Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 is the Second Lesson appointed for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost in the Year of Luke. It matches well with the Gospel reading from Luke 12 where we hear Jesus say, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." The Hebrew passage contains the beginning of the "honor roll of faith", but unfortunately, Sarah is barely mentioned in some translations even though she is the one conceiving and bearing a child in her old age. This passage declares the miracle of faith, something to celebrate.
(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but have been developed to help exegetes uncover the function of the Word in the text. This is a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers since the way the Word functions is the way the sermon must function, at least in part. For more on this method and on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)
1. How does the Word function in the text? The Word is celebrating what faith is, "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen." We are given examples of how faith has been lived out in people of faith, all because they "consider him faithful who had promised." This is a Gospel function.
2. How is the Word not functioning in the text? There is no explicit word of Law in this text, no word that calls one to repentance or announces one's need of a Savior. A hint of Law is found in verse 13 where we are reminded that people of faith are "strangers and foreigners on earth," a hint to our vulnerabilty.
3. With whom are you identifying in the text? This text addresses no one, but declares the "honor roll of faith." We are bold to identify with Sarah and Abraham, recognizing also their foibles, revealed in other passages.
4. What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text? There is a call to faith, but not a call to obedience, the Word functioning to invite us into a certain lifestyle in response to God's gifts.
5. What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text? Perhaps by borrowing some of the language in the passage we might come up with some appropriate couplets. For example, strangers/friends; foreigners/citizens, or perhaps better, as good as dead/alive through faith.
6. Exegetical work: A translation of the text reveals the importance of Sarah to this passage, though neither the NRSV nor the NIV acknowledge her. An example of a translation that does is the classic KJV: "Through faith Sarah 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." One of the most interesting discussions surrounds the meaning of the Greek word hypostasis, here in 11:1 translated "substance." According to Bauer, Gingrich, and Danker, "Among the meanings that can be authenticated, the one that seems to fit best here is realization; ... in faith things hoped for become realized or things hoped for become reality." (A Greek-English Lexicon of the NT and other Early Christian Literature, p.847). William Perkins, the English reformer, seems to agree: "...faith gives to those things which yet are not (after a sort) a substance or subsistence in the heart of the believer, so that that thing which never had nor yet had a being in itself, by this faith it has a being in the heart of the believer." (Reformation Commentary on Scripture, NT, vol. XIII, p.157). The modern exegete, Tom Long, gives an even clearer understanding of this term: "The word translated 'assurance' in this verse, hypostasis, was used earlier to describe how the Son is the expression of God's hypostasis, God's 'very being' (1:3). In other words, faith is the 'very being' of God's promises. It is more than the inner confidence that the powers of this world ... will eventually yield..., it is the reality of those promises moving as an advance force and operating behind enemy lines." "Faith as an inward reality sings 'We Shall Overcome.' Faith as an outward reality marches at Selma." (Interpretation series, Hebrews, p.113).
Blessings on your proclamation!
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