Scholars have recognized for some time that the idea of rest in God is a key motif in Augustine’s Confessions. The human longing for rest in God frames the Confessions narrative (Conf. 1.1.1, 13.35.50-52). Hermann-Josef Sieben published an illuminating article chronologically exploring Augustine’s uses of the key Latin terms, quies and requies (Sieben 2012). Euntaek Shin wrote on the topic in articles en route to his recent book Rest: A Theological Account (Shin 2024). However, little work has yet been done to explore the theology proper that undergirds Augustine’s account of rest. I will argue that Augustine’s understanding of rest is rooted in his efforts to make sense of the claim from Genesis 2:3 that God rested on the seventh day. Augustine ultimately concluded that the text speaks of God’s rest both figuratively and properly. That is, God is figuratively said to rest insofar as he gives himself as rest to his people (Gen. Man. 1.34, Conf. 13.51) He is properly said to rest insofar as he is eternally at rest within himself, needing no created good because he is himself simply Good (Gen. litt. 4.10.20, Conf. 13.53).
Augustine’s view of the divine rest as rooted in a theology proper ran counter to other interpretations of Genesis 2:3 in his historical moment. Manichee readers mocked such claims for their anthropomorphism (Gen. Man. 1.34) and even Ambrose of Milan paid little attention to the theological implications of the idea that God rested (Ambrose Hex. 6.10.75). However, Augustine’s reading was driven by a keen sense of his own commitment to the summary of the catholic faith, the regula fidei, that he had received at baptism. As Litfin and others have observed, the rule functioned as a key theological tool in exegesis, especially in difficult texts, in addition to its use in liturgical and catechetical contexts. This commitment to the rule exerted a pressure on Augustine’s thought that drove him beyond Ambrose’s simpler reading toward a reading that both dealt with the Manichaean objection and rooted his sense of the need that human beings have for rest in God in God’s own being and character.