What are the sins forbidden in the fourth commandment?

The sins forbidden in the fourth commandment are, all omissions of the duties required,[1] all careless, negligent, and unprofitable performing of them, and being weary of them;[2] all profaning the day by idleness, and doing that which is in itself sinful;[3] and by all needless works, words, and thoughts, about our worldly employments and recreations.[4]

1. Ezek. 22:26

   Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

2. Acts 20:7, 9

   On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

   And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

   Ezek. 33:30-32

   As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ 31 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.

   Amos 8:5

   …saying, “When will the new moon be over,
   that we may sell grain?
   And the Sabbath,
   that we may offer wheat for sale,
   that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great
   and deal deceitfully with false balances,

   Mal. 1:13

   But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.

3. Ezek. 23:38

   Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths.

4. Jer. 17:24, 27

   But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it,

   But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.

   Isa. 58:13

   If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
   from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
   and call the Sabbath a delight
   and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
   if you honor it, not going your own ways,
   or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;

Question 119, Westminster Larger Confession

Comments

[Pebnorth (Beverley Whitehouse)]

I have a great deal of trouble with the 'Sabbath' and 'Sunday' - can anyone give me a definitive explanation why we celebrate on Sunday rather than Saturday. (from the Bible please !!!) I have a friend who is so fixated on the 'Sabbath' being Saturday that she does not allow herself to believe anything 'preachers' say. Thanks for your help.

[rebecca]

Hello Beverley,

We meet together on Sunday rather than Saturday because that seems to have been the practice of the early church. Paul tells the Corinthians to take the collection on the first day of every week (1 Corinthians 16:1-2), and it was on the first day of the week that the disciples gathered together to break bread and listen to Paul preach. (Acts 20:7)

The record from the early church fathers, too, suggests that that's when the Christians worshiped.