Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 4:10
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his.
10. For he that is entered into his rest ] This is not a special reference to Christ, but to any faithful Christian who rests from his labours. The verse is merely an explanation of the newly-introduced term “Sabbath-rest.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For he that is entered into rest – That is, the man who is so happy as to reach heaven, will enjoy a rest similar to what God had when he finished the work of creation. It will be:
(1)A cessation from toil; and,
(2)It will be a rest similar to that of God – the same kind of enjoyment, the same freedom from care, anxiety, and labor.
How happy then are they who have entered into heaven! Their toils are over. Their labors are done. Never again will they know fatigue. Never more will they feel anxious care. Let us learn then:
(1) Not to mourn improperly for those who have left us and gone to heaven. Happy in the rest of God, why should not we rejoice? Why wish them back again in a world of toil!
(2) Let us in our toils look forward to the world of rest. Our labors will all be over. The weary man will lay down his burden; the exhausted frame will know fatigue no more. Rest is sweet at night after the toils of day; how much more sweet will it be in heaven after the toils of life! Let us.
(3) Labor while is is called today. Soon we shall cease from our work. All that we have to do is to be done soon. We shall soon cease from our work as God did from his. What we have to do for the salvation of children, brothers, sisters, friends, and for the world, is to be done soon. From the abodes of bliss we shall not be sent forth to speak to our kindred of the blessedness of that world, or to admonish our friends to escape from the place of despair. The pastor will not come again to warn and invite his people; the parent will not come again to tell his children of the Saviour and of heaven; the neighbor will not come to admonish his neighbor; compare Luk 16:24-29. We shall all have ceased from our work as God did from his; and never again shall we speak to a living friend to invite him to heaven.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Heb 4:10
He that is entered into His rest
Entrance into Gods rest
We lose much of the meaning of this passage by our superficial habit of transferring it to a future state.
The ground of the mistake is in the misinterpretation of the word remaineth; which is taken to point to the rest, after the sorrows of this life are all done with. Of course there is such a rest; but the truth taught here is that faith, and not death, is the gate to participation in Christs rest; that the rest remained over after Moses and Judaism, but came into possession under and by Christ.
I. THE DIVINE REST. It is the deep tranquillity of a nature self-sufficing in its infinite beauty, calm in its everlasting strength, placid in its deepest joy, still in its mightiest energy, loving without passion, willing without decision or change, acting without effort, quiet, and moving everything; making all things new, and itself everlasting; creating, and knowing no diminution by the act; annihilating, and knowing no loss though the universe were barren and unpeopled. God is, God is everywhere, God is everywhere the same, God is everywhere the same infinite, God is everywhere the same infinite love and the same infinite self-sufficiency; therefore His very Being is rest. And yet that image that rises before us, statuesque, still in its placid tranquillity, is not repellent nor cold, is no dead marble likeness of life. God is changeless and ever tranquil, and yet He loves–wills–acts. Mystery of mysteries, passing all understanding! Then there is the other thought which perhaps comes more markedly out in the passage before us–that of a rest which is Gods tranquil ceasing from His work, because God has perfected His work. Still further: this Divine tranquillity–inseparable from the Divine nature, the token of the sufficiency and completeness of the Divine work–is also a rest that is full of work. God rests, and in His rest, up to the present hour and for ever, God works. And, in like manner, Christs work of redemption, finished upon the Cross, is perpetually going on. Christs glorious repose is full of energy for His people. He intercedes above. He works on them. He works through them, He works for them.
II. THE REST OF GOD AND OF CHRIST IS THE PATTERN OF WHAT OUR EARTHLY LIFE MAY BECOME. We cannot possess that changeless tranquillity which knows no variations of purpose or of desire, but we can possess the stable repose of that fixed nature which knows one object, and one alone. We cannot possess that energy which, after all work, is fresh and unbroken; but we can possess that tranquillity which in all toil is not troubled, and after all work is ready for double service. We cannot possess that unwavering fire of a Divine nature which burns in love without flickering, which knows without learning, which wills without irresolution and without the act of decision; but we can come to love deeply, tranquilly, perpetually, we can come to know without questioning, without doubts, without darkness, in firm confidence of stable assurance, and so know with something like the knowledge of Him who knows things as they are; and we can come to will and resolve so strongly, so fixedly, so wisely, that there shall be no change of purpose, nor any vacillation of desire. In these ways, in shadow and copy, we can be like even the apparently incommunicable tranquillity which, like an atmosphere that knows no tempests, belongs to and encircles the throne of God. But, still further: Faith, which is the means of entering into rest, will–if only you cherish it–make your life no unworthy resemblance of His who, triumphant above,works for us, and, working for us, rests from all His toil. Trust Christi is the teaching here.
III. THIS DIVINE REST IS A PROPHECY OF WHAT OUR HEAVENLY LIFE SHALL SURELY BE. There is a basis of likeness between the Christian life on earth and the Christian life in heaven, so great as that the blessings which are predicated of the one belong to the other. Only here they are in blossom, sickly, often, putting out very feeble shoots and tendrils; and yonder transplanted into their right soil, and in their native air with heavens sun upon them, they burst into richer beauty, and bring forth fruits of immortal life. The heaven of all spiritual natures is not idleness, Mans delight is activity. The loving hearts delight is obedience. The saved hearts delight is grateful service. The joys of heaven are not the joys of passive contemplation, of dreamy remembrance, of perfect repose; but they are described thus, They rest not day nor night. His servants serve Him, and see His face. Yes, heaven is perfect rest. God be thanked for all the depth of unspeakable sweetness which lies in that one little word, to the ears of all the weary and the heavy laden. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Christians rest
I. THE PERSONS–The people of God.
1. He purchased them.
2. He has prepared them.
3. He has watched over and guarded them.
4. They have been enlightened.
II. THE PROMISE–There remaineth a rest.
1. Already in existence.
2. Not yet manifested.
III. THE EXPECTATION–Rest.
1. Chiefly negative. Denoting an absence of what is painful, laborious, disagreeable.
2. Not necessarily inaction. The brain-toiler rests in taking manual exercise. The muscle-worker rests in reading and writing. The teacher rests in games, such as cricket, &c. So the Christian shall not fear the toils of earth in the occupation of heaven.
3. Blessed. The absence of all evil will give opportunity for the exercise of all that is good. (Homilist.)
Rest in the rest of God
The one want of our nature is rest. We want it in each part of our nature. The body wants rest. Toil, toil of hand and foot and brain, demands alternations of rest, if it is not to kill. The mind wants rest. The thinking, understanding, reasoning, reflecting mind. And certainly the soul wants it. That wonderful, that immortal thing within each of us–which we can distinguish not only from the material body, but even from the thinking mind–that soul which comes straight to each man from his God, and (strange to add) must return straight out of this life to the God who gave it–the soul has its toils and its journeyings and its wearinesses–distinguishable easily from a mere earthly solicitude on the one side, andfrom a mere intellectual unrest on the other. The soul is worn and weary for want of some rest of its own in a strong, delightful, imperishable heart of Love! In their different ways all are seeking rest. Oh, it is a sorrowful thought, when you are thrown into the midst of a multitude, gathered for business, for amusement, even for worship, how few, how very few, of all these have yet found their rest! One is heaping up riches, ignorant who shall gather, knowing only this, that he can carry nothing away with him when he dieth! But he wants rest, and partly he puts out of sight the sordidness and the shortlivedness of this particular rest; and partly, with his eyes open, he says, Twenty years, or twenty hours, or even so base a rest, are better than none! And so he goes after this. Another, far higher and nobler in his aspiration, cannot live without affection. That, he sees, is rest, could he but have it–could he but know indeed what it is! And then, eluded and baffled, at last desperate, in this pursuit of his rest, he falls into evil courses, and would fain fill himself with such husks of love as swine scarcely eat! Rest in the rest of God. My rest, God says in the 95th Psalm, and speaks of man entering it. This rest, the context tells us, is partly present, partly future.
1. There is a present rest in the rest of God. That can only be found in an entire, absolute trust in the atonement, made once for all upon the cross of Jesus. Once apprehend that, and then there will enter your soul a peace and a rest indeed passing all understanding. You will work afterwards as never before, because you will work from, not for acceptance, because in working you will be resting. You will count all your work as needing, yet having, forgiveness.
2. From this souls rest there is but one step into the saints rest–into that calm, that reposeful existence which lies beyond death for such as shall be counted worthy. Not entirely separate, as some would represent, from the life that is now, and from the stage of present action; for if we rest not now, in Gods sense of resting, from sin, from self, from vanity, from feverish haste, from human praise, in the sense of our littleness and of Gods might, of our sinfulness and of Christs atonement, we shall never rest then where God is all in all: not entirely separate from earth–for, after all, heaven is but the Spirits presence, is bur the consciousness of God as our God, is but the love of Christ filling and constraining; and where these are below, there is heaven begun–not entirely separate, yet severed from the life that now is, even for the chief of saints, by two definite differences–by the removal of this body of earth now enchaining the soul, and by the experience of that nearer, more direct communion, of which it is written that there they shall see God. (Dean Vaughan.)
Ceasing from self
The writer makes a distinction between soul and spirit in Heb 4:12. Your soul is you, the part that thinks, wills, reasons, loves, forms plans, purposes, the age, the I life. Beyond that, deeper, deeper down, is the spirit, the part that holds fellowship with God. God consciousness. Good people, converted people, regenerated people, live too much from the soul centre, self-consciousness, and in proportion to our doing this we lose Gods rest. As I comes in, rest goes out and restlessness enters. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. For he that is entered into his rest] The man who has believed in Christ Jesus has entered into his rest; the state of happiness which he has provided, and which is the forerunner of eternal glory.
Hath ceased from his own works] No longer depends on the observance of Mosaic rites and ceremonies for his justification and final happiness. He rests from all these works of the law as fully as God has rested from his works of creation.
Those who restrain the word rest to the signification of eternal glory, say, that ceasing from our own works relates to the sufferings, tribulations, afflictions, c., of this life as in Re 14:13. I understand it as including both.
In speaking of the Sabbath, as typifying a state of blessedness in the other world, the apostle follows the opinions of the Jews of his own and after times. The phrase shabbath illaah, veshabbath tethaah, the sabbath above, and the sabbath below, is common among the Jewish writers; and they think that where the plural number is used, as in Le 19:30: Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, that the lower and higher sabbaths are intended, and that the one is prefigured by the other. See many examples in Schoettgen.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This proveth the foregoing consequence of a rest remaining, from the nature of a true rest, which is a resting from all labours, which the Israelites did not in Canaan, therefore it is yet to come. For every true believer who hath full possession of Gods rest, where God is satisfying of them in bliss, they rest in his loves, of which the sabbath and Canaan were but types.
He also hath ceased from his own works; such true Christians have ceased and rested from all their sinful works and labours, as works of callings, miseries, anxieties, and sufferings of any kind, resting from them perfectly and perpetually, having finished all his work of evangelical obedience through them.
As God did from his; they have rested not in a parity of rest, or work in kind, but as God from his own in likeness of order, his work going before rest, and of rest fitted for believers by him conformable to his own. Some refer these words and the relative he to our Lord Jesus Christ, as Head of his body, the church of true believers; and that the parallel runs between God the Father and him in the works of the old and new creation, which works were good and complete in their different kinds, in their cessation from them, and their rest in their respective sabbaths, both days being founded thereon; and that believers shall be conformable to their Head, treading in his steps in doing and suffering, and then in rest.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. Forjustifying andexplaining the word “rest,” or “Sabbatism,” justused (see on Heb 4:9).
he that is enteredwhosoeveronce enters.
his restGod’srest: the rest prepared by God for His people [ESTIUS].Rather, “His rest”: the man’s rest: thatassigned to him by God as his. The Greek is the same asthat for “his own” immediately after.
hath ceasedThe Greekaorist is used of indefinite time, “is wont to cease,”or rather, “rest”: rests. The past tense implies atthe same time the certainty of it, as also that in this life akind of foretaste in Christ is already given [GROTIUS](Jer 6:16; Mat 11:28;Mat 11:29). Our highest happinessshall, according to this verse, consist in our being united in onewith God, and moulded into conformity with Him as our archetype[CALVIN].
from his own worksevenfrom those that were good and suitable to the time of doing work.Labor was followed by rest even in Paradise (Gen 2:3;Gen 2:15). The work and subsequentrest of God are the archetype to which we should be conformed. Theargument is: He who once enters rest, rests from labors; but God’speople have not yet rested from them, therefore they have not yetentered the rest, and so it must be still future. ALFORDtranslates, “He that entered into his (or else God’s, but rather’his’; Isa 11:10, ‘His rest’:’the joy of the Lord,‘ Mat 25:21;Mat 25:23) rest (namely, Jesus,our Forerunner, Heb 4:14; Heb 6:20,’The Son of God that is passed through the heavens‘: incontrast to Joshua the type, who did not bring God’s peopleinto the heavenly rest), he himself (emphatical)rested from his works (Heb 4:4),as God (did) from His own” (so the Greek,“works”). The argument, though generally applying to anyonewho has entered his rest, probably alludes to Jesus inparticular, the antitypical Joshua, who, having entered His rest atthe Ascension, has ceased or rested from His work of the newcreation, as God on the seventh day rested from the work of physicalcreation. Not that He has ceased to carry on the work of redemption,nay, He upholds it by His mediation; but He has ceased from thoseportions of the work which constitute the foundation; the sacrificehas been once for all accomplished. Compare as to God’s creationrest, once for all completed, and rested from, but now still upheld(see on Heb 4:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For he that is entered into his rest, c] This is to be understood not of believers, nor of their entrance into the Gospel rest, or into eternal rest, but of the Lord Jesus Christ for a single person is only spoken of, and not many, as in Heb 4:3 and the rest entered into is his own, which cannot be said of any other; and besides, a comparison is run between his entrance into rest, and ceasing from his works, and God’s resting the seventh day, and ceasing from his, which can only agree with him; and besides, Christ is immediately spoken of, and at large described in Heb 4:12. Now he entered into his rest, not when he was laid in the grave, but when he rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God, as having done his work; and this is the ground and foundation of the saints’ rest under the Gospel dispensation; for these words are a reason of the former, as appears by the causal particle “for”: and now being at rest,
he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his; Christ had works to do, as preaching the Gospel, performing miracles, and obtaining the redemption and salvation of his people: these were given him to do, and he undertook them, and he has finished them; and so ceases from them, as never to repeat them more; they being done effectually, stand in no need of it; and so as to take delight and complacency in them; the pleasure of the Lord prospering in, his hand, the effects of his labour answering his designs; just as God ceased from the works of creation, when he had finished them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As God did from his ( ). It is not cessation of work, but rather of the weariness and pain in toil. The writer pictures salvation as God’s rest which man is to share and God will have perfect satisfaction when man is in harmony with him (Dods).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Only in such a Sabbath – rest is found the counterpart of God ‘s rest on the seventh day.
For he that is entered into his rest [ ] . Whoever has once entered. 183 His God ‘s. The aorist marks the completeness of the appropriation – once and for all. He also hath ceased from his own works [ ] . Omit own. The statement is a general proposition : any one who has entered into God ‘s rest has ceased from his works.
As God did from his [ ] . Rend. as God (did) from his own. jIdiwn own signifies more than mere possession. Rather, works peculiarly his own, thus hinting at the perfect nature of the original works of creation as corresponding with God ‘s nature and bearing his impress. The blessing of the Sabbath – rest is thus put as a cessation from labors. The basis of the conception is Jewish, the rest of the Sabbath being conceived as mere abstinence from labor, and not according to Christ ‘s conception of the Sabbath, as a season of refreshment and beneficent activity, Mr 2:27; Joh 5:17. Our writer’s conception is not the rabbinical conception of cessation of work, but rather of the cessation of the weariness and pain which accompany human labor. Comp. Rev 14:13; Rev 21:4; Luk 11:7; Luk 18:5; Gal 6:17.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For he that has entered into his rest,” (ho gar eiselthon eis ten katapausin autou) “For the one who has entered into his rest; The final rest of body and soul is reached thru the experience of death. Till that hour, however, let every child of God in his earthly sojourn recognize that soul and life rest are constantly available to Christian pilgrims in witnessing for their Lord, Psa 37:7; Psa 116:7.
2) “He also hath ceased from his own works,” (kai autos katepausin apo ton ergon autou) “Himself also rested from his works,” from the moment of death, a blessed revelation from God, Rev 6:11; Rev 14:13. One enters into soul rest when he trusts Christ; It is a remaining, continuing rest thru the Christian life to the extent that one walks in paths of obedient service to Christ. But the final entrance of absolute body and conscience rest is reached or entered when one is present with the Lord, Psa 16:11.
3) “As God did from his,” (hosper apo ton idion ho theos) “As God rested from his own (works): After God completed the whole of his creation he then rested, refreshed himself. Until our work as individual believers, church members, and New Testament churches is finished in death or at the coming of our Lord, we are to labor on, face the storm, battle the tide and current of sin, assaulting the ramparts of hell for our Lord and His church, empowered by his Spirit and encouraged by his continual presence in our obedient labors; Then his welcome words of “Well done” shall be worth it all, as we rest forever with him, Mat 28:18-20; Act 1:8; Joh 20:21; Rev 2:10; 2Ti 4:7-8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10. For he that is entered into his rest, or, For he who has rested, etc. This is a definition of that perpetual Sabbath in which there is the highest felicity, when there will be a likeness between men and God, to whom they will be united. For whatever the philosophers may have ever said of the chief good, it was nothing but cold and vain, for they confined man to himself, while it is necessary for us to go out of ourselves to find happiness. The chief good of man is nothing else but union with God; this is attained when we are formed according to him as our exemplar.
Now this conformation the Apostle teaches us takes place when we rest from our works. It hence at length follows, that man becomes happy by selfdenial. For what else is to cease from our works, but to mortify our flesh, when a man renounces himself that he may live to God? For here we must always begin, when we speak of a godly and holy life, that man being in a manner dead to himself, should allow God to live in him, that he should abstain from his own works, so as to give place to God to work. We must indeed confess, that then only is our life rightly formed when it becomes subject to God. But through inbred corruption this is never the case, until we rest from our own works; nay, such is the opposition between God’s government and our corrupt affections, that he cannot work in us until we rest. But though the completion of this rest cannot be attained in this life, yet we ought ever to strive for it. (70) Thus believers enter it but on this condition, — that by running they may continually go forward.
But I doubt not but that the Apostle designedly alluded to the Sabbath in order to reclaim the Jews from its external observances; for in no other way could its abrogation be understood, except by the knowledge of its spiritual design. He then treats of two things together; for by extolling the excellency of grace, he stimulates us to receive it by faith, and in the meantime he shows us in passing what is the true design of the Sabbath, lest the Jews should be foolishly attached to the outward rite. Of its abrogation indeed he does expressly speak, for this is not his subject, but by teaching them that the rite had a reference to something else, he gradually withdraws them from their superstitious notions. For he who understands that the main object of the precept was not external rest or earthly worship, immediately perceives, by looking on Christ, that the external rite was abolished by his coming; for when the body appears, the shadows immediately vanish away. Then our first business always is, to teach that Christ is the end of the Law.
(70) Many, like Calvin, have made remarks of this kind, but they are out of place here; for the rest here mentioned is clearly the rest in heaven. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) Into his rest.That is, into Gods rest.
Hath ceased.Rather, hath rested from his works as God did from His own (works). This verse is added to explain and justify the reference to a sabbath in Heb. 4:9. Mans sabbath-rest begins when he enters into Gods rest (Gen. 2:2); as that was the goal of the creative work, so to the people of God this rest is the goal of their life of works.
As the whole argument is reviewed, the question may naturally be asked, To what extent is this wide meaning present in the Psalm itself? Where must the line be drawn between the direct teaching of the words and the application here made? The apparent expansion of the meaning of the Psalm relates to Heb. 4:11 alone. There, in the first instance, an historical fact is mentionedthe exclusion of the rebels from the promised land. But though the mention of the oath of God is derived from Num. 14:28-30, the language of the historian is significantly changed; for ye shall not come into the land, we read, they shall not enter into My rest. True, the land could be spoken of as their rest and inheritance (Deu. 12:9); but the language which the Psalmist chooses is at all events susceptible of a much higher and wider meaning, and (as some of the passages quoted in the Note on Heb. 3:11 serve to prove) may have been used in this extended sense long before the Psalmists age. That Heb. 4:8, when placed by the side of Heb. 4:11, shows the higher meaning of the words to have been in the Psalmists thought, and implies that the offer of admission to the rest of God was still made, it seems unreasonable to doubt. As the people learnt through ages of experience and training (see Heb. 1:5) to discern the deeper and more spiritual meaning that lay in the promises of the King and the Son of David, so was it with other promises which at first might seem to have no more than a temporal significance. If these considerations are well founded, it follows that we have no right to look on the argument of this section as an accommodation or a mere application of Scripture: the Christian preacher does but fill up the outline which the prophet had drawn.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Showing the true identity between God’s rest and the believer’s rest. Man is in God’s image, and as God passed through his great week and then came to an ever-blessed repose, so man passes through his probationary work and goes to his eternal salvation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For he who is entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his.’
It is true that this could refer simply to one who has died in Christ, but it is then semi-redundant. Why introduce this idea at this stage? But the immediacy of the whole passage suggests rather a living present experience, which contrasts with a past experience of ‘dead works’, and furthermore God did not enter His rest by dying, but by having completed His creative work. In God’s case it resulted from the completion of creation, in the Christian’s case from the completion of his new creation (2Co 5:17; Gal 6:15), when all is supplied that is necessary for his rest and he ceases from law-works. No longer does man need to strive after righteousness. The works are complete. The thought is surely of a living positive experience, not of something that befalls on death. They ‘rest’ as in a new creation along with God the Creator, leaving their old works behind them. And we know that the One Who actually performed the creative work was the Son (Heb 1:2). So they rest in Christ, partaking of Him. They have ceased trying to save themselves by their works. They have put aside all such efforts. They rest in what He has done and is doing in them and what He is for them, and thus they find rest and are assured of eternal rest.
Some see the change of pronoun (from ‘they’ to ‘he’ as signifying that this is a direct reference to Christ Himself, suggesting that through what He has accomplished He entered into His rest, and because it was accomplished there is nothing further for Him to do. His work is complete. Thus as we partake in Him we too enter that happy position. But it seems more likely that the change of pronoun personalises to individual believers, in the light of the exhortation to come, the idea which is the continual thought of the passage, otherwise we would expect the writer to draw attention to the change more specifically.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Heb 4:10. Hath ceased Hath rested.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Heb 4:10 . There is not an establishing of the reasoning in Heb 4:9 by a reference to the essence of the Sabbatic rest (Delitzsch and Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebrerbr . p. 804), but justification of the expression , employed Heb 4:9 . For not that which constitutes the nature of the Sabbath is here brought out, but the fact that in the case supposed a can be ascribed to man, even as to God. Wrongly (because at least . . . must have been written) does Schulz refer to : “and when it has entered,” etc. And just as wrongly, because the context affords no point of support for the same, do Owen, Alting, Starck, Valckenaer, and more recently Ebrard and Alford, find in a designation of Christ , in connection with which the are then understood of the redemption completed, or also of the sufferings and death undergone. On the contrary, Heb 4:10 contains a universal proposition: for whoever has entered into His (namely, God’s ) rest, has also on his part attained to rest from his works (the burdens and toils of the earthly life; [66] comp. LXX. Gen 3:17 : ; Gen 5:29 : , . Comp. also Rev 14:13 ): even as God from His own (works, the works of creation); for him has thus the Sabbath of everlasting blessedness set in.
[66] What is meant is not the works or labour “of sanctitication” (Tholuek, Grimm, Theol. Literaturbl. to the Darmst. A. K. Z . 1857, No. 29, p. 664); and still less the ritual ordinances of Judaism (Braun, Akersloot, Cramer, Semler, and Griesbach).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Ver. 10. From his own works ] From the servile works of sin, Psa 18:23 . These are our own works. As a lie is the devil’s own, Joh 8:44 , “When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own;” so when we do evil, we work de nostro et secundum hominem, 1Co 3:3 . It is as impossible for us naturally to do good as for a toad to spit cordials.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
ceased = rested, as Heb 4:4.
own. Omit.
His. Add “own”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Heb 4:10. , for) Verse 9 is proved thus: He who has entered into the rest of God, rests from his labours; but the people of GOD do not yet rest: therefore they have not yet entered in. It remains, that they enter in.- ) from his works, even from those that were good and suitable to the time of doing work. Labour precedes rest; and that would have doubtless been the case, even in paradise, Gen 2:15.-, as) The work and rest of GOD are that archetype to which we ought to be conformed.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
, , .
There is no difficulty in these words, nor difference in the translation of them.
Heb 4:10. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his works, as God from his own.
So are the words to be read. Speaking of the works of God, he calls them his , his own, , from his own; and of the other compared with him, he says only , his works: somewhat otherwise than they are rendered in our version.
Expositors generally apply these words unto believers, and their entering into the rest of God; whether satisfactorily to themselves or others, either as to their design, coherence, scope, or signification of particular expressions, I know not. Nor is it my way to oppose or confute the expositions of others, unless they are of such as wrest the Scripture to the confirmation of errors and heresies, or pervert the testimonies which in any texts or places are given unto important and fundamental truths of the gospel; such as we have met with many in our passage. But where things spoken or delivered are true with respect unto the analogy of faith, though they may not Be rightly or regularly deduced from this or that text in particular, yet they may have their use unto edification, through their conformity unto what is taught in other places; in such cases I shall not contend with any, but with all humility propose my own thoughts and reasons to the consideration of them who are wise, learned, and godly. I am not, then, satisfied with the exposition mentioned of this place, but look upon it as that which neither suits the design of the apostle, nor can bear a tolerable sense in its particular application. For, first, supposing believers to be here intended, what are the works they are said to rest from? Their sins, say some; their labors, sorrows, and sufferings, say others; from these they rest in heaven. But how can they be said to rest from these works as God rested from his own? for God so rested from his as to take the greatest delight and satisfaction in them, to be refreshed by them: In six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed, Exo 31:17. He so rested from them as that he rested in them, and blessed them, and blessed and sanctified the time wherein they were finished. Indeed Gods rest from and upon his works, besides a mere cessation of working, consisted principally in the satisfaction and complacency that he had in them. But now, if those mentioned be the works here intended, men cannot so rest from them as God did from his; but they cease from them with a detestation of them as far as they are sinful, and joy for their deliverance from them as far as they are sorrowful. Now, this is not to rest as God rested. Again, when are men supposed to rest from these works? It cannot be in this world, for here we rest not at all from temptations, sufferings, and sorrows; and for that mortification of sin which we attain unto, we are to fight continually, resisting even unto blood. It must therefore be in heaven that they so rest; and this is affirmed accordingly. But this utterly excludes the rest in and of the gospel from the apostles discourse, and enervates it, so as that his whole present argument is nothing to his purpose, as we have showed before.
It appears, therefore, that it is the rest of another that is here intended, even the rest of Christ from his works, which is compared with the rest of God from his at the foundation of the world; for,
First, The conjunction , for, which introduceth this assertion, manifests that the apostle in these words gives an account whence it is that there is a new sabbatism remaining for the people of God. He had proved before that there could be no such rest but what was founded in the works of God, and his rest that ensued thereon. Such a foundation therefore, he saith, this new rest must have; and it hath it. Now this is, and must be, in the works and rest of him by whom the church was built, that is Christ, who is God, as it is expressly argued, Heb 3:3-4. For as that rest which all the world was to observe was founded in his works and rest who built or made the world and all things in it; so the rest of the church of the gospel is to be founded in his works and rest by whom the church itself was built, that is Jesus Christ; for he, on the account of his works and rest, is also Lord of the Sabbath, to abrogate one day of rest and to institute another.
Secondly, The apostle here changeth the manner of his expression; from the plural absolutely, We who believe, or virtually in the name of a multitude, the people of God, into that which is absolutely singular: He that is entered. A single person is here expressed; one on whose account the things mentioned are asserted. And of this change of phrase there can no reason be given, but only to signify the introduction of a singular person.
Thirdly, The rest which he is said to enter into is called his rest, absolutely. As God, speaking of the former rest, calls it my rest, so this is the my rest of another, his rest, namely, the rest of Christ. When the entering of believers into rest is mentioned, it is called either Gods rest, They shall enter into my rest; or rest absolutely, We that believe do enter into rest: but not their rest,or our rest;for it is not our own, but Gods rest whereinto we enter, and wherein we rest. The rest here is the rest of him whose it is, who is the author of it; that is, of Christ.
Fourthly, There is a direct parallel in the whole verse between the works of the old creation and those of the new, which the apostle is openly comparing together.
1. For the authors of them: Of the one it is said to be God, As God did from his; that is, the Creator: of the other, He, ; who is that He of whom we speak,saith our apostle, Heb 4:13, for in these words he makes also a transition to the person of Christ, allowing only the interposition of an applicatory exhortation, Heb 4:11.
2. The works of the one and the other are expressed. The works of the Creator are , his proper works, his own works, the works of the old creation. And there are the works of him of whom he speaks, , his works; those which he wrought in like manner as God did his own at the beginning, that is, the work of building the church. For these works must answer each other, and have the same respect unto their authors or workers. They must be good and complete in their kind, and such as rest and refreshment may be taken in as well as upon. To compare the sins or the sufferings of men with the works of God, our apostle did not intend.
3. There is the rest of the one and the other. And these must also have their proportion to one another. Now God rested from his own works of creation,
(1.) By ceasing from creating, only continuing all things by his power in their order, and propagating them to his glory.
(2.) By his respect unto them or refreshment in them, as those which set forth his praise and satisfied his glorious design. And so also must he rest who is here spoken of.
(1.) He must cease from working in the like kind. He must suffer no more, die no more, but only continue the work of his grace, in the preservation of the new creature, and orderly increase and propagation of it by the Spirit.
(2.) In his delight and satisfaction which he taketh in his works, which Jesus Christ hath to the utmost. He sees of the travail of his soul, and is satisfied, and is in possession of that glory which was set before him whilst he was at his work.
From what hath been spoken, I suppose it will appear plainly, to unprejudiced and impartial minds, that it is the person of Jesus Christ that is the subject here spoken of; and we shall confidently allow a supposition thereof to regulate our exposition of this verse. And there is considerable in it,
First, The person spoken of, , He that is entered into his rest; that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, the builder of the church, the author of the new creation. And this gives an account of the causal connection, for: There remaineth a sabbatism now for the people of God, for Christ is entered into his rest.
Secondly, There are the works that this rest of his respects, which it is said he hath ceased or rested from. These words have been fully opened and declared on the third and fourth verses of the third chapter, whither we refer the reader. All that he did and suffered, from his incarnation to his resurrection, as the mediator of the new covenant, with all the fruits, effects, and consequents of what he so did and suffered, belong to these works.
Thirdly, There is the rest that he entered into to be considered. Hereof we have seen before in general that there are two parts:
1. A cessation from his works; he hungered no more, was tempted no more, in a word, died no more.
2. A satisfaction in his works and the product of them. This Christ had in his; whence he says, upon a view of their effects,
The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage, Psa 16:6.
Fourthly, His entrance into his rest is in like manner proposed unto us. Now this was not his lying down in the grave. His body, indeed, there rested for a while; but that was no part of his mediatory rest, as the founder and builder of the church. For,
1. It was a part of his humiliation; not only his death, but his abode or continuance in the state of death was so, and that a principal part of it. For after the whole human nature was personally united unto the Son of God, to have it brought into a state of dissolution, to have the body and soul separated from each other, was a great humiliation. And every thing of this sort belonged to his works, not his rest.
2. This separation of body and soul under the power of death was penal, part of the sentence of the law which he underwent. And therefore Peter declares that the pains of death were not loosed but in his resurrection, Act 2:24 :
Whom God, saith he, hath raised up, loosing the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
Whilst he was held of it, he was under it penally. This therefore could not be his rest, nor any part of it; nor did he in it enter into his rest, but continued his work. Nor, secondly, did he first enter into his rest at his ascension. Then, indeed, he took actual possession of his glory, as to the full public manifestation of it. But to enter into rest is one thing, and to take possession of glory another. And it is placed by our apostle as a remote consequent of the Lord Christs being justified in the Spirit, when he entered into his rest, 1Ti 3:16. But this his entrance into rest was in, by, and at his resurrection from the dead. For,
1. Therein and then was he freed from the sentence, power, and stroke of the law, and discharged of all the debt of our sin, which he had undertaken to make satisfaction for, Act 2:24.
2. Then and therein were all types, all prophecies and predictions fulfilled, that concerned the work of our redemption.
3. Then indeed his work was done; I mean that which answered Gods creating work, though he still continueth that which answers his work of preservation. Then was the law fully satisfied, Satan absolutely subdued, peace with God made, the price of our redemption paid, and the whole foundation of the church gloriously laid in and upon his own person. Then the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
4. Then and therein was he declared to be the Son of God with power, Rom 1:4; God manifesting to all that this was he concerning and to whom he said, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, Act 13:33. This might be further confirmed, but that, as I know, it is not much questioned. Therefore did the Lord Christ enter into his rest, after he had finished and ceased from his works, on the morning of the first day of the week, when he arose from the dead, the foundation of the new creation being laid and perfected.
Here lieth the foundation of our sabbatizing, of the sabbatism that remains for the people of God. This reason doth the apostle give of it. He had before asserted it; and there remained no more for him to do but to manifest that as those other rests which were past, the one at the beginning of the world, the other at the giving of the law, had their foundation in the works and rests of God, whence a day of rest was given out to the church; so had this new rest a foundation in the works and rest of Christ, who built all these things and is God, determining a day for our use, in and by that whereon himself entered into his rest, that is, the first day of the week. See hence, that,
Obs. 1. The whole church, all the duties, worship, and privileges of it, are founded in the person, authority, and actions of Jesus Christ.
Obs. 2. The first day of the week, the day of the resurrection of Christ, when he rested from his works, is appointed and determined for a day of rest or Sabbath unto the church, to be constantly observed in the room of the seventh day, appointed and observed from the foundation of the world and under the old testament.
This proposition, containing a truth of great importance, and greatly opposed by many on various accounts, that the full discussion of it may not too much interrupt the course of our exposition, is handled apart and at large, in exercitations to that purpose, whereunto the reader in this place is remitted. [7]
[7] See volume 19, p. 261.
Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews
he that: Heb 1:3, Heb 10:12, Rev 14:13
hath: Joh 19:30, 1Pe 4:1, 1Pe 4:2
as: Heb 4:3, Heb 4:4
Reciprocal: Exo 31:17 – six days Lev 16:29 – do no Eze 46:1 – on the sabbath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Heb 4:10. This is a comment on the relation of the rest to work. The mere mention of rest implies a preceding period of work to be followed by the rest.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Heb 4:10. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his works, Just as God rested from his; i.e, say some (Owen, Wardlaw, Ebrard), as Christ is entered into His rest, so also are we to be conformed to Him and to share His rest. But Christ is not named in the previous context, and is nowhere designated as He who entered or is entered into His rest, nor would the argument have force with those who were questioning His mission. The other view, adopted by Bleek and Delitzsch, is that the words describe the people of God, those who by believing enter that state of peace and blessedness which is begun on earth and perfected in heaven. They have fellowship with God; they rest even as God rests, and have a happiness that is of the same nature, and springs from the same source, as His. The phrase, ceases from his own works as God did from His, might then refer to the rest which men sought to no purpose under the Law or in Canaan. The true peace, the sacred rest of the Gospel, frees us from the necessity of seeking a righteousness of our own, and speaks peace to the conscience as the Law never did, making the whole life peaceful and joyous. This is the rest, and this is the refreshing, and it is shared by all who believe.
This explanation of the argument of this part of the Epistle throws light on the meaning of the rest, the Sabbath-rest, of which the writer speaks. Some (Owen, Wardlaw, etc.) hold that the three rests here spoken of are the Sabbath-rest of Paradise, the Jewish rest of Canaan, and the Christian Sabbath rest that commemorates the completion of the new creation and the deliverance of the people of God from a worse bondage than that of Egypt. Important as these rests are, it surely falls far below the dignity of the theme to suppose that the writer refers to any positive institution merely, however useful or blessed. Others think that the rest which remains must be heaven: we who believe enter it, all who enter it rest from their toils and work as God rested; and the conclusion seems sustained by the fact that the rest is ever spoken of as still remaining. But this interpretation mistakes the meaning of remaining, which is simply that it was not realized either in the Sabbath rest or in Canaan; while it is realized, is being realized, under the Gospel, as men believe. It includes, no doubt, the rest of heaven, which is the completion of our blessedness on earth; but the primary idea still is the rest which Christ gives to all who take His yoke upon them. and to whom, on their believing, old things are passed away,sins, character, burdens, unrest,and all things have become new. The words of C. Wesley are not even an adaptation of the sentimentthey are an exposition of it:
Lord, I believe a rest remains
To all Thy people known
A rest where pure enjoyment reigns,
And Thou art loved alone.
Oh! that I now the rest might know,
Believe and enter in;
Now, Saviour, now the power bestow.
And let me cease from sin.
Remove the hardness from my heart,
This unbelief remove;
To me the rest of faith impart,
The Sabbath of Thy love.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Into the spiritual heavenly rest, mentioned in the foregoing verse, the believer is said to have entered, in this verse; and this is done two ways, initially, inchoatively, and imperfectly in this life; fully finally, perfectly, and completely in the next. They have now a present title and right to enter into this rest; the actual enjoyment and full possession of it is to come.
Observe, 1. Believers have already entered initially into this rest whilst here on earth, and accordingly have ceased from their own works; that is, the works of the flesh, the service of sin; these they have discarded by repentance and mortification.
Here note, That before conversion a person is doing his own works, fulfilling his own will, and not God’s; but after he ceases from all sinful works, inchoatively, though not perfectly: He that hath entered into his rest, hath ceased from his own works.
Observe, 2. That when believers have finished all their works of evangelical obedience, they shall then, and not till then, fully and finally enter into God’s rest, and be forever happy in the enjoyment of it. All men desire rest, but it is not to be found on earth, but in heaven; not in the creature, but in God.
O happy they, which believing the excellency and glory of this rest, do work, wait, and wish for it, and with diligence and constancy use all holy endeavours for the attaining and securing of it.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Heb 4:10. For that rest of which we were speaking, may properly be called a sabbatical rest, or the celebration of a sabbath; for he that hath entered into this his final and complete rest, hath ceased from his own works From all his labours and toils; as God did from his In that first seventh- day, which, in commemoration of it, was appointed to be kept holy in all future ages. Probably God appointed men to rest on the seventh day, not only in commemoration of his having rested on that day, but to teach them that their happiness in a future state will consist in resting from their work of trial, and in reviewing it after it is finished, as God, when he rested from the work of creation, surveyed the whole, and pronounced it good. From this account of the rest which remaineth for the people of God, namely, that they do not enter into it till their works of trial and suffering are finished, it is evident that the rest which is here said to remain to them is the rest of heaven, of which the seventh-day rest is only an imperfect emblem.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 10
The meaning is, that, as God ceased from his works when he entered into his rest, so shall the believer, when the time for his rest shall come, reach the termination of all his labors and sufferings.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
4:10 {c} For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his.
(c) As God rested the seventh day, so must we rest from our works, that is, from those things that proceed from our corrupt nature.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
When we enter that rest we can cease walking by faith because then we will experience what we now only hope for (Heb 11:1; cf. 1Co 13:12). We will cease from our work as God did from His. The Hebrew word translated "rested" in Gen 2:2 literally means "ceased." His work of creating did not exhaust God. He simply stopped creating on the seventh day.