Whether the Third Precept of the Decalogue, Concerning the Hallowing
of the Sabbath, Is Fittingly Expressed?
Objection 1: It seems that the third precept of the decalogue,
concerning the hallowing of the Sabbath, is unfittingly expressed.
For this, understood spiritually, is a general precept: since Bede in
commenting on Luke 13:14, "The ruler of the synagogue being angry
that He had healed on the Sabbath," says (Comment. iv): "The Law
forbids, not to heal man on the Sabbath, but to do servile works,"
i.e. "to burden oneself with sin." Taken literally it is a ceremonial
precept, for it is written (Ex. 31:13): "See that you keep My
Sabbath: because it is a sign between Me and you in your
generations." Now the precepts of the decalogue are both spiritual
and moral. Therefore it is unfittingly placed among the precepts of
the decalogue.
Obj. 2: Further, the ceremonial precepts of the Law contain "sacred
things, sacrifices, sacraments and observances," as stated above
(I-II, Q. 101, A. 4). Now sacred things comprised not only sacred
days, but also sacred places and sacred vessels, and so on. Moreover,
there were many sacred days other than the Sabbath. Therefore it was
unfitting to omit all other ceremonial observances and to mention
only that of the Sabbath.
Obj. 3: Further, whoever breaks a precept of the decalogue, sins. But
in the Old Law some who broke the observances of the Sabbath did not
sin--for instance, those who circumcised their sons on the eighth
day, and the priests who worked in the temple on the Sabbath. Also
Elias (3 Kings 19), who journeyed for forty days unto the mount of
God, Horeb, must have traveled on a Sabbath: the priests also who
carried the ark of the Lord for seven days, as related in Josue 7,
must be understood to have carried it on a Sabbath. Again it is
written (Luke 13:15): "Doth not every one of you on the Sabbath day
loose his ox or his ass . . . and lead them to water?" Therefore it
is unfittingly placed among the precepts of the decalogue.
Obj. 4: Further, the precepts of the decalogue have to be observed
also under the New Law. Yet in the New Law this precept is not
observed, neither in the point of the Sabbath day, nor as to the
Lord's day, on which men cook their food, travel, fish, and do many
like things. Therefore the precept of the observance of the Sabbath
is unfittingly expressed.
_On the contrary,_ stands the authority of Scripture.
_I answer that,_ The obstacles to true religion being removed by the
first and second precepts of the decalogue, as stated above (AA. 2,
3), it remained for the third precept to be given whereby man is
established in true religion. Now it belongs to religion to give
worship to God: and just as the Divine scriptures teach the interior
worship under the guise of certain corporal similitudes, so is
external worship given to God under the guise of sensible signs. And
since for the most part man is induced to pay interior worship,
consisting in prayer and devotion, by the interior prompting of the
Holy Ghost, a precept of the Law as necessary respecting the exterior
worship that consists in sensible signs. Now the precepts of the
decalogue are, so to speak, first and common principles of the Law,
and consequently the third precept of the decalogue describes the
exterior worship of God as the sign of a universal boon that concerns
all. This universal boon was the work of the Creation of the world,
from which work God is stated to have rested on the seventh day: and
sign of this we are commanded to keep holy seventh day--that is, to
set it aside as a day to be given to God. Hence after the precept
about the hallowing of the Sabbath the reason for it is given: "For
in six days the Lord made heaven and earth . . . and rested on the
seventh day."
Reply Obj. 1: The precept about hallowing the Sabbath, understood
literally, is partly moral and partly ceremonial. It is a moral
precept in the point of commanding man to aside a certain time to be
given to Divine things. For there is in man a natural inclination to
set aside a certain time for each necessary thing, such as
refreshment of the body, sleep, and so forth. Hence according to the
dictate of reason, man sets aside a certain time for spiritual
refreshment, by which man's mind is refreshed in God. And thus to
have a certain time set aside for occupying oneself with Divine
things is the matter of a moral precept. But, in so far as this
precept specializes the time as a sign representing the Creation of
the world, it is a ceremonial precept. Again, it is a ceremonial
precept in its allegorical signification, as representative of
Christ's rest in the tomb on the seventh day: also in its moral
signification, as representing cessation from all sinful acts, and
the mind's rest in God, in which sense, too, it is a general precept.
Again, it is a ceremonial precept in its analogical signification, as
foreshadowing the enjoyment of God in heaven. Hence the precept about
hallowing the Sabbath is placed among the precepts of the decalogue,
as a moral, but not as a ceremonial precept.
Reply Obj. 2: The other ceremonies of the Law are signs of certain
particular Divine works: but the observance of the Sabbath is
representative of a general boon, namely, the production of all
creatures. Hence it was fitting that it should be placed among the
general precepts of the decalogue, rather than any other ceremonial
precept of the Law.
Reply Obj. 3: Two things are to be observed in the hallowing of the
Sabbath. One of these is the end: and this is that man occupy himself
with Divine things, and is signified in the words: "Remember that
thou keep holy the Sabbath day." For in the Law those things are said
to be holy which are applied to the Divine worship. The other thing
is cessation from work, and is signified in the words (Ex. 20:11),
"On the seventh day . . . thou shalt do no work." The kind of work
meant appears from Lev. 23:3, "You shall do no servile work on that
day [*Vulg.: 'You shall do no work on that day']." Now servile work
is so called from servitude: and servitude is threefold. One, whereby
man is the servant of sin, according to John 8:34, "Whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin," and in this sense all sinful
acts are servile. Another servitude is whereby one man serves
another. Now one man serves another not with his mind but with his
body, as stated above (Q. 104, AA. 5, 6, ad 1). Wherefore in this
respect those works are called servile whereby one man serves
another. The third is the servitude of God; and in this way the work
of worship, which pertains to the service of God, may be called a
servile work. In this sense servile work is not forbidden on the
Sabbath day, because that would be contrary to the end of the Sabbath
observance: since man abstains from other works on the Sabbath day in
order that he may occupy himself with works connected with God's
service. For this reason, according to John 7:23, "a man [*Vulg.: 'If
a man,' etc.] receives circumcision on the Sabbath day, that the law
of Moses may not be broken": and for this reason too we read (Matt.
12:5), that "on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple break the
Sabbath," i.e. do corporal works on the Sabbath, "and are without
blame." Accordingly, the priests in carrying the ark on the Sabbath
did not break the precept of the Sabbath observance. In like manner
it is not contrary to the observance of the Sabbath to exercise any
spiritual act, such as teaching by word or writing. Wherefore a gloss
on Num 28 says that "smiths and like craftsmen rest on the Sabbath
day, but the reader or teacher of the Divine law does not cease from
his work. Yet he profanes not the Sabbath, even as the priests in the
temple break the Sabbath, and are without blame." On the other hand,
those works that are called servile in the first or second way are
contrary to the observance of the Sabbath, in so far as they hinder
man from applying himself to Divine things. And since man is hindered
from applying himself to Divine things rather by sinful than by
lawful albeit corporal works, it follows that to sin on a feast day
is more against this precept than to do some other but lawful bodily
work. Hence Augustine says (De decem chord. iii): "It would be better
if the Jew did some useful work on his farm than spent his time
seditiously in the theatre: and their womenfolk would do better to be
making linen on the Sabbath than to be dancing lewdly all day in
their feasts of the new moon." It is not, however, against this
precept to sin venially on the Sabbath, because venial sin does not
destroy holiness.
Again, corporal works, not pertaining to the spiritual worship of
God, are said to be servile in so far as they belong properly to
servants; while they are not said to be servile, in so far as they
are common to those who serve and those who are free. Moreover,
everyone, be he servant or free, is bound to provide necessaries both
for himself and for his neighbor, chiefly in respect of things
pertaining to the well-being of the body, according to Prov. 24:11,
"Deliver them that are led to death": secondarily as regards avoiding
damage to one's property, according to Deut. 22:1, "Thou shalt not
pass by if thou seest thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, but
thou shalt bring them back to thy brother." Hence a corporal work
pertaining to the preservation of one's own bodily well-being does
not profane the Sabbath: for it is not against the observance of the
Sabbath to eat and do such things as preserve the health of the body.
For this reason the Machabees did not profane the Sabbath when they
fought in self-defense on the Sabbath day (1 Macc. 2), nor Elias when
he fled from the face of Jezabel on the Sabbath. For this same reason
our Lord (Matt. 12:3) excused His disciples for plucking the ears of
corn on account of the need which they suffered. In like manner a
bodily work that is directed to the bodily well-being of another is
not contrary to the observance of the Sabbath: wherefore it is
written (John 7:23): "Are you angry at Me because I have healed the
whole man on the Sabbath day?" And again, a bodily work that is done
to avoid an imminent damage to some external thing does not profane
the Sabbath, wherefore our Lord says (Matt. 12:11): "What man shall
there be among you, that hath one sheep, and if the same fall into a
pit on the Sabbath day, will he not take hold on it and lift it up?"
Reply Obj. 4: In the New Law the observance of the Lord's day took
the place of the observance of the Sabbath, not by virtue of the
precept but by the institution of the Church and the custom of
Christian people. For this observance is not figurative, as was the
observance of the Sabbath in the Old Law. Hence the prohibition to
work on the Lord's day is not so strict as on the Sabbath: and
certain works are permitted on the Lord's day which were forbidden on
the Sabbath, such as the cooking of food and so forth. And again in
the New Law, dispensation is more easily granted than in the Old, in
the matter of certain forbidden works, on account of their necessity,
because the figure pertains to the protestation of truth, which it is
unlawful to omit even in small things; while works, considered in
themselves, are changeable in point of place and time.
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