The Third Commandment

The word "holyday" (Feiertag) comes from the Hebrew word Sabbath, which literally means to rest (feiern), to stop working. This is why we say in German, "Feierabend machen," meaning to cease working, to observe an "evening rest," or to keep the evening holy. In the Old Testament, God set apart the seventh day and designated it for rest, commanding that it be kept holy above all other days. As an outward observance, however, this commandment was given specifically to the Jews. They were required to stop their hard labor and rest, so that both people and animals could recover their strength and not be worn down by relentless work. But the Jews later interpreted this commandment too rigidly and badly misused it. They attacked Christ and refused to let Him do what they themselves regularly did on the Sabbath, as we read in the Gospels (Matt 12:2ff; Luke 13:10ff), as though the commandment could be fulfilled simply by avoiding physical labor of any kind. That was never its meaning. As we will see, the commandment calls us to sanctify the Sabbath, the day of rest.

In its most literal and basic sense, this commandment no longer applies to us as Christians. It belongs entirely to the external realm, like the other ordinances of the Old Testament, which were tied to specific customs, persons, times, and places. Christ has freed us from all of that. But to give those who are less familiar with Scripture a clear Christian understanding of what God actually requires in this commandment, let me explain why we still observe holy days. We don't keep them for the sake of mature and learned Christians, who have no need of such structure. We keep them, first, because our bodies require rest. Nature itself teaches and demands that ordinary working people, servants and tradespeople who spend the entire week at their labor, take a day to rest and recover. Beyond that, we keep holy days so that people have the time and opportunity to worship together as a congregation, which they otherwise couldn't do. It also gives them a chance to gather, hear and discuss God's Word, and offer Him fitting praise through song and prayer.

These purposes, however, are not tied to a specific day the way they were for the Jews, for whom the observance had to fall on a precise day. In reality, no single day is inherently better than another, and ideally worship would be practiced every day. But since most people cannot manage that, at least one day each week must be set aside for it. Sunday was designated for this purpose in ancient times, and we should not abandon that practice. The Sabbath should be observed consistently on the same day so that needless changes don't create disorder. The straightforward point of this commandment is that, since people naturally mark certain days as special, those days should be arranged so that people actually learn God's Word. The true purpose of these days, then, is the ministry of the Word, especially for the young and for ordinary people who need that instruction. That said, our observance should not be so rigid that it prohibits work that is incidental or genuinely unavoidable.

So when someone asks what it means to "sanctify the rest-day," the answer is straightforward: sanctifying the rest-day is the same thing as keeping it holy. But what does "keeping it holy" actually mean? Simply this: filling that time with holy words, holy works, and a holy life. The day itself doesn't need to be made holy, because it was already created holy at the beginning of creation. What God wants is for it to be holy to you. As far as you're concerned, the day will be holy or unholy depending entirely on how you spend it. So how is the day truly kept holy? Not by sitting by the fire and avoiding physical work, and not by decorating ourselves with garlands and wearing our finest clothes. As already stated, it's kept holy by studying God's Word and putting it into practice.

As Christians, we should really regard every day as holy and fill all of our time with holy things, meaning daily reflection on God's Word, carrying it in our hearts and on our lips. But since most people, as noted, don't have that kind of uninterrupted freedom, we need to set aside several hours each week for the young and at least one full day each week for the broader community. That time should be used for nothing else, especially for studying the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, so that we can shape our entire lives and characters according to God's Word. Wherever this practice is genuinely observed, the holy day is truly kept. Where it isn't, the day can't honestly be called a Christian rest-day. After all, even people who aren't Christians can take a day off and be idle. That's exactly what the whole crowd of our clergy does: they stand in the churches every day, singing and ringing bells, yet they keep no holy day at all, because they neither preach nor practice God's Word. They teach and live in direct contradiction to it.

The Word of God is the holy of holies, and in fact the only holy thing we Christians recognize and possess. Even if we were to pile up the bones and sacred relics of every saint who ever lived, they could do nothing for us, because they are lifeless objects with no power to sanctify anyone. God's Word, by contrast, is the treasure that makes everything holy. It is the very thing by which all the saints themselves were sanctified. So whatever hour God's Word is taught or preached, heard, read, or called to mind, that person, that day, and that work are made holy through it, not because of any outward act, but because of the Word itself, which sanctifies us all. This is why I keep returning to the same point: our entire lives and everything we do must be shaped by God's Word if any of it is to please God or be called holy. Where that is the case, this commandment does its work and is fulfilled. On the other side, everything we are and everything we do that does not flow from God's Word is unholy before God, no matter how impressively it shines. This remains true even when something is draped in relics from head to toe, as with the humanly invented religious orders that have no grounding in God's Word but instead pursue holiness through their own efforts.

Notice, then, that the power and purpose of this commandment lie not in the resting itself, but in the sanctifying. This day carries its own distinctive holy work. Ordinary labor and daily tasks are not properly called holy unless the person doing them is already holy, but here we have a work that actually makes the doer holy. As we have seen, that can only happen through God's Word. Places, times, individuals, and all the structures of worship have been established and ordered for one central purpose: so that God's Word may do its work publicly among the people.

Since so much depends on God's Word that no day of rest can be truly sanctified without it, we must understand that God demands strict observance of this commandment and will punish all who despise His Word by refusing to hear and learn it, especially at the times set apart for that purpose. Those who sin against this commandment are not only the ones who blatantly misuse and profane the day of rest, such as those who, out of greed or laziness, have stopped listening to God's Word altogether, or who sprawl in taverns, bloated and senseless like pigs. That same guilt falls on the large number of people who listen to God's Word the way they might listen to idle chatter, drifting in and out of church purely out of habit, and who know no more of that Word at the end of the year than they did at the beginning. For a long time, the prevailing view was that the day of rest was properly sanctified if a person sat through the reading of a mass or the Gospel for that day, and no one thought to ask whether God's Word was actually being taught or understood.

Now, even though we have God's Word freely available to us, we still haven't corrected these abuses of the day of rest. We allow preaching and correction to wash over us continuously, but we hear it without any real concern. Keep in mind, though, that hearing the Word is only part of it; the Word must also be learned and held onto. Don't treat this as something optional or trivial, because it is the command of God Himself, and He will call you to account for how you have heard, learned, and honored His Word.

In the same way, those who are spiritually complacent deserve sharp correction: people who, after hearing a sermon or two, consider themselves satisfied and done, as though they have learned enough and no longer need a teacher. This is the sin that was once counted among the mortal sins and was called "acedia" (that is, spiritual sloth and disgust with holy things), a vicious and dangerous plague by which Satan enchants and deceives many hearts, drawing them under his control and quietly robbing them of the Word before they even notice it is gone.

Let me be clear: even if you know God's Word thoroughly and feel confident in your understanding of it, you are still living every day under the pressure of Satan's kingdom. He never rests, never lets up, working around the clock to catch you off guard (Rev 12:10; 1 Pet 5:8), looking for any opportunity to plant unbelief and corrupt thoughts in your heart against all of God's commandments. This is why you must keep God's Word constantly present: in your heart, on your lips, and in your ears. When the heart sits empty and the Word goes silent, Satan moves in and does his damage before you even realize what has happened. On the other hand, wherever the Word is taken seriously, listened to carefully, and actually put into practice, it carries a power that never fails to produce fruit. It continually stirs up fresh thoughts, new joys, and deeper devotion, and it purifies the heart and everything the mind dwells on. These are not idle or lifeless words; they are active and alive. And even if you felt no other pressing reason to engage with the Word, this alone should be enough: through it, Satan is driven back and put to flight. Beyond that, engaging with the Word fulfills this commandment, and God finds it far more pleasing than any outwardly impressive but hollow act of religion.