Thursday, October 4, 2012

Hebrews 11:11

"By trust even Sarah herself received power to down-cast seed when she was beside prime season, since she counted him trusting who had promised."

Sarah is one of the great persons of faith in all the Bible.  Because genuine faith is trusting what one knows, she was able (received power) to "down-cast" seed at this late point in her life.  Too often the idea that "faith is believing what you don't know" is proclaimed as a virtue.  Genuine faith ("trust") is relying on what one is sure of.  And that trust paid dividends.  Note that the same word is used of God later in the verse: "she counted him trusting."  The trust is mutual.  And it is not "intellectual assent." Yes, it can be translated as "trustworthy" when used of God or others, but the Etymological New Testament is providing consistent, literal information.

Most versions of the New Testament will translate KATABOLN as "foundation" in all of its occurrences except this one, in Hebrews 11:11.  The Etymological New Testament translates ultra-literally as "down-cast" in all of those passages.  To cast down something could possibly mean to disrupt it, though it usually means to begin to build something of value.  In this case, Sarah's trust led to the foundation of a new life when she was past (beside) prime season. And that's the essence of divine trust: being able to begin life again when we're past the prime season.

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