WSC 61
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q61. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?
The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission or careless performance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.
Proof texts
- Ezek. 22:26 — [26] Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
- Amos 8:5 — [5] saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,
- Mal. 1:13 — [13] But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD.
- Acts 20:7,9 — [7] On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. [9] And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.
- Ezek. 23:38 — [38] Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths.
- Jer. 17:24-26 — [24] “‘But if you listen to me, declares the LORD, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, [25] then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever. [26] And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
- Isa. 58:13 — [13] “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
For discussion
- The Assembly cited Ezek. 22:26 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
- 7 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
- WLC Q100 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
- WLC Q119 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?