How We've Thought About Sunday

About seven years ago I taught a class on Baptist history and polity for our Association’s CLD center (the CLD program is now called the ADVANCE program). We spent three hours one Monday late in the semester looking at the development of our denomination’s confession, the Baptist Faith & Message. The development of the article of the Lord’s Day was (and is) striking to me.

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New Hampshire Confession (1833) Article XV, “Of the Christian Sabbath”

That the first day of the week is the Lord’s-Day, or Christian Sabbath; and is to be kept sacred to religious purposes, by abstaining from all secular labor and recreations; by the devout observance of all the means of grace, both private and public; and by preparation for that rest which remaineth for the people of God.

Baptist Faith & Message (1925) Article XIV, “The Lord’s Day”

The first day of the week is the Lord's day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private, and by refraining from worldly amusements, and resting from secular employments, works of necessity and mercy only excepted.

Ex. 20:3-6; Matt. 4:10; Matt. 28:19; 1 Tim. 4:13; Col. 3:16; John 4:21; Ex. 20:8; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Acts 20:7; Rev. 1:1; Matt. 12:1-13.

Baptist Faith & Message (1963) Article VIII, “The Lord’s Day”

The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private, and by refraining from worldly amusements, and resting from secular employments, work of necessity and mercy only being excepted.

Ex. 20:8-11; Matt. 12:1-12; 28:1ff.; Mark 2:27-28; 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-3,33-36; John 4:21-24; 20:1,19-28; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Col. 2:16; 3:16; Rev. 1:10.

Baptist Faith & Message (2000) Article VIII, “The Lord’s Day”

The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord's Day should be commensurate with the Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Exodus 20:8-11; Matthew 12:1-12; 28:1ff.; Mark 2:27-28; 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-3,33-36; John 4:21-24; 20:1,19-28; Acts 20:7; Romans 14:5-10; I Corinthians 16:1-2; Colossians 2:16; 3:16; Revelation 1:10.

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There is a great distance between “kept sacred to religious purposes, by abstaining from all secular labor and recreations; by the devout observance of all the means of grace, both private and public; and by preparation for that rest which remaineth for the people of God” (1833) and “activities...commensurate with the Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ” (2000). Is the difference due to Baptists’ deeper consideration of the liberty found in the Gospel, or conformity to a culture obsessed with entertainment and play? I’m sure that impassioned arguments could be made for either side.

We are Baptists. We balance continuity and discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments.

Discontinuity: Whereas the Law of the Old Testament was clear about sacred rest on the seventh day (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15), the Law of the New Testament asserts that “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath,” that is, God Himself (Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5). In honor of this, the New Testament describes the Church gathering on the first day, not the seventh day, of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2) because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). We call this the “Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10).

Where is the continuity? The New Testament is not free of commandment (Matthew 28:20; John 14:15; 15:10; 1 Corinthians 14:37; 1 Thessalonians 4:2). The people of God are still under the rule of the only Lawgiver (Isaiah 33:22; James 4:12), Jesus Christ. How does that apply to the day of our gathering as the Church? If the New Testament represents the fullness of what was progressively revealed in the Old Testament, how is that seen in our observance of the day of gathering? Is Christ fully revealed as the glory of the Father by a full day dedicated to His worship or a single hour followed by a trip to the lake?

How reliable is “the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ,” when many Christians believe this is a religious way of “following your heart”? Too often the “Christian’s conscience” has nothing to do with prayerful meditation on Scripture and everything to do with “the way that seems right to a man” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25).

These are not easy questions, and have been the subject of much debate for two millennia.

Consider the development of this article on the “Christian Sabbath,” or “the Lord’s Day.” Is your “rest” a dedication to entertainment no different from the world’s (except for maybe a few hours at Sunday School and worship), or is it a dedication of a day pointing to the “rest” that remains in eternity for those in union with the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ?