“For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”
Now we who have believed enter that rest, as God has said, 'So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'' Yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world — the dialectic of rest is introduced: God's rest has existed since creation, indicating that rest is not a future achievement but a present reality that believers enter through faith. Believers join a finished reality rather than struggle toward an unfinished goal.
Church Fathers on Hebrews 4:3
Hebrews 4:3 For “we who have believed,” he says, “do enter into rest.” From what this is evident, he adds: “as He said, as I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” This indeed, is not evidence that we shall enter in, but that they did not enter in. What then? Thus far he aims to show that as that rest does not hinder the speaking of another rest, so neither does this [exclude] that of…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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