Commentary on Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles John Calvin
John Calvin did rest the seventh day from all his works.
4. Dixit enim alicubi sic de die septimo, Et requievit Deus septimo die ab omnibus operibus suis:
5. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 5. Et in hoc rursum, Si introibunt in requiem meam. 6. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
6. Quando igitur reliquum fit ut quidam ingrediantur in ipsam, et quibus prius evangelizatum fuit, non intrarunt propter incredulitatem:
7. Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
7. Rursum quendam praeficit diem hodiernuum in David dicens post tantum temporis (quemadmodum dictum est) Hodie si vocem ejus audieritis, ne obduretis corda vestra:
8. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
8. Nam si Iesus requiem illis praestitisset, non de alia loqueretur post illos dies.
9. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 9. Ergo relinquitur sabbathismus populo Dei. 10. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
10. Nam qui ingreditur in requiem ejus, requievit et ipse ab operibus propriis quemadmodum a suis Deus.
He now begins to embellish the passage which he had quoted from David. He has hitherto taken it, as they say, according to the letter, that is, in its literal sense; but he now amplifies and decorates it; and thus he rather alludes to than explains the words of David. This sort of decoration Paul employed in Romans 10:6, in referring to these words of Moses, ``Say not, who shall ascend into heaven!'' etc. Nor is it indeed anything unsuitable, in accommodating Scripture to a subject in hand, to illustrate by figurative terms what is more simply delivered. However, the sum of the whole is this, that what God threatens in the Psalm as to the loss of his rest, applies also to us, inasmuch as he invites us also at this day to a rest.
The chief difficulty of this passage arises from this, that it is perverted by many. The Apostle had no other thing in view by declaring that there is a rest for us, than to rouse us to desire it, and also to make us to fear, lest we should be shut out of it through unbelief He however teaches us at the same time, that the rest into which an entrance is now open to us, is far more valuable than that in the land of Canaan. But let us now come to particulars.
3. For we which have believed do enter into rest, or, for we enter into the rest after we have believed, etc. It is an argument from what is contrary. Unbelief alone shuts us out; then faith alone opens an entrance. We must indeed bear in mind what he has already stated, that God being angry with the unbelieving,