Lesson 8: The Ten Commandments, Part 4

the Fourth Commandment: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).

1. What does the Bible say to do on the Sabbath?
It commands rest on that day: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work...For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11).

2. According to Exodus 31, to whom was the Sabbath given?
The Sabbath was given as a sign to Israel (Exodus 31:13–17); nowhere is it given as a sign to the church. Thousands of years after the Commandment was given, we can still see the sign that separates Israel from the world—they continue to keep the Sabbath holy.
There isn’t even one command in the New Testament for Christians to keep the Sabbath holy. In fact, we are told not to let others judge us regarding Sabbaths (Colossians 2:16), and that man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man (Mark 2:27)

3. Did Paul worship on the Sabbath? Why or why not?
The reason Paul went to the synagogue each Sabbath wasn’t to keep the Law; that would have been contrary to everything he taught about being saved by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8,9). Instead, it was so he could preach the gospel to the Jews, as evident in the Book of Acts. Paul had an incredible evangelistic zeal for Israel to be saved (Romans 10:1). To the Jew he became as a Jew, that he might win the Jews (1 Corinthians 9:19,20). That meant he went to where they gathered on the day they gathered—“he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath” (Acts 18:4). D.

4. Why is the Christian free from the Law?
...saved by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Romans 14:5–10 tells us that one man esteems one day of the week above another; another esteems every day alike. Then Scripture tells us that everyone should be fully persuaded in his own mind. We are not to judge each other regarding the day on which we worship.

L. Moody said, “The Law can only chase a man to Calvary, no further.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law so we are no longer in bondage to it. If we try to keep one part of the Law (even out of love for God), we are obligated to keep the whole Law (Galatians 3:10)—all 613 precepts.