Resources for Studying the Sabbath

Friends have asked me on more than one occasion what I recommend reading on the Sabbath. I finally got the sense to make a post about it that I can point them to. Since iron sharpens iron, I’ve also included in the list responsible resources opposed to sabbatarianism. If you have any further recommendations, please let me know.

Why So Many People Think of the Sabbath as a Burden

The reason that so many people feel it as a burden is partly that we have so much leisure, we don’t feel the need for the sabbath rest; but more important, I think, is the fact that not many people really enjoy what God intended us to enjoy on the sabbath, namely, himself. Many professing Christians enjoy sports and television and secular books and magazines and recreation and hobbies and games far more than they enjoy direct interaction with God in his Word or in worship or in reading Christian books or in meditative strolls.

Therefore, inevitably people whose hearts are set more on the pleasures of the world than on the enjoyment of God will feel the sabbath command as a burden not a blessing. This is what John says in 1 John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” The measure of your love for God is the measure of the joy you get in focusing on him on the day of rest. For most people the sabbath command is really a demand to repent. It invites us to enjoy what we don’t enjoy and therefore shows us the evil of hearts, and our need to repent and be changed.

 -John Piper Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy

Balance in Application

How is a happy medium in Sabbath observance to be obtained? What will preserve us from undue laxity on the one side, and unwarrantable severity on the other? Where shall we turn for that much-needed guidance which will deliver us from the grievous yoke of Pharisaical excess, and which will also prevent us from degenerating into the lawlessness of our Moderns? We have searched long and diligently for a satisfactory answer to this question, but (amid much that was helpful on other branches of our subject) have failed to meet with anything clear and definite. Personally our firm conviction is that we shall be kept from going wrong in this matter, if we, first, adhere strictly to the letter of the Fourth Commandment; and second, apply that commandment to the details of our lives in the spirit of the New Covenant.

-A.W. Pink The Holy Sabbath

(13) Rather than dictating a detailed list of things forbidden on the Sabbath it is best if ministers and elders enunciate the principles involved and allow each individual or family to prayerfully and conscientiously determine how they will sanctify the Sabbath.

-Lee Irons The Sabbath as an Eschatological Sign of the Covenant

4 views:

I have heard very good things about this volume: Perspectives on the Sabbath

Con:

• 40 Questions About the Christian and the Law  Thomas Schreiner
• From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical and Theological Investigation ed. D.A. Carson

Pro:

• From the Finger of God: The Biblical and Theological Basis for the Threefold Division of the Law Philip Ross
• The Holy Sabbath (ebook) A. W. Pink (Also as PDF and to order free hard copy)
• The Lord’s Day Joseph A. Pipa
• Call the Sabbath a Delight Walter Chantry

Pro Articles:

• “Not Under the Law But Under Grace” Lee Irons
• Entering God’s Rest by Faith: Realized Eschatology in Hebrews 3:7-4:11 Lee Irons (Irons’ treatment of this text is very similar to the treatment found in Carson’s volume, yet note that he does not therefore oppose Sabbatarianism. I lean towards this interpretation of Heb 4 over Gaffin’s.)
• The Sabbath as an Eschatological Sign of the Covenant Lee Irons (these three are all from the same author, so take note of how they work together)
• Some Ideas on How to Deepen Your Enjoyment of the Lord’s Day Jeffrey T. Riddle
• Tom Wells’ Book on the Sabbath: Foreward and Chapter 1 Review/critique by Richard Barcellos
• Tom Wells’ Book on the Sabbath: Chapter 2, part i
• Tom Wells’ Book on the Sabbath: Chapter 2, part ii
• Tom Wells’ Book on the Sabbath: Chapter 2, part iii
• Tom Wells’ Book on the Sabbath: Chapter 3, part i
• Tom Wells’ Book on the Sabbath: Chapter 3, part ii
• Response to Schreiner on the Sabbath critique by Barcellos of Schreiner’s book above
• Response to Schreiner on the Sabbath 2
• Response to Schreiner on the Sabbath 3
• Are We Required to Attend Church on Sunday? Michael Horton (“I have changed my own position in (The Law of Perfect Freedom), convinced now that the Lord’s Day is grounded in creation as well as redemption.”)
• Why On Sunday? O. Palmer Robertson
• Five Resources for Understanding the Lord’s Day as the Christian Sabbath
• The Christian Sabbath: Examined, Proved, Applied Brian Schwertly (I don’t agree with everything here, but there are some good things to be gleaned)
• Following My Re-Maker’s Example: Why I Sabbath on Sunday Bob Gonzales
• Is the Fourth Commandment Still Required for Christians? Nick Batzig/Francis Turretin

Why Should Christians View the Lord’s Day as the Sabbath? (Richard Barcellos)

Interesting Observations

• Finally, here is an interesting book. I don’t recommend it as an argument, but as a simple observation of the 4th commandment written on the hearts of all men. It’s written by a non-Christian after trying to explain to his daughter where we get weeks from. Read the first 10 pages: The Seven Day Circle: The History & Meaning of the Week

“Unlike the day and the year [and the month], the week is an artificial rhythm that was created by human beings [or their Creator] totally independently of any natural periodicity.” p. 4

• Kim Jong Un Probably Not Sabbatarian