Re. CWRIS DE PISTEWS ADUNATON EUARESTHSAI PISTEUSAI... Heb. 11:6

Paul F. Evans evans at wilmington.net
Thu Jul 2 11:25:41 EDT 1998


List,

Thanks for you help on the last effort at a verse from Hebrews.  Here goes another.

Heb. 11:6

CWRIS DE PISTEWS ADUNATON EUARESTHSAI PISTEUSAI GAR DEI TON PROSERCOMENON TW QEW HOTI ESTIN KAI TOIS EKZHTOUSIN AUTON MISQAPODOTHS GINETAI

The elements of this sentence are swimming around in my head like goldfish in bowl!  I need help sorting it out.  I knew I had neglected my Greek skills lately but things are more rusty than I thought.

I guess it would be best to start with the verbs, ESTIN, DEI & GINETAI?  I assume that the subject of GINETAI is the substantive participle MISQAPODOTHS.  However, it is hard to make any sense of how this works without reference to the earlier  ESTIN, he is, in some way.

The first part of the sentence, CWRIS DE PISTEWS ADUNATON EUARESTHSAI, seems abrupt and incomplete.  It begin a thought which never really comes to completion unless somehow the later dative TW QEW linked to the infinitive somehow.  Or is it more likely that God is implied by the earlier reference to Enoch having pleased (same word) God? 

Then there is what I assume is an impersonal verb DEI.  Does this refer to the person coming, as we would use the English "one who comes must..." or does it mean something like "it is necessary for the one coming to God to believe..."?  I guess I am not sure how this impersonal idea works.  I am wondering if it is refers generically to the hypothetical seeker, or whether it refers to the hypothetical condition of believing.

The last part of the sentence that begins with HOTI then seems to go back to PISTEUSAI, and somehow render the substance of what is believe.  How far out in left field am I?  Please be gentle I am feeling quite fragile today! 

Now the KAI is it "and" or "also"?  Also makes more sense to me!  but then what do I know.  But then I am still stuck with how KAI TOIS EKZHTOUSIN AUTON MISQAPODOTHS GINETAI actually work.

Just help!

Rev. Paul F. Evans
Pastor
Wilmington First  Pentecostal Holiness Church
MT. Olive, NC
Web-Page:  http://wilmingtonfirst.churches.wilmington.org
E-mail:          evans at wilmington.net
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