Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 11:11
Through faith also 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.
11. also Sara herself ] Rather “even.” Perhaps the “even” refers to her original weakness of faith when she laughed (Gen 18:12; Gen 21:2; comp. Rom 4:19). Dr Field thinks that these words may be a gloss, and that the verse refers to Abraham, since , “was delivered,” is not found in , A, D.
to conceive seed ] For technical reasons the probable meaning here is “for the founding of a family” (comp. the use of the word katabol in Heb 4:3, Heb 9:26 and “seed” in Heb 2:16, Heb 11:18).
who had promised ] Comp. Heb 10:23.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed – The word herself here – aute – implies that there was something remarkable in the fact that she should manifest this faith. Perhaps there may be reference here to the incredulity with which she at first received the announcement that she should have a child; Gen 18:11, Gen 18:13. Even her strong incredulity was overcome, and though everything seemed to render what was announced impossible, and though she was so much disposed to laugh at the very suggestion at first, yet her unbelief was overcome, and she ultimately credited the divine promise. The apostle does not state the authority for his assertion that the strength of Sarah was derived from her faith, nor when particularly it was exercised. The argument seems to be, that here was a case where all human probabilities were against what was predicted, and where, therefore, there must have been simple trust in God. Nothing else but faith could have led her to believe that in her old age she would have borne a son.
When she was past age – She was at this time more than ninety years of age; Gen 17:17; compare Gen 18:11.
Because she judged him faithful who had promised – She had no other ground of confidence or expectation. All human probability was against the supposition that at her time of life she would be a mother.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Heb 11:11-12
Sara
Faith triumphing over physical incapacity
I.
THE DIFFICULTIES OF FAITH IN THIS CASE: The desired good was contrary to
1. Nature.
2. Experience.
3. Personal worthiness.
II. THE BASIS OF THIS FAITH. Grounded entirely on Gods will. The removal of the difficulty may be
1. The subject of distinct promise.
2. Necessary for obedience to certain commands.
3. The secret purpose of God, which faith leaves Him to fulfil, if so He pleases.
III. THE RESULT OF THIS FAITH.
1. Itself a source of victorious power.
2. Rewarded by God with victorious power. (C. New.)
Sarahs faith
I. THE PERSON BELIEVING. A woman, weak in sex, may be strong in faith.
1. Many times the word doth not work presently: Sarah laugheth at first, but afterwards believeth. Some that belong to the purposes of grace may stand out for a while against the ways of God, till they are fully convinced; as Sarah laughed till she knew it to be a word not spoken in jest, but a promise made in earnest.
2. Usually before the settling of faith there is a conflict. Shall I have a child who am old, my lord being old also? Reason opposeth against the promise. So it is usual when we come to settle the heart in the belief of any promise. Look, as when the fire beginneth to be kindled we see smoke first before flame, so it is here before our comforts be established, we are full of doubts; so that doubtings are a hopeful prognostic–it is a sign men mind their condition.
3. With great indulgence, God hideth the defects of His children and taketh notice of their graces.
II. THE COMMENDATION OF HER FAITH. From the influence of her faith.
1. She received strength to conceive seed. Learn hence
(1) That though bringing forth of children be according to the course of nature, yet God hath a great hand in it.
(2) Let us improve it spiritually.
(3) Faith hath a great stroke in making way for blessings. By faith she received strength to conceive seed. Means can do nothing without God, and God will do nothing without faith (Mat 13:58).
2. From the effect of this influence–And was delivered of a child–I observe hence
(1) Every promise received by faith will surely be seconded with performance.
(2) Faith is the best midwife. By faith Sarah was delivered of a child.
3. From the application of her faith. When she was past age. There were two difficulties–she was naturally barren (Gen 11:30) and she was now ninety years of age, and it ceased to be with her after the manner of woman; and therefore here lay the excellency of her faith, that she could believe that she should be the mother of a mighty nation. Barren I say she was by natural constitution, and now no better than dead, having so long outlived the natural time of bearing children. Learn hence–That no difficulty or hindrance should cause a disbelief of the promise. The reasons, are two–partly from God, that maketh the promise; partly from faith, that receiveth the promise.
(1) From Gods nature. God is not tied to the order of second causes, much less to the road of common probabilities; He will turn nature upside down rather than not be as good as His word.
(2) From the nature of faith, which is to guide the soul when reason and sense faileth.
III. THE GROUND OF HER FAITH. Because she judged Him faithful that had promised. Hence observe
1. Wherever we put forth faith we must have a promise, otherwise it is but fancy, not faith. It is not a ground of expectation barely what God is able to do, but what God will do. As the two pillars of Solomons house were called Jachin and Boaz (1Ki 7:21)–the one signifies Strength, and the other He will establish it.
2. In closing with the promise, we should chiefly give God the honour of His faithfulness.
(1) Because God valueth this most, He standeth much of His truth. Heaven and earth shall pass away before one jot or tittle of His word shall pass Mat 5:18). The monuments of His power shall be defaced to make good His truth (Psa 138:2). Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name. All other attributes give way to this.
(2) Because this giveth support and relief to the soul in waiting Heb 10:23). Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised. God hath promised no more than He is able to perform; His word never exceeded His power. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Faith triumphing over difficulties
I. FAITH MAY BE SORELY SHAKEN AND TOSSED AT THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF DIFFICULTIES LYING IN THE WAY OF THE PROMISE, WHICH YET AT LAST IT SHALL OVERCOME. And there be many degrees of its weakness and failure herein. As
1. A mere recoiling, with some disorder in the understanding, unable to apprehend the way and manner of the accomplishment of the promise.
2. It ariseth to a distrust of the event of the promises or their accomplishment, because of the difficulties that lie in the way.
3. When there is for a season an actual prevalency of unbelief. So it was with the apostle Peter, when he denied his Master, who yet was quickly recovered. It is therefore our duty
(1) To watch that our faith be not surprised or shaken by the appearance of difficulties and oppositions.
(2) Not to despond utterly on any degree of its failure, for it is in its nature, by the use of means, to recover its vigour and efficacy.
II. ALTHOUGH GOD ORDINARILY WORKETH BY HIS CONCURRING BLESSING ON THE COURSE OF NATURE, YET HE IS NOT OBLIGED THEREUNTO. Yet
III. IT IS NO DEFECT IN FAITH, NOT TO EXPECT EVENTS AND BLESSINGS ABSOLUTELY ABOVE THE USE OF MEANS UNLESS WE HAVE A PARTICULAR WARRANT FOR IT; as Sarah had in this case.
IV. THE DUTY AND USE OF FAITH ABOUT TEMPORAL MERCIES ARE TO BE REGULATED BY THE GENERAL RULES OF THE WORD, WHERE NO ESPECIAL PROVIDENCE DOTH MAKE APPLICATION OF A PROMISE.
V. The mercy here spoken of, concerning a son unto Abraham by Sarah his wife, WAS ABSOLUTELY DECREED, AND ABSOLUTELY PROMISED; YET GOD INDISPENSABLY REQUIRES FAITH IN THEM FOR THE FULFILLING OF THAT DECREE, and the accomplishment of that promise.
VI. THE FORMAL OBJECT OF FAITH IN THE DIVINE PROMISES IS NOT THE THINGS PROMISED IN THE FIRST PLACE, BUT GOD HIMSELF IN HIS ESSENTIAL EXCELLENCIES OF TRUTH, OR FAITHFULNESS AND POWER.
VII. EVERY PROMISE OF GOD HATH THIS CONSIDERATION TACITLY ANNEXED TO IT, IS anything too hard for the Lord? There is no Divine promise, but when it comes unto the trial, as unto our closing with it, no promise of the new covenant, but we apprehend as great a difficulty and improbability of its accomplishment unto us, as Sarah did of this.
VIII. Although the truth, veracity, or faithfulness of God be in a peculiar manner the immediate object of our faith, yet IT TAXES IN THE CONSIDERATION OF ALL OTHER DIVINE EXCELLENCIES FOR ITS ENCOURAGEMENT AND CORROBORATION. (John Owen, D. D.)
Faith counting all things possible:
That which is elsewhere made characteristic of Abraham is in this one place ascribed to Sarah. It may have been in the mind of the apostle to suggest to his readers, at this point of his appeal, the thought that in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female. Woman, no less than man, needs, and is capable of, the grace of faith. The souls life of woman, redeemed and glorified by the gospel, is a life of faith, in every submission, and in every effort, and in every heroism, of the souls life of man. Through faith Sarah also herself–Sarah in her proper sphere, as Abraham in his–became the inheritor of that privilege of blessing, from which sprang a vast nation, to be the trustee of Gods oracles, and the country, on earth, of Christ Himself. This is that example of faith–and it is instructive to remember it–to which the explicit testimony is attached, He believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness. It was not that first exercise of faith, which triumphed over the attractions of home, and reconciled the patriarch Abraham to a life of exile and wandering. It was not that third exercise of faith, which triumphed over the love of offspring, and enabled the father to give back by his own act the precious life of his child into the hand of Him whose very promise that obedience seemed to be defeating. Neither of these self-devotions is connected in the sacred records with the faith that justifies. It is the mental act–it is the looking up into that clear night-sky, and responding, in heart, to the Voice which says, Count those stars–so shall thy seed be–it is this, the most elementary and the most entirely secret taking God at His word–it is that particular state of the mind, which has no action at all in it–which is altogether, and from first to last, mental–just the standing instead of sinking under Gods disclosure and Gods promise–it is this which God looks at. All else is consequence, natural consequence: the obedience which leaves the home–the obedience which sacrifices the son–all this is but the expression in action of the minds mind and the souls soul.
1. What Abraham believed was a physical impossibility. Over that difficulty his faith triumphed. The impossibility presented to our faith is not physical but spiritual. We have to believe, not in the suspension of what we call laws of nature–in other words, of Gods ordinary methods of procedure in regard to suns and stars, to water and earth, to disease and infection, to life and death–but in certain other things, which, to eyes spiritually enlightened, are at least as difficult. We have to believe in the actual forgiveness of things actually done. We have to believe that that black hateful thing done or said yesterday–even though it had fever in its breath and corruption in its influence–can be, shall be, obliterated in the blood of Jesus Christ, Gods own Son, shed, outpoured, for that very purpose. We have to believe in the power of sanctification through the Eternal Spirit. We have to believe that that bad habit, formed in boyhood, weakly yielded to in manhood, still predominant, can by the grace of God–shall by the grace of God–be vanquished in us, burnt out of us, sothat we shall be more than conquerors through Him that loved us. These are the improbabilities, the impossibilities- not physical perhaps, but worse than physical–worse, because invisible, worse, because entering into a nature more intricate, more sensitive, more suffering, than any most thrilling fibre, most throbbing nerve, of this body–which we Christians, not by guess-work, but by proof–not by wishing or willing, but by receiving and embracing on the authority of God the Creator, God the Redeemer, God the Sanctifier–have to apprehend, to realise, and to live by. This, this is faith.
2. There is one peculiarity in the instance before us, and that is the connection which it indicates between spiritual faith and physical consequence. Other Scriptures tell of the rewards and recompenses of faith in a world out of sight. But this passage says, Because of a faith in Him who had promised, therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. You may say, The promise was of a supernatural birth. The promise was physical. It looked not beyond earth, and the consequences were in the like material. God makes not these sharp distinctions between the life that is and the life that shall be. Godliness, St. Paul tells us, hath promise of both. And though we would not so read that text as though it offered riches and pleasures and honours to the righteous, whose very faith counts all these gifts not only precarious but perilous; still it certainly says that Gods gifts to His own are not all future: there is a reward for His people here; there is a supernatural offspring, there is a birth, not of accident, not of circumstance, not of the self-will, but all of grace, which turns the thing that is into a foretaste and promise of the thing that shall be: there is a love, and there is a happiness, and there is a home, which derives all its lustre from the ideal and antitype of these out of sight: by faith man and woman, born again of water and of the Spirit, receive back, the second time, out of Gods fulness, that which before had been grasped eagerly out of the hand of Nature and of the Fall–and, so receiving, find in each thing a grace and a beauty unseen, unfelt before–find in Faith itself, not the opposite, but the complement, of sight, and enjoy twice over the thing that God created, and the thing that God redeemed and that God sanctifies. (Dean Vaughan.)
Faith, sense, and reason:
It is the nature of faith to believe God upon His bare word, and that against sense in things invisible, and against reason in things incredible. Sense corrects imagination, reason corrects sense, but faith corrects both. (J. Trapp.)
Therefore sprang there even of one
The increase of the Church
I. WHEN GOD IS PLEASED TO INCREASE HIS CHURCH IN NUMBER, IT IS ON VARIOUS ACCOUNTS A MATTER OF REJOICING UNTO ALL BELIEVERS, and a subject of their daily prayers, as that which is frequently promised in the word of truth. This blessing of a numerous posterity is variously set forth, illustrated, and heightened.
1. From the root of it. It was one, one man, that is, Abraham. Unto him alone was the great promise of the blessing Seed now confined. And he, though but one, was heir of all the promises.
2. From the consideration of the state and outward condition of that one, when he became the spring of this numerous posterity: of him as good as dead. His body naturally was as useless unto the end of the procreation of such a posterity as if it had been dead.
II. GOD OFTENTIMES BY NATURE WORKS THINGS ABOVE THE POWER OF NATURE IN ITS ORDINARY EFFICACY AND OPERATIONS. So by weak and dead means He often produceth mighty effects. (John Owen, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. Through faith also Sara] Her history, as far as the event here is concerned, may be seen Ge 17:19, and Ge 21:2. Sarah at first treated the Divine message with ridicule, judging it to be absolutely impossible, not knowing then that it was from God; and this her age and circumstances justified, for, humanly speaking, such an event was impossible: but, when she knew that it was God who said this, it does not appear that she doubted any more, but implicitly believed that what God had promised he was able to perform.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed; by the same Divine faith in Abraham and Sarah was brought forth the child of promise. For though the instance be expressly in Sarah, yet it is inclusive of Abraham also, who was eminent for his faith in this thing, acquiring an eminent title by it, even of the Father of believers, as the apostle declareth, Rom 4:17-22, and therefore jointly to be considered with Sarah. She, who first through unbelief laughed at the promise, yet being reproved by Christ, the Angel of the covenant, for it, believed on the repetition of it, Gen 18:9-16, and gave testimony of it by her waiting for the promised mercy. As barren as she was, yet faith made her fruitful; when it was impossible of herself to expect it for nature or years, yet received she power and strength from God, by believing, to conceive seed, that is, laying the foundation of it, conceiving in her dead womb, and bearing a son.
And was delivered of a child when she was past age; she was not only naturally barren, but of ninety years of age at this time, when the most fruitful were past such work; yet was she delivered of a son, and became the mother of Isaac by faith, as he was the son of promise, Gen 15:4; 18:11; compare Rom 4:17-19.
Because she judged him faithful who had promised; she gave glory to God by a firm and hearty closure with his promise, accounting God faithful to his word, and able to perform it, and so rested on it, and waited for him, as Abraham did, Rom 4:18,20,21. The promise which he made was: That they in their old age should have a son, Gen 12:2; made in general, Gen 13:15,16 in particular, Gen 15:4,5; to both, Gen 17:15-17; 18:10,14; 21:1-3,12.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. also Sara herselfthoughbeing the weaker vessel, and though at first she doubted.
was delivered of achildomitted in the oldest manuscripts: then translate, “andthat when she was past age” (Ro4:19).
she judged him faithful whohad promisedafter she had ceased to doubt, being instructed bythe angel that it was no jest, but a matter in serious earnest.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Through faith also Sarah herself,…. Some copies add “being barren”; and so read the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions; which is a circumstance which makes her faith appear the greater: but it is a question whether the apostle speaks of the faith of Sarah, or of Abraham; some think he speaks of Abraham’s faith; and that it was through his faith that Sarah conceived; and observe, that the last clause may be rendered, “because he judged him faithful”, c. and the rather, because the apostle, both before and after, is speaking of Abraham’s faith, Heb 11:8. And in Heb 11:12 mention is made only of one, even of Abraham and in Ro 4:17 only notice is taken of Abraham’s faith, respecting this matter; nor is Sarah’s faith observed in the history of it, but her diffidence: but why may not Sarah be joined with Abraham, in this commendation, as well as Isaac and Jacob? and though, at first, she distrusted, yet she afterwards feared, and believed: other women are mentioned in this catalogue of believers; and they share in the same grace and privileges as men: and Sarah, being a believer, as well as Abraham,
received strength to conceive seed: sometimes “strength” itself signifies seed, as in Pr 31:3 and so to receive strength is to receive seed; which the female does from the male; hence that saying of the Jews t, the male does not receive strength from another, but the female “receiveth strength” from another; but here it is to be understood of receiving power from God to retain seed, received from men, and conceive by it; which Sarah, in her circumstances, without the interposition of the almighty power, could never have done. The nymph Anobret is so called, in imitation of this conception of Sarah’s; or as she is called in the Phoenician language, , which signifies “conceiving by grace”: as this conception must be entirely ascribed to the power and grace of God:
and was delivered of a child when she was past age; of bearing and bringing forth children, being ninety years of age, Ge 17:17. Now though the conception, bearing, and bringing forth of children are things natural, ordinary, and common, yet here was a particular promise respecting this matter; and there were great difficulties in nature attending it, and such as to reason were insuperable; but these were got over, through the power and grace of God, and which is ascribed to faith in the faithfulness of a promising God:
because she judged him faithful who had promised; that she should have a son at the time of life; [See comments on Heb 10:23].
t Caphtor, fol. 21. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To conceive seed ( ). For deposit of seed. See 4:3 for .
Past age ( ). Beyond ( with the accusative) the season of age.
Since she counted him faithful who had promised ( ). Sarah herself (—). Even Sarah, old as she was, believed God who had promised. Hence she received power.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Sarah. Faith prevailing against natural impossibilities. See Rom 4:19 – 22. Both Abraham and Sarah doubted at first (Gen 17:17; Gen 18:12); but both became persuaded of the truthfulness of the promise.
Herself [] She who at first doubted.
To conceive seed [ ] . In every other instance in N. T. katabolh means foundation, and appears in the phrase katabolh kosmou foundation of the world. Originally it means throwing down; hence, the depositing of the male seed in the womb. The sentence may be explained either, “received strength as regarded the deposition of seed,” to fructify it; or, “received strength for the foundation of a posterity,” sperma being rendered in accordance with ch. Heb 2:16; Heb 11:18, and katabolh in the sense of foundation, as everywhere else in N. T.
And was delivered of a child when she was past age [ ] . Was delivered of a child not in the text. Kai and that. Rend. “received strength,” etc., “and that when she was past age.” Para kairon hJlikiav, lit. past the season of age. For hJlikia see on stature, Luk 12:25.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Through faith also Sara herself,” (pistei kai aute sarra) “Through (the gift of) faith Sara, (princess) herself also,” the wife of Abraham; It is to be understood that Sarah also, or “likewise,” believed God for salvation, though she first laughed, and stood in that faith with her sojourning husband, believing that they should receive an inheritance of a new city, by and by, or in God’s own time, 1Pe 3:5-6.
2) “Received strength to conceive seed,” (dunamen eis katabolen spermatos elaben) “Received power (of physical strength) for conception of seed,” to bear a son, herself, an heir to Abraham in their old age, because of God’s promises repeated and confirmed to them, though she doubted at first, Gen 18:9-19.
3) “And was delivered of a child when she was past age,” (kai para kairon helikias) “And was delivered of the child, even beyond the normal period of (her) age,” for child-bearing. For a woman in her prime life to be barren, then believe that she would bear a son in old age, was a triumph in faith. Abraham was an hundred, and Sarah ninety years old when their son Isaac was born, Gen 21:1-5.
4) “Because she judged him faithful who had promised,” (epei pistin hegesato ton epangeilamenon) “Since she deemed him to be faithful with whom all things were possible, who was having promised,” Rom 4:21; Gen 21:6-7. It was thru this seed that redemption was to come and all the nations of the earth be blessed, Gen 3:15; Gen 3:20; Gen 12:1-3. In her faith in God she was a faithful, respected, and obedient helpmate to Abraham, calling him lord, 1Pe 3:5-6. Trust in God manifests itself in obedience of life to one’s call and position in life, Gal 5:12; Eph 5:22; Eph 5:25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. Through faith also, Sarah herself, etc. That women may know that this truth belongs to them as well as to men, he adduces the example of Sarah; which he mentions in preference to that of others, because she was the mother of all the faithful.
But it may seem strange that her faith is commended, who was openly charged with unbelief; for she laughed at the word of the angel as though it were a fable; and it was not the laugh of wonder and admiration, for otherwise she would not have been so severely reproved by the angel. It must indeed be confessed, that her faith was blended with unbelief; (219) but as she cast aside her unbelief when reproved, her faith is acknowledged by God and commended. What then she rejected at first as being incredible, she afterwards as soon as she heard that it came from God, obediently received.
And hence we deduce a useful doctrine, — that when our faith in some things wavers or halts, it ceases not to be approved of God, provided we indulge not the spirit of unbelief. The meaning then is, that the miracle which God performed when Isaac was born, was the fruit of the faith of Abraham, and of his wife, by which they laid hold on the power of God.
Because she judged him faithful, etc. These reasons, by which the power and character of faith are set forth, ought to be carefully noticed. Were any one only to hear that Sarah brought forth a child through faith, all that is meant would not be conveyed to him, but the explanation which the Apostle adds removes every obscurity; for he declares that Sarah’s faith was this, — that she counted God to be true to his word, that is, to what he had promised.
There are two clauses to this declaration; for we hence learn first, that there is no faith without God’s word, for of his faithfulness we cannot be convinced, until he has spoken. And this of itself is abundantly sufficient to confute the fiction of the sophists respecting implicit faith; for we must ever hold that there is a mutual relation between God’s word and our faith. But as faith is founded chiefly, according to what has been already said, on the benevolence or kindness of God, it is not every word, though coming from his mouth, that is sufficient; but a promise is necessary as an evidence of his favor. Hence Sarah is said to have counted God faithful who had promised. True faith then is that which hears God speaking and rests on his promise.
(219) “The same thing is affirmed of Abraham, Gen 17:17. The truth is the first annunciation, that a child would spring from them, occasioned both in his and Sarah’s mind a feeling of incongruity, of impossibility, that the course of nature should be so reversed. Subsequent consideration brought both to a full belief in the reality of the promised blessing.” — Stuart.
It is remarkable, that at the first announcement Abraham laughed, as Sarah did afterward; and not only so, but he also said, “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” evidently showing that he did not then believe the promise which had been made to him. In the following chapter, Gen 18:10, the promise is repeated, when Sarah laughed. And in order to confirm them both, they were reminded of God’s power, Gen 18:14. Then faith overcame unbelief. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Through faith also Sara herself.Rather, By faith Sarah herself also, or, even Sarah herself. This emphatic introduction of the name of Sarah may point to the unbelief which for a brief while she displayed (Gen. 18:12); but the words may simply mean, Sarah also, on her partthe joint recipient with Abraham of the divine promise, a promise in which it might at first seem that she had no part. (Comp. Gen. 16:1-2.) The words was delivered of a child are absent from the best authorities; so that we must read, even when she was past age. With the last words of the verse compare Heb. 10:23.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Herself Through whom it was all along assumed that the promise was to become effected. Or, as some understand it, herself, who was formerly barren; or, as others, herself, who was at first faithless. We prefer the first, though we find it unsuggested by any commentator.
Past age That is, of child bearing. Notes on Hebrews 4:16, 17.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘By faith even Sarah herself received power for the laying down of seed when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised, for which reason also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand, which is by the seashore, innumerable.’
And we must remember that the women also had their full part. From now on the writer introduces women deliberately into each section. Here it is Sarah. Sarah finally believed God on the basis of His promise, and the result was the coming to life again of her womb so that she could bear a child, she ‘received power’. And as a result, by Abraham ‘laying down his seed’, from the laying down of the seed from one who appeared almost dead because of his great age (compare Rom 4:19), sprang through Isaac a great multitude of descendants, as many as the stars of heaven and the sand by the seashore. Out of apparent death God produced abundance of life because they believed perseveringly.
There is here a slight problem with the Greek. Having ‘power for the laying down of seed’ usually refers to the action of the male. Yet on the basis of comparison with ‘by faith’ as used elsewhere in the chapter we expect ‘Sarah herself’ (which immediately follows ‘by faith’) to be the subject of the sentence. Furthermore in most texts ‘Sarah herself’ is separated from ‘she was past age’ in such a way as to make it unlikely that the whole is a paranthetical clause.
Thus the thought may simply be that because her womb ‘received power’, being transformed by God’s power, it put her in a position where Abraham could lay down his seed. Or alternatively that she received from Abraham his activity in using his ‘power for the laying down of seed’, that is, Abraham used his power to lay down his seed, which Sarah received. The reference to his appearing almost dead because of his great age may be seen as supporting the alternative. This at least takes the majority Greek text as it stands, even though we have no exactly comparable example elsewhere, and can be seen as arising because of the desire for putting the whole activity modestly. Others, however, translate that ‘Sarah received the power to establish (lay down) a seed (a posterity)’.
It should be noted here, as will become clear later, that while the sequence in the chapter is generally chronological it is not rigidly so, for having moved forward to Isaac and Jacob we have now moved back to Sarah and the birth of Isaac.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Heb 11:11. Because she judged him faithful who had promised. It may seem a difficulty, that the apostle should here tell us that Sarah judged him faithful who had promised, whereas in the history she seems not to have credited what was promised. But the answer is, Supposing that she did not at first believe the possibility or probabilityof her having a child at that time of life, yet if she afterwards believed, as there is no doubt but she did, upon the more full declaration of Jehovah, it fully answers the design of the apostle.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Heb 11:11 . ] even Sarah herself, sc . although she had before been unbelieving. At first, namely, when she had received the divine promise that she should yet bear a son, she had, in consideration of her great age, laughed thereat, and thus manifested unbelief; presently afterwards, however, she was afraid, and denied her laughter, had thus passed over from unbelief to belief. Comp. Gen 18:12 ; Gen 18:15 . Erroneously is the enhancing interpreted by Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Bengel, Bhme, Stein, Tholuck (the last-named, however, undecided): even Sarah also, the wife , or: although she was only a woman ; Kurtz: “Sarah herself and no other,” namely, not Hagar. Just as false the interpretation of Schlichting, Schulz, and others: even Sarah herself, although she was barren . To the last mode of supplementing points also the gloss , or , or , which is found, with Theophylact, in some cursives, translations (including Vulg.), and early editions. Quite wrongly will Delitzsch, followed therein by Alford and Hofmann, have no gradation whatever recognised in , in that he supposes to serve only for extending a like statement to a second subject, and consequently placing the first mother of the chosen race side by side with the first father thereof. If the author had wished to express nothing more, he would have written merely . For or is in the N. T. never used in the nominative for the unaccented he or she . See Winer, Gramm. , 7 Aufl. p. 141, Obs .
] for the founding of a posterity . is employed, therefore, in the same sense as in the expression , Heb 4:3 , Heb 9:26 , and , as Heb 11:18 ; Heb 2:16 , and frequently. The words cannot denote: she received power to conceive seed , as is interpreted by Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact (who, however, is undecided), the Peshito, Vulgate, Erasmus, Vatablus, Calvin, Beza, Estius, Cornelius a Lapide, Er. Schmid, Grotius, L. Bos, Wolf, Bengel, Carpzov, Schulz, Heinrichs, Hut, Stengel, Bloomfield, Bisping, Delitzsch, Alford, Kurtz, and others. For this must have been expressed by ( ) . [107] Constrained and unnatural, however, is also the explanation, first mentioned by Theophylact, and subsequently adopted by Drusius, Jac. Cappellus, Schlichting, Heinsius, Wittich, Rambach, and others: she received power for the bringing forth of seed .
] and that contrary to the favourable period of life, i.e. since the , on account of the youthful freshness being already lost, was opposed to all probability. Incorrect, because in that case the full signification of ( opportunitas ) is not brought out, Delitzsch: “in contradiction with the time of life, namely, the ninetieth year, in which she was.”
] comp. Heb 10:23 .
[107] Michaelis and Storr would therefore, in writing , refer the statement, ver. 11, still to Abraham, in connection with which, however, more meaning must be put into than can lie in the expression, and which has in other respects much in the context against it. See Bleek, II. 2, p. 767 f.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Heb 11:11-12 . The example of Sarah .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
11 Through faith also Sara 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.
Ver. 11. Because she judged him, &c. ] At first she laughed, through unbelief, at the unlikelihood; but afterward she bethought herself, and believed. This latter is recorded, the former pardoned. So Gen 18:12 , “Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I have waxen old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” Here was never a good word but one, viz. that she called her husband lord, and this is recorded to her eternal commendation,1Pe 3:61Pe 3:6 . Isaac then was not a child of nature, but of the mere promise; so are all our graces. We bring forth good things, as Sarah’s dead womb brought forth a child.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11 .] Example of SARAH, whose faith worked with that of Abraham to produce Isaac . By faith Sarah herself also (the has been very variously interpreted. “Even S. who before was barren,” says Schlichting: and to this view perhaps the gloss , or , or , is owing (see digest): Chrys. says, , : and similarly Thl., c., al.: Bleek says, “even S. who was once incredulous:” and so De W., Winer, Lnem. But I believe Delitzsch is perfectly right in rejecting all these and falling back on St. Luke’s usage of and , which is very frequent, as Winer remarks, 22. 4, Remark: see Luk 20:42 , : Luk 24:15 , : Act 8:13 , : and especially , Luk 3:23 ; from which it appears that the words merely indicate transition from one personal subject to another, the new subject being thus thrown out into prominence) received power for ( is an expression of St. Luke’s, Luk 5:17 , : the preposition indicating the direction in which the power is exercised) the deposition of seed (power, to fructify seed deposed. So c., . I am satisfied that this and no other is the meaning, from the fact that the expression is one so constantly used in this sense, and that the Greek reader would be sure thus to take it. No Greek Father, no ancient version, dreamt of any other meaning. So Chrys., , . Thl., , (giving another alt., dependent on the idea and interpreting the of herself). Thdrt., , . With regard to the phrase, see numerous examples in Wetst. and Bleek. Galen has, among many other passages, . But this is objected to by several modern Commentators, Bhme, Stier, Bleek, De Wette, Lnem., who take as in , and the seed which should descend from her, her posterity, as in Gen 12:7 al. freq., and in Heb 11:18 and ch. Heb 2:16 of our Epistle. Of this meaning instances are not wanting, but all of them derive that sense from the other, and it is hardly possible, though such expressions as (Plut. de Fort. Rom. p. 320), (Plut. Vita Marc. Anton. p. 932) may occur, where the context makes it plain what is meant, that such an one as should occur, so calculated to mislead, if both words had been intended in an unusual and metaphorical sense), and that (see Hartung, Partikellehre i. 145. His most apposite instances are in Latin: e. g. Plaut. Rud. i. 2. 33, “dabitur opera, atque in negotio:” Terent. Andr. ii. 1. 37, “ego vero, ac lubens”) beyond (in inconsistency with, contrary to the law of) the time of age (proper for the . So Abraham and Sarah are called in Philo de Abr. 22, vol. ii. p. 17: . And Plato, Thet. p. 149 C, has ), seeing that she esteemed Him faithful who had promised (see ref.).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Heb 11:11 . . “By faith Sarah herself also received power to become a mother even when past the age, since she counted Him faithful who had promised.” is rendered by Vaughan, Sarah “in her place” as [Abraham] in his; she on her part. The reference of is disputed; it has been understood to mean “Sarah the unfruitful”. In [34] . is added; or, as Chrysostom and Bengel, “vas infirmius,” the weaker vessel. Delitzsch thinks that as in Luk 20:42 ; Luk 24:15 , it merely means “so Sarah likewise”. But apparently the reference is to her previous unbelief. By faith she received strength , “the act of the husband not of the wife” (see a score of passages in Wetstein), hence Bleek, Farrar and several others prefer to understand the words of “the founding of a family,” citing Plato’s . But if be taken in the same sense as in Heb 10:19 , “as regards” or “in connection with” or “with a view to,” the difficulty disappears. [ Cf. Weiss who says the words signify “nicht ein Thun, zu dem sie Kraft empfing, sondern die Beziehung in welcher sie ein Kraft bedrfte, wenn dasselbe fr sie wirksam werden sollte”. Cf. also Gen 18:12 .] Her faith was further illustrated ( = and this indeed) by the circumstance that she was now , the comparative use of frequent in this Epistle. For a woman who in her prime had been barren, to believe that in her decay she could bear a son was a triumph of faith. Cf. Gen 18:12-13 , . But she had faith in the promise ( cf. Heb 6:13-18 ), “wherefore also there were begotten of one and him as good as dead [issue] as the stars of heaven in multitude and as the sand by the seashore innumerable”. Probably the is to be construed with as in Luk 1:35 ; Act 10:29 , etc. , that is, Abraham ( cf. Isa 51:2 , ); , a classical expression, see Xenophon, Mem. , ii. 3, and Blass, Gram. , p. 248. , “dead” so far as regards the begetting of offspring, cf. Rom 4:19 . , a nominative to . may be supplied, or . For the metaphors cf. Gen 22:17 . is properly a constellation, but used commonly for “a star”. found in the classics in same connection.
[34] Claromontanus Parisiensis Nationalis 107, Graeco-Latinus.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
also = even.
received. It was given from above.
strength. Greek. dunamis. App-172.
to conceive. Literally for (Greek. eis) casting down (Greek. kataboe. See App-146). Compare 2Ki 19:3. The strength was Divinely supplied not only to conceive, but to bring to the birth.
was delivered of = brought forth.
past. Greek. para. App-104.
age = season. Greek. kairos. Gen 18:11.
judged. Same as “counted”, Heb 10:29.
faithful. Greek. pistos. App-150.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11.] Example of SARAH, whose faith worked with that of Abraham to produce Isaac. By faith Sarah herself also (the has been very variously interpreted. Even S. who before was barren, says Schlichting: and to this view perhaps the gloss , or , or , is owing (see digest): Chrys. says, , : and similarly Thl., c., al.: Bleek says, even S. who was once incredulous: and so De W., Winer, Lnem. But I believe Delitzsch is perfectly right in rejecting all these and falling back on St. Lukes usage of and , which is very frequent, as Winer remarks, 22. 4, Remark: see Luk 20:42, : Luk 24:15, : Act 8:13, : and especially , Luk 3:23; from which it appears that the words merely indicate transition from one personal subject to another, the new subject being thus thrown out into prominence) received power for ( is an expression of St. Lukes, Luk 5:17, : the preposition indicating the direction in which the power is exercised) the deposition of seed (power, to fructify seed deposed. So c., . I am satisfied that this and no other is the meaning, from the fact that the expression is one so constantly used in this sense, and that the Greek reader would be sure thus to take it. No Greek Father, no ancient version, dreamt of any other meaning. So Chrys., , . Thl., , (giving another alt., dependent on the idea and interpreting the of herself). Thdrt., , . With regard to the phrase, see numerous examples in Wetst. and Bleek. Galen has, among many other passages, . But this is objected to by several modern Commentators, Bhme, Stier, Bleek, De Wette, Lnem., who take as in , and the seed which should descend from her, her posterity, as in Gen 12:7 al. freq., and in Heb 11:18 and ch. Heb 2:16 of our Epistle. Of this meaning instances are not wanting, but all of them derive that sense from the other, and it is hardly possible, though such expressions as (Plut. de Fort. Rom. p. 320), (Plut. Vita Marc. Anton. p. 932) may occur, where the context makes it plain what is meant, that such an one as should occur, so calculated to mislead, if both words had been intended in an unusual and metaphorical sense), and that (see Hartung, Partikellehre i. 145. His most apposite instances are in Latin: e. g. Plaut. Rud. i. 2. 33, dabitur opera, atque in negotio: Terent. Andr. ii. 1. 37, ego vero, ac lubens) beyond (in inconsistency with, contrary to the law of) the time of age (proper for the . So Abraham and Sarah are called in Philo de Abr. 22, vol. ii. p. 17: . And Plato, Thet. p. 149 C, has ), seeing that she esteemed Him faithful who had promised (see ref.).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Heb 11:11. ) even herself, the weaker vessel.-, seed) by her aged husband.- , past age, past the time of life) Paul has a similar passage, Rom 4:19.- , she judged Him faithful) Otherwise she would not have laughed. The laughter argued a mixture of distrust; but yet more of faith, especially after the reproof.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
The instances of the faith of Abraham insisted on by the apostle in this discourse may be referred unto two heads: first, Such as respect his call; secondly, Such as respect the promise made unto him. Those of the first sort are two:
1. His obedience unto the divine call, in leaving his country and fathers family;
2. His patience in enduring the troubles of a pilgrimage all his days, in a land wherein he was a stranger. The consideration of both these we have passed through.
Here he proceeds unto the instances of his faith with respect unto the promise made unto him, namely, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. And these also are two:
1. That which concerned the birth of Isaac, by whom the promise was to have its accomplishment;
2. What he did by faith on the command of God, in offering up of the son of the promise.
In the first of these, or what concerned the birth of Isaac, the son of the promise, Abraham was not alone, but Sarah his wife was both naturally and spiritually no less concerned than himself. Wherefore the apostle in the midst of his discourse concerning Abraham and his faith, in this one instance introduceth Sarah in conjunction with him, as on many reasons she ought not to have been omitted.
Heb 11:11. ( ) , [8] , .
[8] VARIOUS READINGS. The words and are now omitted in all the critical editions of the New Testament. ED.
, being barren. Vulg. Lat., sterilis. Syr., , who was barren. And the words are retained in many vulgar translations. We omit them, for they are found only in two copies of the original; nor are they taken notice of by the ancient scholiasts. And it is far move probable that these words were inserted in one or two copies, than that they were left out of all the rest: for there is no color of reason why they should be omitted; but the addition of them, especially containing a truth, seems to set out more fully the greatness of the instance proposed.
. Vulg. Lat., in conceptione seminis. Rhem., received virtue in conceiving seed. is properly vis, strength, power. The Vulgar renders it here virtutem; proper enough in Latin, but virtue is very improper in our language, as unto this use of the word. In the conception, for to conceive. Ad concipiendum semen, ad retinendum semen, ad concipiendum et retinendum semen. Syr., ut susciperet semen. The inquiries and disputes of expositors on these words, as unto their precise signification with reference unto Sarah, are useless, and some of them offensive. Strength to conceive a child, after the manner of other women, is all that the apostle intends.
is absent in one ancient Greek copy; which supplies it by , after , to beget children. It is omitted in the Vulgar, which reads the words etiam praeter tempus aetatis; yea, past the time of age. The Syriac retains it, brought, or bare a child. Those who omit it, refer the whole to the cause, or her conception; those who retain it, express the effect also, in child-bearing.
. Vulg., credidit, she believed. So the Syriac, , believed assuredly. Reputavit, judicavit; accounted, judged.
Heb 11:11. Through faith also 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.
1. The person whose faith is here proposed as exemplary, is Sarah. But many expositors suppose that it is not Sarahs faith, but Abrahams, which wrought this effect by Sarah, that is commended. The reasons which I have seen on the one side and the other are light, and easily answered. But there are those which are cogent to convince that it is the faith of Sarah that is intended. For,
(1.) The manner of expression is a certain determination of her person to be the subject spoken of: , and, or also, Sarah herself. The words plainly signify the introduction of another person in the same order, or unto the same purpose with him before spoken of.
(2.) As Abraham was the father of the faithful, or the church, so she was the mother of it, so as that the distinct mention of her faith was necessary. She was the free-woman from whence the church sprang, Gal 4:22-23. And all believing women are her daughters, 1Pe 3:6. See Gen 17:16.
(3.) Her working and obedience are proposed unto the church as an example, and therefore her faith may justly be so also, 1Pe 3:5-6.
(4.) She was equally concerned in the divine revelation with Abraham, and was as sensible of great difficulties in its accomplishment as Abraham, if not more so.
(5.) The blessing of the promised Seed was confined and appropriated unto Sarah no less than unto Abraham: Gen 17:16, I will bless her, yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations. See Gen 17:19; Gen 18:10. Herein her faith was necessary, and is here recorded.
Some things may be observed in the proposition of this instance and example; as,
(1.) That it is the faith of a woman that is celebrated. Hence that sex may learn, even that they also may be examples of faith unto the whole church, as Sarah was. And it is necessary for their encouragement; because,
[1.] Of the especial concernment of their sex in the first entrance of sin, which the apostle animadverts upon, for their instruction in humility and subjection unto the will of God, and makes it a matter of especial grace, that they shall be saved, 1Ti 2:9-15.
[2.] Because of their natural weakness, subject in a peculiar manner unto various temptations; which in this example they are encouraged to conflict withal and overcome by faith. Whence it is that they are heirs together with their believing husbands of the grace of life, 1Pe 3:7.
(2.) Here is a signal commendation of the faith of Sarah, even in that very instance wherein it was shaken and failed, though it recovered itself afterward. For whatever working there might be of natural affections in the surprisal which befell her on the promise of a son, whereon she laughed, yet there was a mixture of unbelief in it, as appears from the reproof given her, Is any thing too hard for the LORD? Gen 18:13-14. But being awakened by that reproof, and receiving a fuller evidence that it was the Lord which spake to her, she recovered herself, and rested by faith in his power and truth. Wherefore,
Obs. 1. Faith may be sorely shaken and tossed with difficulties, at their first appearance, lying in the way of the promise, which yet at last it shall overcome. And there be many degrees of its weakness and failure herein; as,
[1.] A mere recoiling with some disorder in the understanding, unable to apprehend the way and manner of the accomplishment of the promise. This was in the blessed Virgin herself, who, on the promise of her conception of a child, replied, How shall, or can this be, seeing I know not a man? Luk 1:34. But she immediately recovered herself into an acquiescency in the power and faithfulness of God, verses 37,38,45.
[2.] It ariseth unto a distrust of the event of the promises or their accomplishment, because of the difficulties that lie in the way. So was it with Zacharias, the father of John Baptist; who thereon had his own dumbness given him for a sign of the truth of the promise, Luk 1:18; Luk 1:20. So was it with Sarah on this occasion; for which she was reproved. This is denied of Abraham, He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, Rom 4:20. And this at times is found in us all.
[3.] When there is for a season an actual prevalency of unbelief. So it was with the apostle Peter, when he denied his Master; who yet was quickly recovered.
It is therefore our duty,
[1.] To watch that our faith be not surprised, or shaken by the appearance of difficulties and oppositions.
[2.] Not to despond utterly on any degree of its failure; for it is in its nature, by the use of means, to recover its vigor and efficacy.
(3.) The carriage of Sarah is twice repeated by the Holy Ghost, here and 1Pe 3:6; and in both places only what was good in it, namely, her faith toward God on her recovery after her reproof, and her observance of her husband, whom, speaking to herself, she called lord, is mentioned and proposed, without the least remembrance of her failing or miscarriage. And such will be the judgment of Christ at the last day concerning all those whose faith and obedience are sincere, though accompanied with many failings.
2. The second thing in the words is, what is here ascribed unto the faith of Sarah, or what she obtained by virtue of it: She received strength to conceive seed.
(1.) She received it. It was not what she had in or of herself; she had it in a way of free gift, whereunto she contributed nothing but a passive reception.
(2.) That which she received was strength; that is, power and ability for the especial end aimed at: this she had lost through age. And I do believe that this was not a mere miraculous generation, but that she received a general restoration of her nature unto an ability for all its primitive operations, which was before decayed. So was it with Abraham afterward, who after this, after his body was as dead, received strength to have many children by Keturah.
(3.) What she received this strength for by faith; to conceive seed. There is no need to debate the precise signification of the word in this place, as elsewhere. The arguings of some about it are offensive. It may suffice, that the meaning of the phrase is, to conceive a child in the womb after a natural way and manner, such as there was not in the conception of our Lord Jesus Christ in the womb of the blessed Virgin. Wherefore it is most probable that the holy Virgin conceived in her womb immediately upon the angelical salutation declaring it unto her. But Sarah conceived not until some good while after the divine revelation made unto her that she should have a child. See Gen 17:21; Gen 21:2.
Here some copies read , being barren; which was true, and increaseth the miracle of her conception; that whereas she had been barren all the usual and ordinary time of womens bearing children in the course of their lives, she should now in her old age conceive seed. It is observed, indeed, that Sarai was barren, Gen 11:30. But yet when the trial of her faith came, the difficulty did not arise from a natural barrenness, but that the time of life for bearing of children was now past with her. She was old, and it ceased to be with her after the manner of women, Gen 18:11-12; or, as the apostle expounds it, her womb was dead, Rom 4:19. And this is that which here the greatness of this effect of faith is ascribed unto, namely, that she was delivered of a child when she was past age. If we read , with most copies, she was delivered of a child, or she childed, she bare a child, then the particle is conjunctive, and denotes an addition unto what was said of her conceiving seed, namely, that she also childed, or brought forth a child. If it be absent, it is to be rendered by even, to denote a heightening circumstance of what was before effected. She received strength to conceive seed, event when she was past age. But the former is to be followed; she conceived, and accordingly bare a son, Gen 21:2.
That which was eminent herein, manifesting that it was a mere effect of faith, is, that it was thus with her , after the season of age was past. So the apostle expounds that passage in Moses, Sarah was old, and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women, Gen 18:11. She was ninety years old at that time, Gen 17:17. And this was that which at first shook her faith, for want of a due consideration of the omnipotency of God; for that the improbability hereof, and the impossibility of it in an ordinary way of nature, was that which shook her faith for a season, is evident from the reply made by God unto her, Is any thing too hard for the LORD
Gen 18:14. She considered not that where divine veracity was engaged, infinite power would be so also to make it good. And we may observe, that,
Obs. 2. Although God ordinarily worketh by his concurring blessing on the course of nature, yet is he not obliged thereunto. Yet,
Obs. 3. It is no defect in faith, not to expect events and blessings absolutely above the use of means, unless we have a particular warranty for it, as Sarah had in this case.
Obs. 4. The duty and use of faith about temporal mercies are to be regulated by the general rules of the word, where no especial providence doth make application of a promise.
Obs. 5. The mercy here spoken of, concerning a son unto Abraham by Sarah his wife, was absolutely decreed, and absolutely promised; yet God indispensably requires faith in them for the fulfilling of that decree, and the accomplishment of that promise. The great engine whereby men have endeavored to destroy the certainty and efficacy of the grace of God is this, that if he have absolutely decreed and promised any thing which he will accomplish, then all our duty with respect unto it is rendered unnecessary. And if this be so, all the faith of the church under the old testament concerning the promised Seed, or coming of the Messiah, was vain and useless, for it was absolutely decreed and absolutely promised. So would have been the faith of Sarah in this case; nor could she have deserved blame for her unbelief But it is no way inglorious unto the methods of God, as unto his own grace and our obedience, that they are unsuited unto the carnal reasonings of men.
3. The last thing in the words is the ground of the effect declared, or the nature of that faith whereby she obtained the mercy mentioned. And this was, Because she judged him faithful who had promised. , quoniam, because. It doth not intimate the meritorious cause of the thing itself, nor any procuring cause of it; it only shows the reason of what was before asserted, namely, that it was by faith that she obtained a child, For she judged, etc.
That which is ascribed unto her on this occasion, which contains the general nature of that faith whereby she received strength, is, that she judged him faithful who had promised, etc.
(1.) The act ascribed unto her is, that she judged, she reckoned, esteemed, reputed him so to be. Vulg. Lat. and Syr., she believed: which is true; but there is more in this word than a naked assent, there is a determinate resolution of the mind and judgment, on a due consideration of the evidence given for its assent unto any truth. And herein the nature of true faith in general doth consist, namely, in the minds judging and determination upon the evidence proposed. Sarahs faith in this ease was the issue of a temptation, a trial. When she first heard the promise, she considered only the thing promised, and was shaken in her faith by the improbability of it, being that which she had lost all expectation and even desire of. But when she recollected herself, and took off her mind from the thing promised unto the Promiser, faith prevailed in her.
(2.) This is manifest in the especial object of her faith, herein; and that was, He that promised, that is, God himself in his promise. She first thought of the thing promised, and this seemed unto her altogether incredible; but at length, taking off her thoughts from the consideration of all second causes, she fixed her mind on God himself who had promised, and came unto this resolution, whatever difficulties or oppositions lay in the way of the accomplishment of the promise, he that made it was able to remove them all; and such was his faithfulness, that he would make good his word wherein he had caused her to put her trust.
(3.) So it is added in the last place, that she judged him faithful. She resolved her faith, into, and rested upon the veracity of God in the accomplishment of his promises; which is the immediate proper object of faith, Tit 1:2. But yet also she joined with it the consideration of almighty power; for she thus recollected herself upon those words of God, Is any thing too hard for the Lord? And we may see,
Obs. 6. That the formal object of faith in the divine promises is not the things promised in the first place, but God himself in his essential excellencies of truth or faithfulness, and power. To fix our minds on the things themselves promised, to have an expectation or supposition of the enjoyment of them, as suppose mercy, grace, pardon, glory, without a previous acquiescency of mind in the truth and faithfulness of God, or on God himself as faithful, and able to accomplish them, is but a deceiving imagination. But on this exercise of faith in God, we make a comfortable application of the things promised unto our own souls; as did Sarah in this case. And,
Obs. 7. Every promise of God hath this consideration tacitly annexed to it, Is any thing too hard for the LORD? There is no divine promise, no promise of the new covenant, but when it comes unto the trial, as unto our closing with it, we apprehend as great a difficulty and improbability of its accomplishment unto us as Sarah did of this. All things seem easy unto them who know not what it is to believe, nor the necessity of believing; they do so to them also who have learned to abuse the grace of God expressed in the promises, and to turn it into wantonness: but poor, humble, broken souls, burdened with sin, and entangled in their own darkness, find insuperable difficulties, as they apprehend, in the way of the accomplishment of the promises. This is their principal retreat in their distress, Is any thing too hard for the LORD? This God himself proposeth as the foundation of our faith in our entering into covenant with him, Gen 17:1-2. And therefore,
Obs. 8. Although the truth, veracity, or faithfulness of God, be in a peculiar manner the immediate object of our faith, yet it takes in the consideration of all other divine excellencies for its encouragement and corroboration. And all of them together are that name of the LORD, whereon a believing soul stays itself in all extremities, Isa 50:10. And, Thus is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; that is, the righteousness of Christ as tendered in the promise is made known and communicated from the faith of God therein unto the faith of them by whom it is believed.
Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews
Seeking the Better Country
Heb 11:11-22
Faith has the twofold power, first, of making the unseen real; and second, of receiving the grace and strength of God into the heart. Sarah, through faith, received strength to bear Isaac. By faith may come physical as well as spiritual strength.
The pilgrim life is possible only for those who have seen the city of God beckoning them from afar. Then they strike their tents and follow the gleam. By faith they so comport themselves that God is not ashamed to own them. They will discover, even in this life, that they have not trusted Him in vain, and that the half has not been told. On the mere rumor that a new gold field is found, men sell off everything in their mad rush. How many are disappointed! But none of those that trust God shall be left desolate.
Abraham was absolutely sure that Isaac would return with him, even though the lad might die beneath the knife. When leaving the young men at Moriahs foot, he said: We will worship and come again. Had not Gods voice definitely designated Isaac as his heir?
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Through Faith
Through faith also Sara 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. Heb 11:11
Sarah believed God. She believed his promise, trusted his Word, without anything to back it up, without any evidence, without any basis in human science, history, or reason. She just believed God, because God gave her the blessed gift of faith.
All things spiritual are utterly beyond the scope of human reason. The gospel of Christ and all that is revealed in the gospel is irreconcilable to human reason. The things of God are totally contrary to what the depraved mind and heart of man considers common sense. The Divine Trinity, the Fall of our race in Adam, Eternal Election, the Incarnation, Substitutionary Redemption, and Free Salvation are all matters utterly beyond the reach of human reason.
These are things which every heaven born soul sees, believes and rejoices in; but things which no unregenerate man can reconcile in his own mind with common sense. Why? The Holy Spirit gives us the answer in 1 Corinthians 2. That which is the wisdom of God is hidden from the wise and prudent of this world. It can be known only by divine revelation (1Co 2:7-15).
Not only is it true that the gospel itself is beyond the reach of human wisdom, contrary to the depraved minds idea of common sense, but faith, true faith, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in and by whom alone the triune God reveals himself, is totally contrary to human reason, contrary to it because it is so far above it that reason cannot grasp it.
True, saving faith (Faith in ChristFaith in the living God) is a supernatural thing. Faith does the impossible, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and touches the intangible. I fear that the vast majority of those who profess to have faith in Christ have nothing more than faith in their faith. Their faith is all talk, theory and emotion. Not so with true faith! Most religious people have a faith that has been, in one way or another, produced by men. There is nothing at all supernatural about it. True, saving faith, this supernatural faith, faith that believes God without evidence, without proof, without any foundation except God himself, is the gift and operation of God. In other words, no one can or will believe God until and unless God the Holy Spirit gives him faith.
If you and I believe God, if we truly believe God, it is because God has wrought his work of grace in us by the omnipotent power and grace of his Spirit, as Paul puts it, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead (Eph 1:19-20). This faith is the gift and operation of God (Eph 2:8; Col 2:12; Php 1:29). It cannot be had or explained in any other way.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Sara: Gen 17:17-19, Gen 18:11-14, Gen 21:1, Gen 21:2, Luk 1:36, 1Pe 3:5, 1Pe 3:6
because: Heb 10:23, Rom 4:20, Rom 4:21
Reciprocal: Gen 18:12 – laughed Gen 21:6 – God Num 1:46 – General Deu 7:9 – the faithful 2Ki 4:17 – General Isa 54:1 – for more Mat 1:2 – Abraham Luk 1:7 – well Luk 1:25 – hath Rom 4:19 – considered Rom 9:9 – Sarah 1Co 1:9 – God 1Co 10:13 – but Gal 4:23 – but Heb 11:19 – from the 1Jo 1:9 – he is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Heb 11:11. Being delivered of a child was not the miracle in this case, but it was the ability to conceive one to begin with. Sarah was ninety years old and thus was past the usual age of child-bearing. She also had been barren all her life so that she was not at any time able to conceive by the natural process of reproduction. Hence she would have felt no urge to cooperate with her husband in carrying out their part of God’s plan. But on account of her faith in the promise of God she acted and was rewarded with the strength (ability) to conceive.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Heb 11:11. And what is true of Abraham, the father of the faithful, is true also of Sarah, who was equally the ancestor of the chosen race. Sarah herself, not who had so long doubted (Bleek, etc.), for the writer is not dealing with the difficulty of faith, but with the necessity for it. The expression is nothing but an extension of the lesson of the previous verse to a new and connected instance:Sarah likewise. The expression is very common in Luke.
And when she was past age (literally, and that contrary to the time of life)an additional difficulty; and yet, in spite of her barrenness, her age, her former incredulity (for she had laughed at the promise in the first instance), she believed, and therein found a large reward.
Deeming (as in chap. Heb 10:29 and Heb 11:26, and to be distinguished from the accounting of Heb 11:19) him faithful.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our apostle having spoken of Abraham’s faith before, makes an honourable mention of his wife Sarah’s faith here. It is a blessed thing when husband and wife are one in the faith, as well as one flesh; when the constant companion of our life draws with us in the same yoke of religion.
Note, 1. The person whose faith is here commended, Sarah herself, a woman, a barren woman, and a barren woman well stricken in age; a woman weak in sex may be strong in faith. Though Sarah at first laughed, yet she afterwards firmly believed. And the apostle takes no notice of the former, but applauds the latter. Oh? with what great indulgence doth God cover the failings of his children, but proclaims aloud their graces to the world! Men do not thus: they will overlook all that is good in others, and report only what is amiss. Sarah’s laughing, Rahab’s lie, Job’s impatience, are not mentioned, but their graces are remembered. Who would not serve such a gracious master, that winks at our failings, but accepts and rewards our weak services and sincere graces?
Note, 2. The commendation and fruit of Sarah’s faith, she received by it strength and ability for conception; probably she recovered the youthful vigour, and received a general restoration of nature, to an ability for all its primitive operations, which was before decayed by age; she received strength to conceive seed when past age.
Learn, That it is the property of faith to expect a blessing absolutely above the use of means, when we have a particular and special warrant from God so to do, as Sarah had in this case.
Note, 3. The ground of Sarah’s faith , Because she had judged him faithful that had promised; that is, she resolved her faith into, and rested upon, the veracity of God in the accomplishment of the promise, which is the proper and immediate object of faith.
Learn, That wherever we exercise and put forth faith, we must take care and be sure that we have a promise to exercise it upon, otherwise it is not faith, but fancy; God’s promise, and not God’s power, is the ground of faith; it is not what God can do, but what he will do, and what he has engaged and promised to do, that is the ground of faith; he can quench all the fire in hell; but where has he said he will do it? She judged him faithful who had promised.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Heb 11:11-12. Through faith also Sara Though at first she laughed at the promise through unbelief; received strength , for the conception of seed; and was delivered of a child when she was past age That is, beyond the due time of age for such a purpose, when she was ninety years old, and in the course of nature absolutely incapable of being a mother. I believe, says Dr. Owen, that this was not a mere miraculous generation, but that she received a general restoration of her nature for the production of a child, which was before decayed, as Abraham afterward, who, after his body was in a manner dead, received strength to have many children by Keturah. Because she judged him faithful who had promised And that, as he could, so he would fulfil his promise, whatever difficulties might stand in the way of its fulfilment. Therefore By this mighty principle of faith in her and in Abraham; sprang there even of one Of one father; and him as good as dead
Till his strength was supernaturally restored; so many as the stars of the sky in multitude This expression was first used by God himself, who brought Abraham forth abroad, and bade him look toward heaven, and number the stars, if he were able; and then said, So shall thy seed be. It is evident that at the first view, as they were shown to Abraham, not being reduced into constellations, there can perhaps be no greater appearance of what is innumerable, than the stars. Probably too in this comparison not only their number, but their beauty and order were intended. In the other allusion, as the sand which is by the sea-shore, they are declared to be absolutely innumerable. It is not said that they shall be as many as the sand by the sea-shore, but as innumerable, to which the event wonderfully corresponded.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Sarah believed God would fulfill His promise and provide something (a child) totally beyond the realm of natural possibility. God wants us, too, to believe that. God rewarded her faith far beyond what she imagined, and He will reward ours in the same way (cf. Rom 8:18; 2Co 4:17-18).