The Fourth Commandment

This morning, I looked in my “Faith Alone” devotional book of Luther quotes and thought (before coffee) the text reference was Genesis 2:1-3. No. Not even close. Before I realized I was still half asleep, I looked up the passage using my ESV Reformation Study Bible. The study notes on verse 3 stated that this is a type of Christ. I looked at the verse again and thought, well, yeah, I suppose the obvious is there: that Jesus is Creator as it spells out in John 1. But the study note mentioned Colossians 2:16-17 so I turned there and read the entire pericope.

The Apostle Paul is teaching about rules and regulations being empty philosophies and dead traditions—that one should instead, be alive in Christ. The whole thrust of his doctrine is about focusing on God instead of things. This is the big shift of the New Testament from the Old Testament. Whereas the Old Testament begins with focus upon God, it quickly slides into ritual—doing the right things in the right way. It is easy, when living in such a system to forget why you do things and that things are done for someone besides oneself. The most important things are always done for either God or neighbor (or both). When asked by a scribe what was the most important commandment, Jesus taught (Matthew 12:28-34) that no commandment was greater than loving God and neighbor.

Nevertheless, in ancient Colossae (as in many places and times) we find angel worship instead of the One who triumphed over, not only angels but all powers. (Colossians 2:15; 1 Peter 3:22) So how is Genesis 2:3 pointing to (a “type”) of Christ in this Colossian passage? The Genesis story tells us that we should honor the Sabbath, a day of rest kept in honor of God, who rested from his labors. Ritualists develop elaborate systems on how one should properly honor the Sabbath but they forgot why the Sabbath Day is kept. It is not kept to honor the Sabbath but to honor the Lord of the Sabbath. The focus had shifted between Genesis and Colossians from God to ritual, from the Lord of the Sabbath to the day itself. People had become enslaved to their traditions and philosophies instead of living free, rightly related by faith alone to the Messiah.

We rest because God worked. Still, the inclination is to turn rest into work and therefore dishonor the Sabbath and its Lord. Ritual is always a mere shadow of the substance that is Jesus (Colossians 2:17). Hold fast to him (v19) and live.