Affirm, Affirmatives
Affirm, Affirmatives
a-furma-tivs (, diischurzomai). The verb affirm occurs in several passages of the New Testament in the sense of assert (Luk 22:59; Act 12:15; Act 25:19 , pha-sko; Rom 3:8 , phem; 1 Tim 17; Tit 3:8 , diabebaioomai. The Hebrew does not employ affirmative particles, but gives a positive reply by either repeating the word in question or by substituting the first person in the reply for the second person in the question, or by employing the formula: Thou hast said or Thou hast rightly said. The Saviour used this idiom ( , su epas) when answering Judas and Caiaphas (Mat 26:25, Mat 26:64). A peculiar elegance occasionally attaches to the interpretation of the Scriptures because of their use of an affirmative and a negative together, rendering the sense more emphatic; sometimes the negative occurs first, as in Psa 118:17 : I shall not die, but live; sometimes the affirmative precedes, as in Isa Psa 88:1 : Thou shalt die, and not bye Joh 1:20 is made peculiarly emphatic because of the negative placed between two affirmatives: And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed, I am not the Christ.