Immutable 10 Commandments - Keep Holy the Sabbath-day

[Birdmanman]

Hello all, I was wondering if you could help me with something I’ve been struggling with (I have read many of the Catholic Answers information on this topic, including the tracts called “Seventh-Day Adventism”, “Sabbath or Sunday?”, and “From Sabbath to Sunday”, as well as a handful of “Ask an Apologist” responses and other relevant forum posts).

I understand from the Catechism that:
(2175) Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance replaces that of the sabbath. In Christ’s Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish sabbath and announces man’s eternal rest in God. For worship under the Law prepared for the mystery of Christ, and what was done there prefigured some aspects of Christ

I further read that:
(2072) Since they express man’s fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them. The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart.

From Exodus (20:8) we read the Third Commandment:
“Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.” (Douay-Rheims Bible).

So, am I to interpret the teaching of Holy Mother Church here as, although the 10 Commandments are always Immutable, the Third of the 10 Commandments is not actually to ‘keep holy the Sabbath day’, but has some deeper meaning (a “Spiritual Truth”) not clearly expressed by God to the Hebrews?
Unfortunately I cannot say something like “the Sabbath has been moved”, or that Sunday is the “New Sabbath”, because the Catechism clearly distinguishes between Sunday and the Sabbath as entirely different days.

(Put another way, when the Church in the Catechism says that the “10 commandments are fundamentally immutable”, She means a different kind of 10 commandments, other than the word-for-word 10 commandments given to the Hebrews).

This feels to me like an incredible stretch, a leap of logic justified in a seriously roundabout manner, but I am willing to accept it if this is truly the interpretation of The Church.

Thank you for any aid you could give to my understanding.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Sunday is the Lord’s Day or the Day of our Lord. Jesus called himself the Lord of the Sabbath, essentially telling us the reality that He is more important than the Sabbath. So we can get by just celebrating His day than the Sabbath. Indeed, the Apostles meet always during the Day of our Lord. The Sabbath is required upon Jews and as decided by the Apostles, Jewish Law is not to be applied to Gentile Converts, which most of us are descended from.

 

[snarflemike]

You need to distinguish between those commandments which reflect the universal natural law e.g. do not murder, and those which do not. The commandment regarding the sabbath is in the latter category. Nobody could believe that it applied to a pagan, for example.

The catechism blundered in saying that all 10 commandments apply to all people.

 

[Zulfiqar]

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. (1 Corinthians 16:1,2)

And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7)

The first quote from scripture refers to tithing, or the gathering of funds. The second quote from scripture refers to taking the holy eucharist. Both of these things are being done on the first day of the week. The first quote is from the epistle to the Corinthians. The church at Corinth was made up of gentile converts to Christianity, not Jews. The second quote is from the Acts of the Apostles, recording what the apostles did after the death of our savior, Jesus Christ. Saint Paul had just arrived in Troas. Troas is a Greek city. Both of these events show Gentile converts to Christianity performing rituals that are done throughout the ages even unto today in a church service. In fact, Saint Paul, a Jewish convert to Christianity, participated in performing these rituals on Sunday (the first day of the week). This shows that not only were the Gentiles not required to keep the Sabbath, but that even Jewish converts of Christianity were allowed to observe Sunday in place of the Sabbath. There is NO other evidence from the Bible that the holiness from the Sabbath had been transferred to Sunday. It had to be an event that was not done by Jesus. Many Adventists and other Sabbatarians point to this fact as supporting that the Sabbath is still required to be observed. However, remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:18 “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” If one of the apostles, by the authority given to them by Jesus Christ, transferred the solemnity from the Sabbath to Sunday, we are to follow and obey. Jesus gave the apostles the authority to create holy days, and they certainly exercised that authority, considering all of the extra Biblical holidays we have today (like Christmas, Easter, Lent, SUNDAY, etc).

That is why Catholics rely on sacred tradition as well as sacred scripture. One is incomplete without the other.

 

[Julian0404]

Sunday is the Lord’s Day or the Day of our Lord. Jesus called himself the Lord of the Sabbath, essentially telling us the reality that He is more important than the Sabbath. So we can get by just celebrating His day than the Sabbath. Indeed, the Apostles meet always during the Day of our Lord. The Sabbath is required upon Jews and as decided by the Apostles, Jewish Law is not to be applied to Gentile Converts, which most of us are descended from.

Not sure I understand your response, is it appears that you are forgiving yourself from being held to the 3rd Commandment by alluding to JESUS importance over the Sabbath, and/or an attempt to “…get by…” from attending to the Sabbath, and/or excusing yourself from the Commandments because they are essentially Jewish and not Christian focused.
A lot of opitions, so what do you mean?

 

[Julian0404]

You need to distinguish between those commandments which reflect the universal natural law e.g. do not murder, and those which do not. The commandment regarding the sabbath is in the latter category. Nobody could believe that it applied to a pagan, for example.

The catechism blundered in saying that all 10 commandments apply to all people.

Confused by your response as well. What is the impact to our souls in applying the effort “…to distinguish between those commandments which reflect the universal law…” vs some other undefined category declared “…the latter category.” It appears as though you are using the model of a “…pagan…” as the basis for not abiding by the 3rd Commandment, don’t get your arguement, what are you trying to state?

 

[Julian0404]

Birdmanman,

It appears as though you are over reaching and looking for clues that are not present or intended.

The 10 Commandments are very direct and clear. I understand your wrestling with the 3rd Commandment, because, in my opinion, it is the most universally ignored and violated by the largest number of Christians throughout the world. We have reduced this commandment to such a small and insignificant factor in our lives that I believe many of us are going to be very suprised on our day of judgement as we try to explain all the servile work we performed, all the time we used to stay busy instead of rest, and all the activities we pursued in place of prayer. The CCC is clear in its explaination of this commandment, and in reading that explanation, you immediately recognize how little we actually follow.
It means what it says, take time to stop, rest, pray and honor GOD in doing such. And not to perform servile work ( work for another for pay or consideration).

 

[snarflemike]

Confused by your response as well. What is the impact to our souls in applying the effort “…to distinguish between those commandments which reflect the universal law…” vs some other undefined category declared “…the latter category.” It appears as though you are using the model of a “…pagan…” as the basis for not abiding by the 3rd Commandment, don’t get your arguement, what are you trying to state?

Do you believe that a non-Christian is morally obligated to all 10 commandments? Why or why not?

 

[WesleyF]

So, am I to interpret the teaching of Holy Mother Church here as, although the 10 Commandments are always Immutable, the Third of the 10 Commandments is not actually to ‘keep holy the Sabbath day’, but has some deeper meaning (a “Spiritual Truth”) not clearly expressed by God to the Hebrews?

No, the third commandment is to keep the Sabbath day, but the application of the commandment has changed because it is now interpreted in the light of the New Covenant.

**Two reasons were given for the celebration of the Sabbath in the Old Covenant **-

1. Because it was on that day that God rested after he had made heaven and earth. The Israelites were asked to imitate God and rest from their labors on the day that God rested (Exodus 20:11)

2. So that on that day, they could remember that they had been slaves in Egypt and rescued by God from that slavery (Deuteronomy 5:15).

How do these observances change in the light of the New Covenant?

1. It was on the Lord’s Day (i.e. Sunday) that Christ rested after he finished his work of the creation of the new Adam (i.e. the resurrected Christ). Christians should now therefore rest on the day Christ rested.

2. On the Lord’s Day we remember that we had been slaves to sin and have been rescued from slavery through the death and resurrection of Christ who was “raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Col 2:16) The observances of the Old Law, such as the sabbath, were a foreshadowing of the fulness of the New Covenant.

Recommended reading : DIES DOMINI <— WARNING: This is awesome!

 

[R_C]

Just a comment: “Shabbath” was not a “day” like Saturday, rather in Hebrew the word literally translates to “day of rest”, thus in theory the Commandment says to keep holy the day of rest.

The Church has by no means abolished the Third Commandment.

 

[Lancer]

Birdmanman
Immutable 10 Commandments - Keep Holy the Sabbath-day

This feels to me like an incredible stretch, a leap of logic justified in a seriously roundabout manner, but I am willing to accept it if this is truly the interpretation of The Church.

Not an interpretation…rather…a Church doctrine…a law:

Matthew 16: 17-20 (NIV)

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,** and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it. 19** I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.”**** 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

891 "The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office

, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith** he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals**. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter’s successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine “for belief as being divinely revealed,” and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions “must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.” This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.

John 16:13 (NIV)

13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

Luke 10:16 (NIV)

16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever** rejects me rejects him who sent me**.”

The Pope and the Magisterium (Catechism) did not “blunder” in teaching/confirming all and anything in faith and morals…the Third Commandment applies to all mankind…Christians and non-Christians…simply because God wants it that way.If someone claims that the Church blundered…then its their task to prove how the Church does not have Christ’s authority to make this universal declarative rule on the Third Commandment. Otherwise…maybe the Church is wrong on other faith and morals issues…maybe on the Eucharist, Baptism, Marriage…etc…it is an untenable position…in other words…Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life…would only have authority over Christians…don’t think so.

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
SECOND EDITION

2071 The commandments of the Decalogue, although accessible to reason alone, have been revealed. To attain a complete and certain understanding of the requirements of the natural law, sinful humanity needed this revelation:

A full explanation of the commandments of the Decalogue became necessary in the state of sin because the light of reason was obscured and the will had gone astray.

We know God’s commandments through the divine revelation proposed to us in the Church, and through the voice of moral conscience.

The obligation of the Decalogue

2072 Since they express man’s fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are** fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them.** The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart.

2073 Obedience to the Commandments also implies obligations in matter which is, in itself, light. Thus abusive language is forbidden by the fifth commandment, but would be a grave offense only as a result of circumstances or the offender’s intention.

​

Pax Christi

 

[Birdmanman]

Thank you all very much for your responses!

**Hi Julian, **

You said: “The 10 Commandments are very direct and clear. I understand your wrestling with the 3rd Commandment, because, in my opinion, it is the most universally ignored and violated by the largest number of Christians throughout the world. We have reduced this commandment to such a small and insignificant factor in our lives that I believe many of us are going to be very suprised on our day of judgement as we try to explain all the servile work we performed, all the time we used to stay busy instead of rest, and all the activities we pursued in place of prayer. The CCC is clear in its explaination of this commandment, and in reading that explanation, you immediately recognize how little we actually follow.
It means what it says, take time to stop, rest, pray and honor GOD in doing such. And not to perform servile work ( work for another for pay or consideration).”

Thanks again for responding; I’m sure you recognized this, but my problem has more to do with what day of the week the 3rd commandment applies to, and how we justify saying both that the 10 commandments are immutable and yet that the 3rd commandment is interpreted in a way significantly different from what it was originally written as, and thought to mean by the Hebrews before Christ (keep holy the Sabbath, that is, the 7th day of the week and not the first). If The Church really puts forward this interpretation, I will of course obey, but I’m hoping that there is some nuance I’m missing in The Church’s teaching that might make this apparent change seem more fitting than I see it as now with my imperfect understanding.

Although I’m having trouble seeing how your response answers my original question, I do see what you mean about the respect for The Lord’s Day being violated quite often in society, and I hope that I do not contribute too much to this disrespect. I greatly appreciate your concern for the well-being of the faithful.

**Hello WesleyF, **
Thanks for responding!
You said: “the third commandment is to keep the Sabbath day, but the application of the commandment has changed because it is now interpreted in the light of the New Covenant.”

I guess my difficulty with this is what the “Sabbath day” actually is (that is, does it mean literally “day of rest” as R_C has kindly told us, or does the Hebrew understanding of Sabbath as the time from sundown on Friday until Saturday night). |
If by “keep holy the Sabbath” God literally meant for the Third commandment to say “keep holy that time from sundown Friday until Saturday night”, this would imply that the commandment is no longer observed by us Catholics (which is impossible, as The Church teaches that the 10 commandments are immutable). Fortunately, The Church has the authority to interpret Scripture and teach doctrines concerning it as well, and I trust Her interpretation, whatever that may be.

You also said: “The observances of the Old Law, such as the sabbath, were a foreshadowing of the fulness of the New Covenant.”

Certainly the Old Law has been fulfilled in Christ, but the Church which has authority to teach as Christ gave Her has told us (in the Catechism) that a part of the Old Law, the 10 Commandments, are not just a part of the Old Law, but are part of an unchangeable law written in the human heart (that is, Natural Law). While we can say Christ has removed for us the dietary laws and other ceremonial laws of the Hebrews, we cannot say that Christ has removed the 10 commandments, for the (catechism tells us that) The Church teaches that He has not removed them.

Hopefully I can try to put my predicament more clearly:
If (A) observing the Sabbath is a part of the 10 commandments (see Exodus in prior post),
and
if (B) the Sabbath is not Sunday (see Catechism in my prior post),
and
if (C) the 10 commandments are to be always followed and are unchangeable (see Catechism in my prior post),
then,
observing the Sabbath on a day that cannot be on Sunday is an unchangeable commandment which we must follow.
This conclusion is clearly false, since The Church teaches us to observe The Lord’s Day (Sunday) as our Holy Day. Therefore, one of the premises (A, B, or C) must be false; the premises from the Catechism (B and C) cannot be false, because the Catechism does not teach error (or at least, we assume so), so premise (A) must be false; that is, observing the Sabbath (explained in the Catechism to be chronologically prior to Sunday) is not actually a part of the 10 commandments. In other words, the command to “keep holy the Sabbath” actually means “keep holy the day you should keep holy, which can change depending on how much has been revealed to you”, but to fit the Hebrew understanding, was written simply as “keep holy the Sabbath” as that was the day (distinguished from Sunday) they were to keep holy at that point in time.

P.S. I will greatly enjoy reading Dies Domini when I get the chance! Thanks for the link!

**Hi Zulfiqar, **
Thanks for responding! In your post, you give some nice quotes from sacred scripture demonstrating how the Early Church worshiped (by “breaking bread”) on Sunday, the first day of the week. I certainly agree with you that it is part of New Testament Scripture and Tradition to keep holy the Lord’s day on Sunday specifically. My question is about how the apparent change from keeping holy Saturday (roughly) to keeping holy Sunday fits in with the Catechism’s teaching that all 10 Commandments are immutable and apply to everyone, even the Early Christians. I understand that the apostles have the authority to bind and to loose, and I do not doubt that authority, but using that authority they (or their Apostolic descendants) seem to have bound that all 10 of the commandments are immutable and applicable, and also to have bound that we are to keep holy the Lord’s Day, which they have taught to be different from the Sabbath. I am confused by this apparent contradiction, and know that this is not really a contradiction, and so I am attempting to resolve the contradiction, mainly by saying that the 10 commandments, in their actual meaning, do not include the commandment to keep holy the Sabbath, but in reality mean to keep holy the Lord’s day, or whatever day God has appointed to be kept holy. (see my response to Wesley above for more details).

**Hi R_C, **
Wonderful contribution! I hope I’m not asking too much, but where did you get that translation? I tried Google searching a literal translation, but didn’t have much luck (maybe I’m not looking hard enough…).
Regardless, because the Catechism has told us clearly that the Sabbath is not Sunday, I don’t think I can get out of this predicament by taking this more literal definition of Sabbath, as no matter what definition I take, in order to be in keeping with the Catechism the definition must be understood to be “not Sunday”.

Thanks for the link by the way, hopefully I will be able to resolve my lack of understanding after having read it!

Hi Lancer,
Thanks for responding!
Sorry if I misspoke by calling this an interpretation, please don’t think I’m trying to disobey a Church doctrine, I am just trying to understand it.
(Also, to be clear, I did not say that the Catechism made a blunder, it was another poster. I know the Catechism isn’t always infallible since it isn’t always dealing with Dogma, but we must obey the Magisterium even when it is not teaching infallibly). To reiterate, I don’t think the Church is wrong, I am just trying to understand what implications the Church’s teaching on this matter have for how we should see the Third commandment.

You said: “the Third Commandment applies to all mankind”
I agree, but what does the Third Commandment really mean? If the Third Commandment really means “keep holy the Sabbath day”, which is what is written in the Bible, and if Sunday is “expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically” as the Catechism says, then in order to keep the Third Commandment, we must keep holy a day that is expressly distinguished from Sunday.
However, because The Church teaches that we are to keep holy Sunday, rather than the sabbath, and She is surely not wrong, then we must say that the Third Commandment does not really mean “keep holy the Sabbath day”.That is, there must be some other meaning to that verse of the Bible that is not obvious, or maybe it was put in the language and cultural context that the Hebrews would understand, or maybe it was even a mis-translation or copyist error (though I’m not sure if we are allowed to propose that last option as valid).

 

[R_C]

where did you get that translation?

I don’t recall where I originally learned it as such, but there’s a link that describes the etymology here

Shabbat is primarily a day of rest and spiritual enrichment. The word “Shabbat” comes from the root Shin-Bet-Tav, meaning to cease, to end, or to rest.

Also here we see that

שָׁבַת shabath

1. to cease, desist, rest
   A primitive root; to repose, that is, desist from exertion;

Glad the info was helpful!

 

[Todd_Easton]

The “moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart,” which finds practical expression in both the Jewish keeping of the Sabbath and the Christian celebration of Sunday, is that we are “to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship as a sign of his universal beneficence to all.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2176)

 

[Birdmanman]

The “moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart,” which finds practical expression in both the Jewish keeping of the Sabbath and the Christian celebration of Sunday, is that we are “to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship as a sign of his universal beneficence to all.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2176)

Hi Todd,
Thanks so much for responding!
So since the Catechism also teaches that the Sabbath cannot be Sunday, we ought to properly interpret the apparent Third Commandment given to Moses, “Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.”, as instead meaning, in light of the Catechism, in reality “Remember that thou render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship as a sign of His universal beneficence to all.”?
That is, the “keep holy the Sabbath day” was simply a practical, Hebrew contextualized way of saying what the Catechism says in your post?

Essentially, the Third Commandment given to the Hebrews, and as it was understood by the Hebrews (keep Holy the Sabbath), is not the correct understanding of the Third Commandment (it is partially correct in that it fulfills the Natural Law, but it is incorrect to say that the entirety of the Third Commandment is just “keep holy the sabbath”, even if that is what is written). The understanding of this Third Commandment (on the part of the Hebrews) has been changed because of Christ, but the Commandment itself stays the same as a matter of Natural Law (as is assured by the Catechism); the Commandment was not actually what God gave to Moses and was brought to and told the Hebrews, but was something different that was not written and told to the Hebrews (except for being written on their hearts as a part of the Natural Law)?

I hope you can see why this feels like a stretch for me, because it requires that I say something that is plainly written for the Hebrews and plainly understood by the Hebrews as one thing, actually means another thing that looks significantly different from what is actually written, but if it is a stretch required by The Church then it is something I will accept.

---

What about this understanding; since the Catechism says: (2175) “In Christ’s Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish sabbath and announces man’s eternal rest in God.”, can we effectively say that The Sabbath as spoken about in the Third Commandment is still to be kept Holy, but that the method by which we “keep the Sabbath holy” is not neccesarily by stopping work on the Sabbath, but rather by celebrating the resurrection of The Lord of the Sabbath which occured on Sunday?
Essentially, since this commandment is immutable, the Sabbath remains the Sabbath holy day, but the ceremonial requirements that are the way of keeping it holy are fulfilled (and by extension, removed) by Christ and instead reverence is given to a different and more important day of the week that counts as also revering the Sabbath day.

For example, if I was commanded somehow to “keep Tuesday fun”, and for half of my life there was only one fun event for the entire week that took place on Tuesday, I would be basically required to go to that event (provided nothing else could bring ‘fun’). But then for the next half of my life, a fun event occurs once weekly on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and the event on Wednesday is even more fun than the one on Tuesday; if on Tuesday I am having fun by looking forward to that fun event on Wednesday, I am still fulfilling my obligation to “keep Tuesday fun”, even though the real fun event is taking place on Wednesday.

Reapplying the analogy, since Christ rose on Sunday and that is when the Church has decided we should rest and pray and have mass, instead of Saturday (except as a vigil, but lets ignore that for now), then by looking forward to keeping Sunday holy and, in light of Christ’s resurrection and with His help, by living a holy life on Saturday, we are still “keep[ing] holy the Sabbath day”, even if the manner in which we keep it holy is different from the Hebrews.

Do you all think this understanding is accetpable and in accord with Church teaching? I worry that it might be considered heretical because it still requires that we say the Sabbath from sundown friday to saturday night is still the real Sabbath and that we must keep that time holy as commanded by the 10 Commandments, but that we must keep Sunday (and indeed all other days of the week) holy as well, and the way to keep them holy is to act morally good and fulfill your Sunday obligation of mass.

Please correct my understanding if it is flawed, and ignore it if it is heretical or false. I do not give assent to this understanding and will change it immeadiatly if it in anyway disagrees with Church teaching (instead I simply admit honestly that I am having serious trouble understanding Tradition and Scripture here and in my ignorance desire to follow whatever She teaches on this). I am not at all trying to teach this or hold to it, but to have this corrected or evaluated.

 

[Catholic_Dude]

Hello Birdman,

There was an apologetics article recently posted on this very subject:

catholicnick.blogspot.com/2012/08/7-reasons-to-reject-sabbatarianism.html

They key distinction is that the Ten Commandments are only guidelines for Christians, they are not a legal code in which they’re kept with regulations and punishments.

 

[Birdmanman]

Please read the disclaimer at the very bottom of this post before continuing on to read the post. I do not want to be guilty of putting heresy into anyone’s mind.

Hello Birdman,

There was an apologetics article recently posted on this very subject:

catholicnick.blogspot.com/2012/08/7-reasons-to-reject-sabbatarianism.html

They key distinction is that the Ten Commandments are only guidelines for Christians, they are not a legal code in which they’re kept with regulations and punishments.

Wow, what an insightful link! Thanks for that!
However, I do have my issues with this link, and may comment on this person’s blog to express my difficulties even with this.
The author of the blog states; “The Ten Commandments are thus only a very handy guideline summary for the two greatest commandments.”, however the Catechism clearly says “(2072) Since they express man’s fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them. The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart.”
Surely the greatest commandments are literally the greatest commandments, but that doesn’t mean the 10 commandments cannot be eternal and always obliging, as well as being a guideline to fulfill the 2 greatest commandments.

I think it might be clearer if I restate my issue (an apparent contradiction involving scripture, the catechism, and another portion of the catechism), and some ideas I have come up with for how to resolve the apparent contradiction:

1. (2175) “Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week.”
   So this clearly means that the sabbath, whatever meaning we want to give to the word sabbath as a day, cannot be the same as Sunday. (1) The sabbath is not sunday.
2. (2072) “Since they express man’s fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them. The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart.”
   I see this as saying, the 10 commandments are immutable and always to be obeyed, all mankind is bound to them all the time. (2) We must follow The 10 Commandments.
3. From the Catechism (2168) “The third commandment of the Decalogue recalls the holiness of the sabbath: “The seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD.””
   So, the third commandment clearly says “Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.” (3) One of the commandments says to keep holy the sabbath

Putting it together:
It looks to me like the Church teaches:
(1) The sabbath is not sunday
(2) We must follow the 10 Commandments
(3) One of the commandments says to keep holy the sabbath

**Problem: **
Are we keeping holy the Sabbath? Does the Church require us to keep holy the Sabbath? Since we (should) worship and avoid manual labor and unneccesary shopping on Sundays, and not the sabbath, it appears that the Church is doing something contrary to what the Church teaches, but this cannot be so as the Church is correct in Her (infallible) teaching, no matter what, and we are obligated to obey Her (non-infallible) teaching as well.

**Proposed Solutions: **

**A. We DO keep the sabbath, and the sabbath IS to be kept holy. **
By going to Church on Sunday and living everyday with reverence for God and a sincere attempt at being holy with the help of Christ, we literally ‘keep holy the sabbath day’ as well as every other day of the week, even if we don’t worship or rest on the sabbath. The method of keeping the sabbath holy changed (from legalistic mitzvot to the Law of Love) but the requirement to keep the sabbath holy did not change.

B. The 10 Commandments given to Moses are different from “The 10 Commandments, in their primordial content”.
When the Catechism refers to “the 10 Commandments in their primordial content” it doesn’t mean the 10 Commandments found in the Bible per se, but the primordial content of those 10 commandments. Presumably, the primordial content of the Third Commandment is not really to ‘keep holy the sabbath day’ since primordial language would be less detailed, and the real primordial content as shown in the Catechism is “to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship as a sign of his universal beneficence to all.” (2176).
I really like this solution, but I am cautious because right after it talks about the ‘primordial content’ of the Commandments, the language of the Catechism shifts back to: “They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them.”, to what is the “They” referring, is it referring to the primordial contents of the 10 Commandments, or the 10 Commandments themselves, as that is the key difference?
In the next line we see again: “The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart.” and not “the primordial contents of the 10 Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart”, so I feel like this solution is untenable if I also want to obey the Catechism (which I do).

C. The Catechism uses an unclear and changing meaning of “The 10 Commandments” or other words.
For example, when it says “The 10 Commandments” it could really mean “the primordial content of the 10 Commandments”, with the meaning being implicit rather than explicit.

D. The Catechism is mistranslated or is translated in a nontechnical way that doesn’t give nuance to the words used in discussing this issue

E. (Do not actually use this proposed solution, since it is probably entirely false) The Bible is mistranslated or has a copyist error, which the Catechism works with, and does not actually talk about the sabbath day when saying “Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.” I don’t know if we Catholics are allowed to believe this is even possible. (I have another thread regarding the Council of Trent’s teaching on how must accept as sacred and canonical (and authentic) the Old Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible.)

**F. Perhaps the explanation the Catechism gives in this section is fallible (and potentially in an unharmful error), though we must still assent to it. **

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer:
I am not trying to teach any of these solutions or anything stated in this thread as true, I am ignorant on this subject and nothing I type should be relied on for spiritual guidance. If what I type is incorrect, please correct me. I am trying to understand Church teaching on this topic, and I profess and believe all that She gives me to believe, though my flawed understanding as stated above (not just the proposed solutions, but the entire post and all my posts) may fail me, and should not be looked on as anything more than a flawed understanding. **

 

[fames]

" *And on the first day of the week, when we were assembled to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, being to depart on the morrow: and he continued his speech until midnight. * "
Acts 20:7

" Now concerning the collections that are made for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, so do ye also.
On the first day of the week let every one of you put apart with himself, laying up what it shall well please him; that when I come, the collections be not then to be made. "
1 Corinthians 16:1-2

" Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a festival day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths, "
Colossians 2:16

Recommended reading:

Sabbath or Sunday?
What about the Seventh-Day Adventist claim that the sabbath shouldn’t have been changed to Sunday?
Did the early Church move the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?

Recommended listening:

Sunday vs. The Sabbath Tim Gray, President of the Augustine Institute.

 

[Birdmanman]

" And on the first day of the week, when we were assembled to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, being to depart on the morrow: and he continued his speech until midnight. "
Acts 20:7

" Now concerning the collections that are made for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, so do ye also.
On the first day of the week let every one of you put apart with himself, laying up what it shall well please him; that when I come, the collections be not then to be made. "
1 Corinthians 16:1-2

" Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a festival day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths, "
Colossians 2:16

Recommended reading:

Sabbath or Sunday?
What about the Seventh-Day Adventist claim that the sabbath shouldn’t have been changed to Sunday?
Did the early Church move the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?

Recommended listening:

Sunday vs. The Sabbath Tim Gray, President of the Augustine Institute.

Hi Thames,
Thanks for the links and quotes, I have already read the Catholic Answers Tracts and “Ask an Apologist” questions regarding this topic. I should give the radio show a listen though.
I firmly believe the Early Christians and the Apostles considered Sunday, when Christ rose, to be the Holy Day Christians are bound to celebrate. I do not dispute this; my question (see my post above) deals specifically with how The Catechism speaks on this, and how it seems to lead to an apparant contradiction that I wish I could effectively resolve (since I know The Church will not contradict Herself in Her Infallible Magisterium).

Maybe an analogy would help explain my confusion:
Please note this is just an analogy, I do not mean to imply that the Church has actually made an error, which She cannot do (in Her magisterium when teaching a doctrine on faith and morals when She means to teach universally something to be held by the faithful)
Pretend a Father gives a commandment to a son “on juice day, you must drink at least one cup of apple juice”. He also gives another commandment, “you must always obey your mother, she will not contradict me”. [Assume you must listen to your fathers commandments and he never lies]. Father then goes away on a business-trip and you are left with Mother. Mother says "okay, every commandment your father gave you is to be followed, forever, and they are not able to be changed, ever, for they are immutable. (By this I mean CCC 2072) " The next day, mother says, “juice day is NOT on Sunday, I assure you. (Like CCC 2175)” And then she says “the commandment your father gave you before was literally for you to drink one cup of juice on juice day (restating the commandment, as did CCC 2168) , which is not Sunday as I said. There was no hidden meaning in your father’s commandment”. Mother finally then says “you must drink one cup of apple juice on Sunday, and no cups of apple juice on juice day, and that will replace juice day, juice day has been abolished”.

Would not the child be surprised, saying “but you said father’s commandment was unchangeable, and that his commandment plainly said to drink one cup of juice on juice day, and that there was no hidden meaning in his commandment, but it appears that you have changed his commandment”.

However, with the child’s father still away on a business trip, the child must obey his mother despite the serious confusion the child has.

 

[ahs]

Hi Thames,
Thanks for the links and quotes, I have already read the Catholic Answers Tracts and “Ask an Apologist” questions regarding this topic. I should give the radio show a listen though.
I firmly believe the Early Christians and the Apostles considered Sunday, when Christ rose, to be the Holy Day Christians are bound to celebrate. I do not dispute this; my question (see my post above) deals specifically with how The Catechism speaks on this, and how it seems to lead to an apparant contradiction that I wish I could effectively resolve (since I know The Church will not contradict Herself in Her Infallible Magisterium).

Maybe an analogy would help explain my confusion:
Please note this is just an analogy, I do not mean to imply that the Church has actually made an error, which She cannot do (in Her magisterium when teaching a doctrine on faith and morals when She means to teach universally something to be held by the faithful)
Pretend a Father gives a commandment to a son “on juice day, you must drink at least one cup of apple juice”. He also gives another commandment, “you must always obey your mother, she will not contradict me”. [Assume you must listen to your fathers commandments and he never lies]. Father then goes away on a business-trip and you are left with Mother. Mother says "okay, every commandment your father gave you is to be followed, forever, and they are not able to be changed, ever, for they are immutable. (By this I mean CCC 2072) " The next day, mother says, “juice day is NOT on Sunday, I assure you. (Like CCC 2175)” And then she says “the commandment your father gave you before was literally for you to drink one cup of juice on juice day (restating the commandment, as did CCC 2168) , which is not Sunday as I said. There was no hidden meaning in your father’s commandment”. Mother finally then says “you must drink one cup of apple juice on Sunday, and no cups of apple juice on juice day, and that will replace juice day, juice day has been abolished”.

Would not the child be surprised, saying “but you said father’s commandment was unchangeable, and that his commandment plainly said to drink one cup of juice on juice day, and that there was no hidden meaning in his commandment, but it appears that you have changed his commandment”.

However, with the child’s father still away on a business trip, the child must obey his mother despite the serious confusion the child has.

You are forgetting one crucial point. The Father came back, in a “Second Person” and said, “I have come, not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it”, then fulfilled the Law that He had established in the beginning, then acknowledged Himself Lord of the Sabbath, and the showed us by His Ressurection that Sunday is the Lord’s Day…the new day of rest in the New Convenant…the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. Finally, He gave the Mother the power and authority to bind and loose EVERYTHING…“whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”…so that the child can go forward in confidence that whatever Mother tells him is true, is really True.

Would not the child be surprised, saying "but you said father’s commandment was unchangeable, and that his commandment plainly said to drink one cup of juice on juice day, and that there was no hidden meaning in his commandment, but it appears that you have changed his commandment

This is exactly the problem that the Pharisees ran into when they simply could not believe that Jesus was the Christ.