Presbyterian Polity

by Jason Cunningham | March 25, 2024

As a new member of the Credentials Committee of my presbytery, I was intrigued to discover that many ordination candidates in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) state a difference to the “no recreation” clause found in Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) 21.8.^[1] Typically, candidates explain the difference with a statement defending some forms of recreation as permissible on the Sabbath. As I researched the background to this issue, I learned that this stated difference had become commonplace across the denomination.^[2]  For example, in 2009 Teaching Elder Lane Keister wrote a paper defending the use of the “No Recreation” clause in the WCF,^[3] and in 2013, the North Texas Presbytery put forward a resolution to establish a study committee on the “Sabbath Issue” to consider amending the Standards.^[4]

I suspect that many candidates state their difference to the “no recreation” clause of WCF 21.8 while lacking three crucial Reformed and Presbyterian convictions: a full understanding of the meaning – both historically and biblically – of the confessional language, a proper definition of confessional adoption, and an appreciation of the Christian Sabbath as a blessedly positive means of grace rather than a stifling restriction of activity. In this first of three blog posts on the subject, I provide a brief analysis of the doctrine of the Christian Sabbath, defending what is sometimes referred to as the “Puritan view.” In the second post, I intend to examine the “no recreation” clause language of WCF 21.8 and its biblical proof texts, specifically Isaiah 58:13-14 as applicable to Sabbath practice in the New Testament. In the final post of this three-part series, I intend to provide a working definition of confessional adoption that upholds the doctrinal Standards of the PCA without requiring “gnat-straining” over every single word.^[5]

In the Beginning and Beyond – Creation and Law

In order to assess the appropriateness and relevance of Isaiah 58:13-14 as a proof text for WCF 21.8, we must first consider how the Sabbath is a perpetually binding creation ordinance applicable to the church today.^[6]

The foundational text for the Sabbath as a binding creation ordinance is Genesis 2:1-3. While the chapter breaks are not inspired, they are convenient for revealing a distinct formula break between the sixth and seventh day. Until this point in the creation narrative, Moses has concluded each day of God’s creative work with the phrase and there was morning and evening. However, on the seventh day that pattern stops. Moses makes a distinction between the days by specifically not including the morning and evening phrase. Keister stresses that it is here the one-in-seven-day rest pattern is established for man (not yet called the Sabbath), and that God enters into an eternal rest from His special work of creation.^[7] It is important to note that this seventh day is set apart by God as holy and that the arrangement initially reveals a rest ‘after’ work pattern. This will be of particular significance later as we see a change in the day after the resurrection of Christ.

This rest pattern comes into a more focused and prescriptive view in the fourth commandment, found in both Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15. Here God points to His own work/rest pattern at creation as an example for Israel to follow. God’s work of redemption is given as an additional reason for keeping the Sabbath. Being redeemed from slavery, the people of Israel are to remember that God had rescued them from Egypt where they were yoked under a work/work (unto death) pattern, quite contrary to God’s creation-established pattern of work/rest. It is critical to understand that in the giving of the fourth commandment, God gave a redemptive meaning to the Sabbath in addition to the work/rest pattern established at creation. This Sabbath command and practice continues throughout Israel’s history, and God’s emphasis on the importance of this command is evident both in the number of times it is mentioned in the Pentateuch as well as the treatment of Sabbath breaking in the prophetic books.^[8]

Shadowy Figures Brought to Light – Hebrews 3:17-4:13

Before we examine the biblical proof text of Isaiah 58:13-14, we must briefly make our connection from Old Testament Sabbath to New Testament Lord’s Day. Doing so at this point will clearly validate the prophetic books as appropriate texts for informing our new covenant Lord’s Day practice and justify their use as supporting texts in the Confession. We have already noted above the redemptive nature of the Sabbath instituted at Sinai. In keeping with the Law, Jesus worshipped God on the Sabbath. Our Lord’s practice in His earthly ministry was appropriate prior to His death and resurrection. It is of particular significance that after the resurrection, Jesus always appears to His disciples on the first day of the week (e.g., Lk. 24:33, Jn. 20:19), and a pattern begins to emerge as the early church meets on the first day of the week, otherwise known as the Lord’s Day, the day of Christ’s resurrection (e.g., Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2, Rev. 1:10).

As Jesus ushers in a new creation (1 Cor. 15:20-24, 2 Cor. 5:17), that which the Old Testament Sabbath anticipated in shadows is realized in the reality of Christ’s resurrection victory. The Sabbath rest instituted at creation and commemorating the redemption from Egypt is now more fully manifest in the reality of our true redemption in Christ celebrated and commemorated on the Lord’s Day, which is the Christian Sabbath. The pattern distinctly changes from a Law-keeping motif characterized by working first then resting (last day of the week), to resting first in Christ (first day of the week) followed by working out of the joy of His finished work.

Nevertheless, one might ask: if the Sabbath command under the Mosaic Law finds its fulfillment in Christ, do Christians have an obligation to obey? While we wholeheartedly affirm old covenant Sabbath fulfillment in Christ, we also recognize the continuation of the Sabbath as eschatologically significant under the new covenant (Heb. 3:7-4:13).

The author of Hebrews explains what we affirmed earlier, that God entered into a permanent rest after creation (4:1) and Adam was to remain in that rest upon condition of obedience. When Adam fell, work became a burdensome curse rather than a satisfying blessing. When God rescued Israel from Egypt, the people were promised rest in Canaan but failed to enter because of disobedience (4:16-19). However, Christ Jesus our great High Priest obeyed God and entered into His rest. By His work, Christ secures for His redeemed people the privilege of doing the same.

Picking up on the wilderness motif of Israel’s exodus out of Egypt and to the Promised Land, the author of Hebrews compares the church as a pilgrim people to Israel in the wilderness (4:6-11). God promised eternal rest to His people but they did not enter with Joshua, and they died in the wilderness. Jesus accomplishes the greater spiritual Exodus from slavery to sin, and we enter that rest only through Him even as we journey through this wilderness awaiting the final consummation of our redemption from death and its corruption. Like baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Day is an eschatological sign pointing to the already finished work of Christ anticipating the consummation to be realized at Christ’s return. This sign of “a sabbath-keeping” or “sabbath rest” (Heb. 4:9) continues until Christ’s second coming. Richard Gaffin Jr. puts it well when he writes:

The Sabbath is a sure sign to the church that it is a pilgrim congregation that is still “on the way”. The weekly Sabbath is a recurring reminder to believers that while most assuredly they already belong to the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), are already resurrected with Christ (Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 3:1), and daily are being renewed inwardly (2 Cor. 4:16); nevertheless, in the body, in their psycho-physical existence, they are short of the final resurrection-rest that “awaits the people of God”.^[9]

In the next post, we will examine the language of the Westminster Confession of Faith’s “no recreation” clause and its principal proof text (Is. 58:13-14) in greater detail.

---

^[1] Similar language appears in Westminster Larger Catechism Q117, Q119, and Westminster Shorter Catechism Q60.

^[2] Editor’s Note: See Matthew Lee’s recent article on this site, Exceptionalism in the PCA, February 21, 2024.

^[3] Lane Keister, “The Sabbath Day and Recreations on the Sabbath: An Examination of the Sabbath and the Biblical Basis for the “No Recreation” Clause in Westminster Confession of Faith 21.8 and Westminster Larger Catechism 117,” The Confessional Presbyterian, no. 5 (2009): 229-238; Editor’s Note: See also, Geoff Gleason, “A Plea for Confessional Integrity in the PCA regarding the Second & Fourth Commandments,” The Confessional Presbyterian, no. 19 (2023): 23-35.

^[4] Overture 7 from North Texas Presbytery (to OC, AC [RAO 9-2; 11-11]) “Establish Study Committee on Sabbath Issue in Westminster Standards” Be it therefore resolved that the North Texas Presbytery overtures the Forty-First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America to appoint a study committee to examine this issue and consider whether there are necessary amendments to the appropriate items in the Westminster Standards that are true to the Scriptures, not unduly restrictive nor overly permissive, and are agreeable to men of sound faith and good conscience.

^[5] I will not be discussing the more extensive language of the Westminster Larger Catechism as it relates to the Sabbath, specifically questions 117 and 119.

^[6] For the sake of argument, this exposition will be brief but is intended to establish the Puritan view of the Sabbath while at the same time rejecting the abrogation position and so-called “Continental view.”

^[7] Lane Keister, “The Sabbath Day and Recreations on the Sabbath.”

^[8] Ryan M. McGraw, The Day of Worship: Reassessing the Christian Life in Light of the Sabbath (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2011), 15-16.

^[9] Richard Gaffin, “Westminster and the Sabbath,” in ed. J. Ligon Duncan, III, The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century: Essays in Remembrance of the 350th Anniversary of the Westminster Assembly, vol. 1 (Fearn, Scotland: Mentor, 2003), 139.

Jason Cunningham is a PCA Ruling Elder serving on the session of Chestnut Mountain Presbyterian Church in Flowery Branch, GA.