Hebrews Chapter 11:8-12 | |
8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. | 8. Fide Abraham, quum vocatus est, obedivit ut exiret in locum quem accepturus erat in haereditatem; et exivit nesciens quo veniret. |
9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as [in] a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: | 9. Fide peregrinatus est in terra promissa quasi aliena, in tabernaculis habitans cum Isaac et Jacob, cohaeredibus ejusdem promissionis: |
10. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God. | 10. Expectavit enim civitatem habentem fundamenta, cujus architectus et opifex est Deus. |
11. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. | 11. Fide et ipsa Sara facultatem ad conceptionem seminis accepit, et praeter tempus aetatis peperit, quia fidelem existimavit eum qui promiserat. |
12. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, [so many] as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. | 12. Propterea etiam ex uno geniti sunt, et quidem emortuo, multitudine tanquam astra coeli et quasi arena quae est juxta marginem maris innumerabilis. |
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He first teaches us that faith was the cause why he immediately obeyed God when he was commanded to remove from his own country; and then that through the same faith it was that he went on without wavering, according to what he was called to do even to the end. By these two things, -- his promptness in obeying, and his perseverance, was Abraham's faith most clearly proved.
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He calls heaven a
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But it may seem strange that her faith is commended, who was openly charged with unbelief; for she laughed at the word of the angel as though it were a fable; and it was not the laugh of wonder and admiration, for otherwise she would not have been so severely reproved by the angel. It must indeed be confessed, that her faith was blended with unbelief;4 but as she cast aside her unbelief when reproved, her faith is acknowledged by God and commended. What then she rejected at first as being incredible, she afterwards as soon as she heard that it came from God, obediently received.
And hence we deduce a useful doctrine, -- that when our faith in some things wavers or halts, it ceases not to be approved of God, provided we indulge not the spirit of unbelief. The meaning then is, that the miracle which God performed when Isaac was born, was the fruit of the faith of Abraham, and of his wife, by which they laid hold on the power of God.
There are two clauses to this declaration; for we hence learn first, that there is no faith without God's word, for of his faithfulness we cannot be convinced, until he has spoken. And this of itself is abundantly sufficient to confute the fiction of the sophists respecting implicit faith; for we must ever hold that there is a mutual relation between God's word and our faith. But as faith is founded chiefly, according to what has been already said, on the benevolence or kindness of God, it is not every word, though coming from his mouth, that is sufficient; but a promise is necessary as an evidence of his favor. Hence Sarah is said to have counted God faithful who had promised. True faith then is that which hears God speaking and rests on his promise.
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1 This is differently connected by Calvin, his version is "by faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed, so that he went forth," etc. Bloomfield by supposing wste understood before ejxelqei~n, seems to be of the same opinion. Beza renders the verb by a gerund, "abiendo," by departing. This construction is more agreeable to the location of the words; the other introduces an unnatural transposition. Besides, the idea is somewhat different. There are thus two things in the verse stated more directly, as evidences and proofs of faith, -- his departure from his own country, and his ignorance as to the country where he was going. His faith was such that he obeyed, so as to leave his own country, and also to go to a country, of which he knew nothing. -- Ed.
2 The preposition meta< may often be rendered "as well as." See Matthew 2:3; Luke 11:7, 1 Corinthians 16:11; "dwelling in tents, as well as Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs to the same promise." It means not here the same time, says Grotius, but parity as to what is stated. -- Ed.
3 The words, "builder and maker," are rendered by Calvin, "master builder and maker." The terms seem reversed. The first word means the maker or worker; and the second, the master-builder or planner. Beza's version is, "the maker, (artifex) and the founder, (conditor)." The order is, according to what is very common in Scripture, the effect mentioned first, then the cause, of the maker first, then the contriver. The last word, no doubt used in the sense of a worker or maker, but also in the sense of an architect or planner; but the former word means a skillful worker or artificer, but not a master-builder. In order, therefore, to give a sistant meaning to each, the sentence is to be thus rendered, -- "Whose maker and planner is God;" he not only made it, but also planned and contrived it. -- Ed.
4 "The same thing is affirmed of Abraham, Genesis 17:17. The truth is the first annunciation, that a child would spring from them, occasioned both in his and Sarah's mind a feeling of incongruity, of impossibility, that the course of nature should be so reversed. Subsequent consideration brought both to a full belief in the reality of the promised blessing." -- Stuart.
It is remarkable, that at the first announcement Abraham laughed, as Sarah did afterward; and not only so, but he also said, "O that Ishmael might live before thee!" evidently showing that he did not then believe the promise which had been made to him. In the following chapter, the 18th, the promise is repeated, when Sarah laughed. And in order to confirm them both, they were reminded of God's power, verse 14. Then faith overcame unbelief. -- Ed.
5 Calvin renders tau~ta adverbially "quidem," "and indeed dead;" Doddridge "in his repeat;" Macknight, "to these matters;" Stuart "as to these things." But the word is rendered in Luke 6:23, "in the like manner;" and this would be the best rendering here. Abraham was like Sarah, "dead" as to the power of begetting children, -- "Therefore even from one, and him in a like manner dead, there sprang so many as the stars," etc. -- Ed.
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