Six Days You Shall Labor
Recovering the Nobility of Work in the Fourth Commandment
“Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God” (Ex. 20:9–10).
Introduction
When the Fourth Commandment is discussed in Reformed churches, the emphasis almost always falls (rightly) on the Christian Sabbath. We strive to defend the Lord’s Day against neglect, busyness, and secular intrusion. Yet in doing so, we often underemphasize a foundational truth built directly into the Commandment itself—work.
The Fourth Commandment isn’t only about cessation; it’s also about structure. God claims the whole week and provides us the weekly rhythms of worship, rest, and work. Strikingly, the moral obligation to “labor” occupies more textual ground than the obligation to rest. To neglect the “six days” is to misunderstand the Commandment as a whole and to miss a crucial biblical vision for human responsibility.
Work as a Creation Ordinance
The Reformed confessions consistently root moral duty in creation. Long before Sinai, God established work as part of humanity’s original calling. “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). The Hebrew word for “work” (ʻâbad) is often translated throughout the Old Testament as either labor, work, serve, or even worship. In his book, The Masculine Mandate, Richard Phillips writes,
According to the Bible, this kind of work describes one of the two main planks in a man’s calling. Not that men are all literally to work as gardeners. Rather, we are called to “work” whatever “field” God has given us. Men are to be planters, builders, and growers…. Men should be using their gifts, talents, and experiences to succeed in worthwhile causes that (if they are married) provide for their families. (1)
Essentially, then, to work is to provide. We should be diligent in our labors, striving to create, build, and grow. We should work with all our might for the glory of God and the good of others
This task of “work” precedes the Fall, the curse, and our redemption. Work, therefore, is not remedial—it is creational. Though the Westminster Standards do not comment extensively on Genesis 2:15, they assume its implications. The Westminster Confession of Faith grounds God’s moral law in creation, teaching that the moral law “doth forever bind all” (WCF 19.2, 5). The command to labor is not a temporary arrangement for fallen humanity, but rather an expression of how God designed human life to function.
Adam was created as a worker, cultivator, provider, and guardian. Productivity, responsibility, and stewardship are not cultural inventions. These are biblical and theological realities. A refusal to work is a rejection of our creational design.
The Stewardship of Time
Among the Ten Commandments, the Fourth Commandment uniquely governs time. It teaches that God owns not only actions, but rhythms. It establishes the rhythm one day of holy rest and six days of ordinary labor.
The Westminster Larger Catechism makes this explicit. In Question 117, the Catechism teaches that the Fourth Commandment requires us to “sanctify” the Sabbath, but this sanctification presupposes engagement in “worldly employments” during the other six days. The catechism does not treat work as morally neutral space, but as part of the commanded order of life.
Even more pointedly, Larger Catechism Question 119 lists sins forbidden in the Fourth Commandment—including “idleness” and the misplacing of time that ought to be spent in lawful callings. Laziness is not only a violation of wisdom, but also a violation of God’s law. In fact, I believe that laziness is a declaration to God that you don’t respect the time He’s given you.
Work After the Fall: Burdened but Not Abolished
The Fall introduced pain and frustration into work (Gen. 3:17–19), but it does not nullify the obligation to work. The Westminster Confession acknowledges that sin distorts human obedience, yet it never suggests that fallen conditions suspend moral duty. On the contrary, the moral law continues to bind all people “forever” (WCF 19.5). This is why Scripture speaks so forcefully against being a “sluggard.” Proverbs condemns laziness as something destructive, and the New Testament intensifies the point. The apostle Paul’s command—“If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10)—assumes that productive labor is the normal and expected posture of the Christian life. Work is hard because we live in a fallen world, not because it is wrong.
Although work involves pain, it also involves pleasure. We can be satisfied by the labors of our hands. The psalmist writes, “You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you” (Ps. 128:2). The NASB translates the last phrase, “You will be happy and it will go well for you.” Why is it, then, that Pew Research reports that only half of American workers are very satisfied with their work? (2)
The reason lies in how we view our work. Is it something we just bear, or is it a gift from God? Does your work have meaning? Can you truly enjoy it? Indeed, we can be happy and enjoy not only the work itself, but also the fruit that comes from it. Solomon writes, “I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man” (Eccl. 3:12).
To have pleasure in the toil of work is God’s gift. Thus, while difficult (because of the curse of the Fall), work can be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. A biblical worldview changes how we view our work—we get to work. No matter what vocation (or vocations) we have, we can serve as unto the Lord and work to the glory of God.
Provision as Moral Obligation
The Bible (and the Westminster Standards) consistently connect work to responsibility—especially the responsibility to provide. Paul writes, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). Provision is not just an optional expression of maturity. It’s a basic calling of Christian obedience. This fits squarely within the confessional understanding of vocation. The Westminster Standards assume that believers will engage in “lawful” works as a means of honoring God and serving others (WLC, 117). At its most basic foundation, then, work is love enacted through responsibility.
For men, in particular (may I speak to you, specifically?), this has weighty implications. Scripture repeatedly assigns men a covenantal responsibility for provision and stewardship for themselves, their families, and their communities—not as a cultural artifact, but as a moral calling. The Fourth Commandment reinforces this by embedding labor into the fabric of our obedience itself.
Recovering the Nobility of Work
Biblical rest is meaningful when it is complemented by faithful labor. The Sabbath is not an escape from responsibility, but a reward that crowns it. As the Puritans often stated, the Lord’s Day is “the market day of the soul.” The Sabbath rest is rest from “ordinary works,” not from all exertion. That distinction presumes that ordinary work exists, matters, and has been faithfully pursued.
When rest is detached from labor, it degenerates into entitlement. The sweetness of the Lord’s Day depends, in part, on the weight of the other six days of work. Someone who refuses the discipline of work cannot rightly experience the joy of rest, because he (or she) has rejected the order God has established.
Unfortunately, our cultural moment either idolizes work or despises work. Scripture rejects both errors. Work is not ultimate—but it is good. This calling is not oppressive, but enabling. It is commanded, dignified, and limited. It belongs within a weekly rhythm that forms mature and joy-filled disciples of Jesus. Recovering the “six days you shall labor” emphasis of the Fourth Commandment is especially urgent for us today, for it calls us to bear the particular weight of provision and responsibility. It gives shape and purpose to our strength, energy, and goals.
The Fourth Commandment teaches us that God governs all of life—work, worship, and rest. Six days of labor are commanded, while one day of worship and rest is sanctified. Together, they reflect God’s own creative pattern and moral order. To recover the nobility of work is not to diminish the Christian Sabbath, but rather to uphold it. Faithful worship and rest prepare us—and renew us—for faithful labor. “Six days you shall labor” is a divine summons to responsibility, provision, and obedience before God. May we not only delight in the worship and rest of the Lord’s Day, but also in the “work of our hands,” for God’s glory and our joy in Him.
(1) Richard D. Phillips, The Masculine Mandate: God’s Calling to Men (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2010), 13.
(2) Luona Lin, Julina Menasce Horowitz, and Richard Fry, “Most Americans feel good about their job security but not their pay,” Pew Research Center (December 10, 2024), https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/12/10/most-americans-feel-good-about-their-job-security-but-not-their-pay/.