[B-Greek] Heb 11:40 together or not apart?

Craig J newsgroupstuff at gmail.com
Wed Aug 16 00:20:17 EDT 2006


> HH: The whole Book of Hebrews emphasizes that we have 
> something better than those under the old coveannt had, 
> and by extension everybody before that. It also 
> explains exactly how the new is better. Hebrews 11 is 
> clear that OT saints received promises that were not 
> fulfilled (Heb 11:9, 11, 13). Hebrews 11:39 returns to 
> that thought, and the phrase "be made perfect" in 11:40 
> carries some implication of the promises being 
> fulfilled. The fulfillment of the promises depended on 
> something better that would follow the lifetimes of the 
> OT saints, and that better thing came in the person of 
> Jesus, so that only in him are the promises 
> fulfilled and is perfection brought. There is no doubt 
> that the OT saints are now perfected, at least in their 
> spirits, for Heb 12:23 adds this fact.

Hi Harold.

I don't think I have any argument with the general interpretative points you
make above. However, my question is not about the intrepretation of 11:40
within the whole context. My question is just on whether NIV and NET are
being overly interpretative in converting the double negative into a simple
positive. I'm thinking they are, and that is the obvious conclusion to me,
but maybe I draw that conclusion because I am not familiar enough with usage
of Greek negatives. Maybe the use of MH CWRIS hHMWN is really the same as
'together with us' without any loss of nuance or emphasis..?

BTW Comparing translations, NIV and NET change to a positive (although NIV
also includes an 'only' which is a bit better IMO). ASV, ESV, NKJV, KJV,
Vulgate all keep the negative, which I think is better.

--
Craig Johnson
Brisbane, Australia
Blog Experiment: http://bloggledegook.blogspot.com/




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