There Remains A Sabbatismos (Hebrews 4:9)
Heb. 4:9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,
Because not all Israel entered into God’s rest, therefore and based on this, there is still a Sabbatismos. This Sabbatismos is specifically designated for the people of God, which in this instance refers to the believers in the New Covenant. Believers under the New Testament still have a duty of Sabbatismos. There “remains” in the present time “a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” This Sabbatismos, whatever it is, it belongs to the people of God—those who are in covenant with God. Owen says, “God hath a people still; and wherever he hath so, rest is promised to them and prepared for them.”[124] Whatever this Sabbatismos be, we cannot say that it belonged only to the Old Testament people of God.
The Meaning Of Sabbatismos
The crucial question is what is actually the meaning of the Greek σαββατισμὸς (sabbatismos, G4520) here? The translation of the KJV is definitely incorrect here. Throughout this discourse, the Author uses two words to speak of rest aside from this Sabbatismos.
The verb καταπαύω (katapauo, G2664) which means “to rest, take rest”[125] is used three times in identical form (aorist tense; active voice; indicative mood; third person; singular number) in Hebrews 4:4, 8, 10. The noun, which is derived from the verb, κατάπαυσις (katapausis, G2663), which is used seven times in identical form (accusative, singular, feminine) in this discourse (Heb. 3:11, 18; 4:1, 3, 5, 10, 11). But there comes a radical change in v. 9. The word used there is utterly unique to the Bible, not to mention to the Greek language. The word Sabbatismos is only found here in the Bible. The meaning is “a keeping Sabbath”[126] and “a keeping of a sabbath”.[127] The BDAG says “sabbath rest, sabbath observance fig. Hb 4:9 a special period of rest for God’s people modeled after the traditional sabbath”. The word Sabbatismos is derived from the verb ἐσαββάτισεν (esabbatisen), which is used in the LXX in Exodus 16:30 (“kept sabbath”) and perhaps was coined by the Author of Hebrews. Dr. Martin notes that the term does not denote “a Sabbath rest as a state to be entered into but a Sabbath-keeping as a practice to be observed. This, of course, corresponds to the word’s morphology, for the suffix -μος indicates an action and not just a state.”[128] Therefore, this conveys not merely the idea of rest, but the observance and keeping of rest. He could have used the word Sabbath, but that would have pointed merely to the old Sabbath, which is fulfilled by faith in Christ. No, that was not the intent of the Author here. Rather, by using the word Sabbatismos the Author shows that the observance and keeping of a day of rest is not abrogated for the New Covenant people of God, but rather, it belongs to and remains for them. Moreover, this Sabbath observance and keeping likewise points to a greater reality, just like t...
