Entering God's rest (Heb 4.1-11) vs. reaching forward (Phil 3.13)

[Anya]

The Hebrews passages speaks about rest in God, but the passage from Philippians is about constant progress in God, at least as interpreted by Gregory of Nyssa.

Have you seen any patristic texts that connect the two passages?
I thought that perfection has to do not so much with rest but with constant striving and exertion and "reaching forward to these things which are ahead." But I cannot make sense of the theme of rest.

[Owen Jones]

The only way to make progress for a Christian is to rest in God. To desire more of God in one's heart is good, and the means to its fulfillment is through inner peace.

[Andreas Moran]

Owen Jones: The only way to make progress for a Christian is to rest in God. To desire more of God in one's heart is good, and the means to its fulfillment is through inner peace.

Beautifully and succinctly put. This brings out something of the meaning of the Greek word 'katapausin' whch is used in Hebrews. Liddell & Scott say the word has the meaning of checking and hindering, to calm and assuage. Rest in God is the cessation of our movement in sin. Does this seem right? Sorry, I can't quote from the Fathers.

[Rick H.]

I struggled with this seeming paradox that we see here and elsewhere several years ago. As I started to investigate this myself I found that there are folks that will teach very adamantly that the Christian life is active-active-active, and there are those who will teach forcefully that the Christian life is passive-passive-passive. There are those who teach 'we must paddle our own canoe.' And, there are those who teach 'we cannot paddle our own canoe.' We see in the Scriptures other similar commands for us to 'be' active or for us to 'be' passive in the Christian life. While I think Owen presents a superb answer I will offer to you an expression I read once that helped me to make sense of this. This expression is an active passivity or a passive activity. As we consider some of the passages where the Apostle Paul speaks of the old life and the new life (and the way the middle voice is used in these) we see that we may put off and put on (and this is something that we do for ourselves); but, in the End we have struck a passive pose and positioned ourselves for renewal.

In Christ,
Rick

[Herman Blaydoe]

Many spend their "leisure" hours in a very active manner and call it restful.

[Paul Cowan]

Many spend their "leisure" hours in a very active manner and call it restful.

I spend mine here. And yes, for the most part it is restful.

[M.C. Steenberg]

Anya's initial query raised the person of St Gregory of Nyssa, who perhaps speaks most succintly to the topic (in his Life of Moses). His notion of continual ascent, and that in the perfection of the lumunious darkness at the top of the mountain, one sees more clearly the God whom one comes to know ever more directly, link directly to the interrelationship of rest and motion. Augustine of Hippo also famously writes of this in the Confessions (his famous apothegm, 'My heart never rests 'til it rests in thee...').

INXC, Dcn Matthew

[Anya]

So, should I understand it that Augustine and Nyssa differ on this issue? It seems that Augustine rests after exertion while Nyssa rests exerting himself. (Ah, the love of oxymorons in Orthodoxy.)

[Anya]

I came across "rest" in Psalm 37:


"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him" (Ps. 37:7)
It seems that here we have entered God's rest (if we have entered God's rest, then we are resting there), but He is not there, and so we have to wait for Him.

I am not sure why we will rest in Him, and He won't be there. Where is He, if He is everywhere anyway?

The image of a household comes to mind. We are guests in someone's beautiful, comfortable, and comforting house, but we are waiting for the host to arrive when rest and celebration (and reaching forward?) will begin.

[Fr. J. Benedict Cucinotta]

The Hebrews passages speaks about rest in God, but the passage from Philippians is about constant progress in God, at least as interpreted by Gregory of Nyssa.

Have you seen any patristic texts that connect the two passages?
I thought that perfection has to do not so much with rest but with constant striving and exertion and "reaching forward to these things which are ahead." But I cannot make sense of the theme of rest.
Dear Anya, my humble interpretation of Heb. 4:1-11 is thatb the author appeals for steadfastness of faith in Jesus. Citing the O.T. warning (Ps 95. 7-11) against hardnesws of heart, i.e., practical disregard of the divine message, he urges the community to watchfulness and mutual encouragement. THey are to remember the example of Israqel's revolt in the desert which cost a whole generation the loss of the promised land. The promised land, designated here under the concept of rest, is the author's symbol for final union with Christ. He concludes his appeal, developing the idea that his Christian audience is experiencing a test of faith similar to that of Israel in the desert, and one which could have the same unfortunate results.
Phil. 3.13: Paul conforms his life to the sufferings of Christ, that he may know him alone, and experience bodily resurrection through him. This adherence to Christ in faith does not mean that Paul has already ensured his own salvation by arriving at perfect spiritual maturity. He strives for still greater perfection, mindful of the meaning of God's call in Christ.
Fr. Benedict

[Rick H.]

Two other key words in this Psalm 37 are 'commit' and 'trust.' If I remember correctly these are 'galal' and 'betach.'

This balance is probably why I am Orthodox today. Rest, commit, and trust/betach . . . good word that betach. The one who does not know the meaning of this word does not know the meaning of Orthodoxy. Yes, a quality or state of being.

It occurs to me that there is very little time spent in what is considered to be word studies on this forum. Where are those Orthodox Hebrew scholars when you need them?

In Christ,
Rick

[M.C. Steenberg]

I came across "rest" in Psalm 37:
"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him" (Ps. 37:7)
Two other key words in this Psalm 37 are 'commit' and 'trust.' If I remember correctly these are 'galal' and 'betach.'

This balance is probably why I am Orthodox today. Rest, commit, and trust/betach . . . good word that betach. The one who does not know the meaning of this word does not know the meaning of Orthodoxy. Yes, a quality or state of being.

It occurs to me that there is very little time spent in what is considered to be word studies on this forum. Where are those Orthodox Hebrew scholars when you need them?

I think there is probably a fair amount, contextualised when it's needed rather than as a field of study in its own right (which can be very misleading, particularly in patristic texts, where the same term is used in many different ways across authors).

Just on this word, betach, though for a moment: Its primary meaning in the Hebrew of the Old Testament is 'safety' or 'assurance', and it has origins as a military term (and so it is very often found in the Hebrew OT). Covenentally, it refers primarily to the security of a contract or binding agreement (thus 'they shall live securely in the land'; 'under the agreement the men would live securely'). It is found scattered throughout the Hebrew books, almost always in the scope one of these usages.

The same consonantal root forms a related word, batach, which can mean 'trust', but which actually has as its root meaning 'boldness' (relating to 'security' in betach: i.e. the boldness that comes from surity). This is actually the word used in the Hebrew version of Psalm 37.5, not betach, and it is translated most often into English as 'trust' (so at verse 5, to which Rick was referring: 'commit thy ways unto the Lord, and trust also in him...'). This certainly follows the Septuagint, which uses elpison (from the verb 'to hope, to trust'; found in LXX Psalm 36.5). Batach can also mean 'careless', i.e. one who feels so secure that he stops caring about what's coming or going on (and so it is regularly found throughout the OT). In the context of this particular Psalm 36/37, the same word (batach) is used in various other verses; and in fact it is quite clear that the ancient military meaning of security-in-contract is implied: the language of the psalm is about not fearing enemy invaders, but trusting in God, who will make one secure in the land.

The word in the passage that Anya mentioned (Heb Ps 37.7) for 'rest' is damam, and to my mind this is a much more revealing word, theologically. The Septuagintal term, anapausis, is particularly rich: the 'taking up of a cessation'; and it is often used synonymously for the Sabbath. The injunction to 'rest in the Lord and wait patiently on him' is, in the psalm, very much an ascetical act (as is made clear in the verses that follow it): it is an active turning from sin and confrontation to a life grounded in God's presence.

INXC, Dcn Matthew

[Rick H.]

That was refreshing to read Fr. Dcn. Matthew. Thank you. I would like to play off the word 'betach' further after reading your contribution; but, I guess this is not the time or the thread for it. And, yes, possibly as you were taught too, "Context is King!"

In Christ,
Rick

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear all,

Further on the idea of 'resting' in God, the following from Augustine's The City of God, book 11:
Chapter 8 — What We are to Understand of God's Resting on the Seventh Day, After the Six Days' Work.

When it is said that God rested on the seventh day from all His works, and hallowed it, we are not to conceive of this in a childish fashion, as if work were a toil to God, who "spoke and it was done,"—spoke by the spiritual and eternal, not audible and transitory word. But God's rest signifies the rest of those who rest in God, as the joy of a house means the joy of those in the house who rejoice, though not the house, but something else, causes the joy. How much more intelligible is such phraseology, then, if the house itself, by its own beauty, makes the inhabitants joyful! For in this case we not only call it joyful by that figure of speech in which the thing containing is used for the thing contained (as when we say,"The theatres applaud," "The meadows low," meaning that the men in the one applaud, and the oxen in the other low), but also by that figure in which the cause is spoken of as if it were the effect, as when a letter is said to be joyful, because it makes its readers so. Most appropriately, therefore, the sacred narrative states that God rested, meaning thereby that those rest who are in Him, and whom He makes to rest. And this the prophetic narrative promises also to the men to whom it speaks, and for whom it was written, that they themselves, after those good works which God does in and by them, if they have managed by faith to get near to God in this life, shall enjoy in Him eternal rest. This was pre-figured to the ancient people of God by the rest enjoined in their sabbath law, of which, in its own place, I shall speak more at large.