# Question 57 and Ch 21 of the WCF



## Scott Bushey (Jul 18, 2004)

In regards to exercising freedom on the Lords day:


WCF Shorter catechism

Q. 57. Which is the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: 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: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Q. 58. What is required in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his Word; expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy sabbath to himself.

Q. 59. Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly sabbath?
A. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath.

Q. 60. How is the sabbath to be sanctified?
A. The sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.


Q. 61. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission, or careless performance, of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.

Q. 62. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?
A. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God's allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, his challenging a special propriety in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the sabbath day.


WCF
Chapter XXI.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day. 


VIII. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest, all the day, from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations,(o) but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.(p)

(o) Exod. 20:8; Exod. 16:23, 25, 26, 29, 30; Exod. 31:15, 16, 17; Isa. 58:13; Neh. 13:15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22.
(p) Isa. 58:13; Matt. 12:1 to 13. 

1) "Due preparing of their hearts". Getting one's heart right prior to the Lords day, i.e prayer, scripture reading, thought life.
2) ".....and ordering of their common affairs beforehand....."
One can assume that the implication is that something should be taken care of prior to the Lords day; right? Common things? The question may be, what things are common? Meals? Gas for the car? Secondly, what would be the "ordering of"? The arranging of? The organization of things that we consider common? Food preparation the day before. Buying things on Saturday that we will require on the Lords day. Organizing the Lords day so that it will be most beneficial to the believer and his family. Take the phones of the hook so that common calls are avoided. Removing items from view that could be tempting, i.e the Sunday morning News paper, magazines, television guides, sporting news etc.

One might ask themselves, if these are not the implication of scripture and our creeds, what IS being implied? What would be then considered as 'ordering of common affairs"?


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## Craig (Jul 18, 2004)

I would agree with most of that stuff, Scott...except maybe the telephone. Phones are used for emergency but also as a way of conducting spiritual matters...Sunday is the day i call my parents. I grew up worshipping with them, and now I enjoy talking to them on Sunday discussing church and family things. Anyways, disabling the phone would be like disabling your door knock....or worse, taking the batteries out of your smoke alarm.


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## BrianLanier (Jul 19, 2004)

I agree with Craig over the phones. Phones are used for emergencies, which can turn out to be works of mercy! Plus, now with caller ID it is even easier to avoid those ";;common calls";;!


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## Scott Bushey (Jul 19, 2004)

I agree about the phones; I was just using it as an example of ";;common";; things..........


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## Scott Bushey (Jul 20, 2004)

Would you agree then that doing anything 'common', outside of that which is necessary, on the Lords day is in direct conflict with the WCF and the word of God?

For instance, could you support in any way, based upon the above rationale, eating out at a restaurant on the Lords day?


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## Craig (Jul 20, 2004)

I haven't fully thought through what common is, biblically speaking.

Would playing a board game with your family be out of the question?

My wife and I watched a video we owned after evening worship and dinner: To Kill a Mockingbird. Would this be common? For us, a movie like that is out of the ordinary  

Is sitting on your deck drinking sweat tea and enjoying the breeze common?

Is going to the park for a walk common?

At this point, my understanding is that work and purchases that aren't "necessary" would be dishonoring to God on the Lord's Day.


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## Scott Bushey (Jul 20, 2004)

Craig,
That is exactly why I have focused upon what the devines wrote. The question is, what was common to them? What is common to us? Common refers to that which is the norm. That which we would typically do from day to day..........

What is common to you? Typical? Norm?


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## Craig (Jul 20, 2004)

Does that mean "common" isn't definable, then? Would you agree that we know that work and purchasing of goods/services is dishonoring to God...beyond that is a matter of conscience?


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## Scott Bushey (Jul 20, 2004)

Craig,
Thats the point, the term is definable. Generally we all know what is common. That which is undescernable is left to the conscience to define.


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## wsw201 (Jul 21, 2004)

I looked up AA Hodge's commentary on this section and he stated the following:

[quote:214b148016]Since God has appointed the Sabbath to be one day in seven, we should consecrate the whole day, without curtailment or alienation, to the purposes designed; that is, to rest from worldly labour, the worship of God, and the religious instruction of our fellow-men. We should be diligent in using the whole day for these purposes, and to avoid, and, as far as lieth in us, lead our fellow-men to avoid, all that hinders the most profitable application of the day to its proper ends. And nothing is to be allowed to interfere with this consecration of the day except the evident and reasonable demands of necessity as far as our own interests are concerned, and of mercy as far as the necessities of our fellow-men and of dependent animals are concerned.
[/quote:214b148016]

Unfortunately he does not shed much light on the issue of "common".

I also checked Shaw's Commentary and he was no help either


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## Scott Bushey (Jul 22, 2004)

What could have been common to Calvin or Hodge may not be common to us necessarily.


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