Contabilidad

Expounding the Sabbath, Calvin states that “the object of this Commandment is that believers should exercise themselves in the worship of God.” Additionally, the Sabbath stimulates believers to maintain “their care and zeal for religion.”59

While Calvin

emphasizes that faith cannot remain hidden in the heart and must be acknowledged before others

(cf. 353-355). 52

Inst. 2.8.16 (1539), OS 3:357. Cf. 1545 Catechism in Tracts 2:57, OS 2:97, for a similar though not identical list.

53

Inst. 2.8.16 (1539), OS 3:357-358. 54

See Inst. 4.17.43 (1536), OS 5:409; Serm. Ten Commandments 109,111-112, CO 26:292,294; 1545 Catechism in Tracts 2:62-63, OS 2:103-104. Elsewhere, Calvin includes almsgiving in the order of worship.

55

McKee, “Context, Contours, Contents,” 71. 56

Ibid., 74. 57

See ibid., 75,79; Battles, Interpreting John Calvin, 292-293,305; Beeke, “Calvin on Piety,” 139,144.

58

See Baker, Participation in Christ, 31-32; Richard, Spirituality of John Calvin, 179. 59

138 indicates that worship is expressed in particular outward acts, he also teaches that

resting from labor and works is a principal means whereby we worship God and

exercise our faith. This command, then, includes a principle of opposites: negatively, we are to rest from our labor and works; positively, we are to participate in communal worship.60 Further, the Sabbath is a sign that God sanctifies us, and this sanctification includes mortification/vivification.61 According to Paul, Calvin explains, the substance of the Sabbath is “no ordinary good thing,”62

for “God inculcates no other commandment more frequently, nor more strictly requires obedience to any.”63 Moreover, Christ is the substance of the shadow contained in the law. Although the external observation of the Sabbath is nullified by Christ’s work, the substance of the Sabbath remains eternal in purpose.64 Further,

The imperative thing is that we set aside our prudence and listen to God speak, following neither our sense nor our imagination. That is the beginning of how we ought to keep the sabbath day: by disbelieving what seems good to us, for of necessity we rest. And how rest? By abiding in such a way that our thoughts do not flutter about or invent first one thing and then another. It is necessary (I say) that we live in obedience to God.65

Stated differently, the “genuine reason of the Commandment” is that “we should rest from our works ‘even as God from His.’” The “legitimate use of the Sabbath,” therefore, is “self-renunciation.”66

We must look not to ourselves and our wisdom but to

60

See Comm. Ex. 20:8, CO 24:576-577. On whether Calvin believed the Sabbath requires Christians to observe a principal or even recurring day of the week—and whether his teaching suffers inconsistency—see Richard Gaffin, Calvin and the Sabbath: The Controversy of Applying the Fourth Commandment (Fern, Ross-Shire: Mentor, 1998), 36-42,73-117,142- 143. Presently, I am not interested in discussing whether Calvin believes a specific or recurring day of the week is required for Sabbath-keeping, but rather his views on Sabbath-keeping as a means of piety. On the twofold nature of Sabbath observance (resting from works and

participating in worship), see Lawrence A. Gilpin, “An Analysis of Calvin’s Sermons on the Fourth Commandment,” Presbyterion 30.2 (Fall 2004): 93-94.

61

Comm. Ex. 20:8, CO 24:577. On the sanctifying nature of the Sabbath, see Chung, Spirituality and Social Ethics¸ 81; Gaffin, Calvin and the Sabbath, 35,93-95,141.

62

Comm. Ex. 20:8, CO 24:578. 63

Comm. Ex. 20:8, CO 24:577. One reason the Sabbath is mentioned more frequently is that it represents the whole worship of God (Comm. Lev. 26:34, CO 25:27).

64

Comm. Ex. 31:13, CO 24:584. 65

Serm. Ten Commandments 101, CO 26:286. 66

Comm. Ex 20:8, CO 24:578. Cf. Serm. Ten Commandments 102,113, CO 26:286,295; 1545 Catechism in Tracts 2:61, OS 2:102. On self-denial and piety, see Beeke, “Calvin on Piety,” 141-142.

God and his Word to worship him rightly.67 Moreover, we violate the Sabbath if we regard our works as originating from us rather than from God.68

Sabbath rest is not accomplished privately. The Sabbath’s design is “to gather us in order that according to our weakness we might be trained to devote ourselves better to the service of God.”69 While Sabbath-keeping requires self-denial, such renunciation cannot be done properly in isolation from the faith community.70 Scripture provides an “external order” (i.e., liturgy) that “we might meditate on the works of God and be trained to recognize the favors which God bestows on us.”71 Thus, the Sabbath exists that we might also consider God’s works, just as God did on day seven of creation.72

Further, the Sabbath “inspires us to recognize the grace which [God] daily offers us in his Gospel that we might be conformed to it more and more. And when we have spent Sunday in praising and glorifying the name of God and in meditating on his works, then, throughout the rest of the week, we should show that we have benefited from it.”73

Such meditation helps us to devote ourselves to him the rest of the time.74 Sabbath-keeping, therefore, is a way for believers, both corporately and individually, to exercise trust in God, one of the four duties of worship. Further, because self-denial is integral to

Sabbath-keeping, it appears that rest and participation in communal worship are integral to one’s renovatio, which we discovered in the previous chapter cannot occur apart from self-denial. By denying ourselves and placing our trust in God, we mortify the flesh and become increasingly holy while expressing our devotion to him. And Sabbath-keeping seems to be a chief means whereby all this occurs. Thus, as Hesselink remarks, the fourth command expresses “the basic pattern of the Christian life.”75

67 Cf. Inst. 3.7.2 (1539), OS 4:152; Inst. 3.7.8 (1539), OS 4:158. 68 Comm. Ex 20:8, CO 24:578. 69

Serm. Ten Commandments 111, CO 26:294. 70

Cf. Beeke, “Calvin on Piety,” 131: “Growth in piety is impossible apart from the church.”

71

Serm. Ten Commandments 113, CO 26:295. 72

Serm. Ten Commandments 104, CO 26:288; 1545 Catechism in Tracts 2:62, OS 2:103. On the Sabbath as a “creation ordinance,” see Gaffin, Calvin and the Sabbath, 30-31,73- 81; Gilpin, “Calvin’s Sermons on the Fourth Commandment,” 94.

73

Serm. Ten Commandments 113, CO 26:295. 74

Serm. Ten Commandments 110, CO 26:293. 75

Hesselink, Calvin’s Concept of the Law, 120. Cf. Richard, Spirituality of John Calvin, 124: “true piety [is] impossible without self-denial.”

140 Calvin also states that union with God is “the highest good of men” and that “we are unable to have a true union and sanctity with him unless we rest from our work.”76

Further, “the bond of this union” is “that we do not alienate ourselves from [God’s] religion and truth, but permit him to govern us.”77 What Calvin means by religion here are the precepts delivered in the first table of the law. Integral to these precepts,

especially Sabbath-keeping, are the key elements of the liturgy. Therefore, by resting from their labor and their works—their own desires, wisdom, and sinful inclinations— and by submitting to God’s order and wisdom by contemplating his works in the context of the church gathering, believers grow into deeper communion with God.78

Now that we have discussed Sabbath-keeping generally, it is imperative to consider the various components of the liturgy and how they enable believers to further observe the duties of worship. God commands us to gather “that we might be taught by his Word, that we might convene together in order to confess our faith, to invoke his name, and to participate in the use of the sacraments.”79

Calvin does not discuss these practices at length in his expositions of the fourth command but gives them detailed attention in his understanding of the previous three. Moving forward we will consider his expositions of these commands and their corresponding teachings elsewhere in his writings.