Aquinas on God’s Rest after Creation in Biblical Thomism Lens

Abstract

In his commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews (cap. IV), St. Thomas considers the rest of God after the work of creation (see Gen 2:2), treating it not as a deistic withdrawal of the Creator, but a productive quiescence. According to the Biblical Thomism, God’s action is not something abstract for us, but constitutes the principle – exemplar – of Christian action. Therefore this paper will firstly present multiple senses of the rest (triplex requies) of created beings, then the correct understanding of God’s action during creatio continua, in order to reflect on what the Christian’s “restful” life consists in. St. Paul urged the disciples of Christ “to be restful” (ut quieti sitis, cf. 1 Thess 4:11).