Hebrews 11:1
George Blaisdell
maqhth at hotmail.com
Fri May 7 02:04:16 EDT 1999
>From: "Kevin L. Barney"
>I have several questions regarding Hebrews 11:1, which reads as follows:
>ESTIN DE PISTIS ELPIZOMENWN HUPOSTASIS PRAGMATWN ELEGXOS OU BLEPOMENWN.
>2. Does PRAGMATWN belong with ELPIZOMENWN, BLEPOMENWN, or both? Could it
>possibly have a stronger force than "things" here; maybe something like
>"realities"?
>3. My main question is whether HUPOSTASIS should be taken as "substance"
>or "assurance" here.
>So does HUPOSTASIS in Hebrews 11:1 mean substance,
>real nature, essence, as in the KJV, or the foundation
>or ground of hope, confidence, assurance, as in the
>RSV
>Any thoughts on this? Am I missing any evidence that is relevant to the
>question? And if the translation should be "substance,"
what is that supposed to mean?
Kevin ~
I've been mulling this one over, and noticed the very chiastic syntax of
this little passage:
ESTIN DE PISTIS:
a] ELPIZOMENWN
b] UPOSTASIS
c] PRAGMATWN
b'] ELEGCOS
a'] OU BLEPOMENWN
Notice the enclosing by participles of the whole of the definition [a and
a'], and the participial center [c]. Faith is pragmatic and ongoing
[present participles]!
Also notice the alternating progression of enclosures by threes ~ abc, bcb',
cb'a'.
I have a hard time understanding faith as the 'substance' of matters unseen.
That would seem to make the object of faith into faith itself. I don't
think so... But it is possible...
And it's still hard to translate! So I don't know if this helps...
George Blaisdell
Roslyn, WA
_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list