Everyone’s Sunday ritual holds significance and idiosyncrasy. Typically, my traditional day of rest revolves around sporting events. Whether I am lethargic on the couch to mind-numbing visuals and audio from the television or spending quality time on the links, Sundays involve sports. This has been a constant facet of my life since childhood.

I remember serving as an altar boy for the majority of my adolescent years. A quintessential Sunday at that time looked like this: assisting the priest as an altar boy during the morning service; enjoying lunch with family and churchgoers; playing with neighbourhood kids all afternoon; returning home for dinner; and watching television until I went to bed. Sports, such as football, soccer, baseball, and golf, were played with my childhood friends and blared on the TV. When a family member became ill or my parents were indifferent to attending church, I knew the rest of my Sunday routine would remain the same. It felt as if relaxing at home or amusing myself with friends was the status quo, and celebrating the Sabbath was an obligatory chore that we checked off our list only when convenient. 

A similar sentiment regarding church service attendance, I argue, holds firm with other Americans. In a survey published by the Pew Research Centre in 2014, the study found that “36% of Americans now say they attend religious services at least once a week, down from 39% in 2007.”¹ In 2017 a similar report from Gallup states 55% of Americans claim to be a church member, which is significantly lower than 70% from 1992.²  These statistics measure two different phenomena. However, both figures suggest church attendance is dropping. Why? Does this also propose a decline in Christian religiosity?

Theologians have debated to what extent Sabbatarianism is integral to Christendom for centuries. John Calvin, a Frenchman whose theological, pastoral, and literary career predominately took place in sixteenth century Geneva, is no exception. Calvin’s punctilious promotion of ecclesiastical discipline was unprecedented to the point that it became conceptualized as an honorary third mark of the Church. Presbyterianism, a Christian denomination that descended from Calvinism, inherited a Calvinistic zeal for discipline, which was enforced particularly concerning the Sabbath’s observance. 

This brief essay will centralize on the Christian Sabbath from a Calvinist and Presbyterian perspective. From these viewpoints I will illuminate the importance of the Sabbath. I will explain how transference of Sabbath understanding shifted from the Middle Ages to the Reformation, and how this change was applied during the Presbyterian movement. It is my hope to resurrect a lost significance of the Sabbath and juxtapose it in a modern-day context.

Originally, the book of Exodus is of the Jewish tradition. Generally, the text proclaims the story of Israel’s creation and the initial stages of God’s covenanted nation. Exodus, along with the other four books of the Torah, became integrated with the Christian tradition under the Christian Bible’s canonization. Subsequently, the book’s facets and teachings are as consequential to Christians as they are to Jews.

Specifically, Exodus 20 records the Ten Commandments. These decrees are notorious for outlining and dictating a morally kosher life. Nevertheless, certain commandments are more straightforward than others. In the King James Version Exodus 20: 13-15 posits, “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal.” Simple enough, right? What about the Commandment regarding the Sabbath?

Before the aforementioned Commandments, God instructs to “Remember the [S]abbath day, to keep it holy.” He persists by correlating His labours to that of humanity’s. That is, just as He rested after creating Heaven and Earth for six days, so shall we abstain from work after six days and honour the Sabbath. However, God lacks specificity regarding which works to refrain from engagement on the Sabbath. Nor does He explain how to keep the day holy and honour it. Where other Commandments are uncomplicated to comprehend, this one is hermeneutically broad and compromising.

As seen during the Medieval and Early Modern time periods, there are two trains of thought concerning the Sabbath. One approach, held by Thomas Aquinas, Theodore Beza, and Heinrich Bullinger, regards the Sabbath as ceremonial. It is ceremonial because it serves “as a reminder of God’s rest on the seventh day.”³ The other approach, held by Martin Luther and Calvin, states that the ceremonial position is irrelevant, but the holy day instead contains spiritual and practical significance. In other words, “the heart’s intent and spiritual state of the believer” are more pertinent to the Sabbath’s observance than the particular day it takes place.⁴ 

Calvin elicited his exegesis regarding the Sabbath in his magnum opus, Institutes to the Christian Religion. Comprehensively, he beseeches Christians to uphold the Sabbath because, “We must be wholly at rest that God may work in us; we must yield our will; we must resign our heart; we must give up all our fleshly desires. In short, we must rest from all of our activities of our own contriving so that, having God working in us, we may repose in him.”⁵ The theologian utilized this point of resting so that God may work through us and related it to Christ. According to Calvin, Christ’s coming fulfills the Sabbath, abolishing the previously conceptualized ceremonial component of the day.⁶ The Fourth Commandment becomes actualized through Christ’s existence, gospel, and resurrection. 

Calvin showed that Sabbatarianism required spiritual focus to meditate on Christ’s Word. While the day of rest has been practiced on the seventh day of the week, or the first according to the Gregorian calendar, the Frenchman claimed the scheduled day was inconsequential due to Christ’s fulfillment of the Fourth Commandment. Rather, refraining from desires of the flesh in favour of the spiritual, mirroring Augustine and Paul, is important to honour the Sabbath.

Upon its creation, Presbyterianism rigorously conveyed the Calvinistic approach to Sabbatarianism with medieval antecedents. That is, piety instituted austerity on every seventh day. Kenneth Parker illuminates that this involved condemning the “use of plays, games, church ales, dancing, working, and many other activities on Sundays” in late sixteenth/early seventeenth century England.⁷ Moreover, not only was this practice the status quo, but also “ecclesiastical and civil authorities issue[d] injunctions and orders that would achieve that end.”⁸ David Mullen showcases similar banned activities and repercussions during the Scottish Presbyterian movement. Censuring typical activities and events on the Sabbath correlated to Calvin’s views of the holy day.⁹ 

Restricting human desires and activities culminated to the sanctification of the Sabbath. This sentiment is articulated in the Westminster Short Catechism. “The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations that are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship.”¹⁰ Truly worshiping God requires steadfast spiritual concentration and guidance that mortal enterprises impede. For the Presbyterian movement, leisurely undertakings thwarted one’s ability to allow the Holy Spirit to guide them towards a righteous life. This practice catalysed meticulous public and private worship services holistically but especially on the Sabbath.  

In what ways can the Calvinist view and the Presbyterian application of Sabbath devotion suggest remedies to a lower service attendance and a potential loss in religiosity in modern times? For me, the practical phrase taken from the answer to Question 60 of the Westminster Short Catechism, quoted above, is ‘all that day’. These three words encompass the perceived lost significance of the Sabbath; yet imply how to rectify said issue. 

Time is the pivotal facet of Sabbath observance. How people of faith spend their time on Sunday directly reflects if the Sabbath is honoured or not. If someone attends church in the morning and indulges in endeavours of the flesh that afternoon and evening, then the Fourth Commandment is not upheld. If someone attends sermons and private worship sessions throughout Sunday, but does not allow their mind to rest from worldly affairs, then the Sabbath is not sanctified. The entirety of the day, from the opening of the eyes in the morning to their closing at night, must be dedicated to the Sabbath. In this way the Fourth Commandment is properly administrated and followed; in this way God works through someone via the Spirit to actualize Christ’s Word.

In conclusion, there are a plethora of methods to instill a reverence and appreciation of the Sabbath in the twenty-first century. While several surveys suggest a reduced amount of church attendance and, potentially, overall Christian religiosity in America, there are ways to combat this phenomenon. Looking at the Calvinist interpretation and Presbyterian implementation of the Sabbath provides helpful insight. Citizens must have self-discipline to avoid personal desires and activities in order to honour the Sabbath (civil and ecclesiastical authorities will not condemn such undertakings as seen during sixteenth and seventeenth century Britain). For example, people of faith can read Scripture or listen to recorded sermons in the evenings instead of reading or listening to whatever they usually fancy. Similarly, they could watch Christian documentaries or movies instead of going to the cinema or digesting cable television. Whatever the approach, time is key. How a person’s time is spent correlates to their commitment to Christ. And what could be more important on the Sabbath?

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