For one day a week, we are reminded that our value does not come from what we produce, but from who we belong to. We rest in the finished work of Christ, enjoying a weekly foretaste of the eternal rest that awaits all the people of God.

In the first half of Chapter 21, we learned how we are to worship God (according to His Word alone). In the second half of the chapter, the Confession turns to the question of when we are to worship Him.

While Christians are called to worship God every day in private and with their families, God has also claimed a specific, regular portion of our time for Himself. The Westminster Confession articulates the classic Puritan and Presbyterian doctrine of the Christian Sabbath. While some Christians view the Sabbath merely as an expired Jewish ceremony, the Confession argues that it is a perpetual, moral command rooted in creation, intended for our good and God’s glory until the end of the world.

The Confession teaches that God has appointed one day in seven as a perpetual Sabbath; that this day changed from the last day of the week to the first day of the week following the resurrection of Christ; and that it is to be kept holy by resting from all worldly labor and recreation, devoting the entire day to public and private worship, and performing duties of necessity and mercy.

A Perpetual Moral Command (WCF 21.7a)

The Confession grounds the Sabbath in two ways. First, by the “law of nature.” Even general revelation tells us that if God is the sovereign Creator, it is only right that “a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God.”

Second, God has explicitly revealed this in His Word by a “positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages.” Notice the words the divines use. The Sabbath is not a temporary ceremonial shadow that vanished with the Old Covenant. Why? Because the Sabbath was not instituted at Mount Sinai; it was instituted in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:2-3 ). Before sin ever entered the world, God established the pattern of working six days and resting for one. Therefore, the Fourth Commandment is a permanent, moral creation ordinance binding upon all humanity.

The Change of the Day (WCF 21.7b)

If the Sabbath is a perpetual moral law, why do most Christians worship on Sunday rather than Saturday?

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