbour’s life but also to
love the neighbour, and show patience,
peace, gentleness, mercy and
friendliness to him. When God says in
the seventh commandment that I am not
to commit adultery, He tells me not
only to avoid unchaste behaviour but
also to be as pure and as faithful as
He is pure and faithful. That is to
say: with every command God instructs
us to rest from (particular) sin. By
loading the fourth commandment with an
instruction that holds valid for all
the commandments, Calvin in fact
missed the fine point of the fourth
commandment of God’s covenant.
This is not to say that I see
nothing in Calvin’s insistence that
God gave to Israel one day off from
work per week as a symbol of the total
rest-from-evil that God has promised
His people in Jesus Christ. Calvin’s
argument has merit, and in LD 38 the
church rightly supplies an echo. But
to say that the element of
rest-from-evil forms the heart of the
fourth commandment is truly saying too
much.
Again, that the Lord permits a less
"stringent" command than He
actually would wish on the basis of
the weaknesses of fallen man,
simply does not do justice to the
nature of God’s commands. In none of
the other commandments does God allow
for human weaknesses. The Lord Jesus,
in His Sermon on the Mount, exposes
the depth of the commandments with
these words, "Therefore you shall
be perfect, just as your Father in
heaven is perfect" (Mt 6:48; see
also vss 21-47).
In Calvin’s writings about the
fourth commandment, he nowhere does
justice to the second side of the
command, namely, the instruction to
work. This is understandable since he
lays such emphasis on the concept of
"spiritual rest". But the
Lord intended more in the fourth
commandment than an instruction
pertaining to one-day-rest; in the
command God also gives instruction
about six-days-work. In fact, one may
rightly say that the one-day-rest was
intended to give focus and purpose to
the six-day-work. The whole ambit of
the cultural mandate, then, comes into
focus here.
Conclusion
The reader will understand that I do
not intend these critical comments to
erode appreciation for Calvin. He was
and remained a man of God, greatly used
by God as a blessing for His catholic
church. But Calvin, like anybody else,
was a child of his times, and reacted to
the apostasy of his day. His teachings
on the Sabbath were a vast improvement
over the works-righteousness teachings
of the Roman Catholic Church of his
time, but did not do full justice to the
Word of God.
C Bouwman
|