Timothy to Hebrews - The Preterist Archive

544 Hebrews XI. 4-7.
are not at jiresent seen ; //?/ /SAerrojuei-a would be things which, under
no condition, and at no time, could be seen. 0^' cfyaivof^Ltva would be
things which (at the time or in the circumstances spoken of in the
context) do not come into appearance ; p) (paivoixeva are things which,
from their nature, ca^mol come into appearance. By the i)Iural /i^
(f>aiv6fieva cannot, however, of course, be denoted blank nothing, and
just as little can chaos be denoted, which is dark and confused, indeed,
but by no means lying beyond the sphere of appearance. The
HTj (j)acv6^eva must rather be qualitatively-invisihle things or ])0wer8, to
the v6r]aig of which the man raises himself in faith, from looking
upon that which is seen. If, too, we are not at liberty to understand
by this precisely the ideas in the Platonic sense, we are yet led by the
expression word of Ood to think of the invisible creative powers
which form as it were the import of his ivord.
In vers. 4r-l folloiv examples taJcenfrom the time before Abraham.—
Through the disposition of mind denoted by -rrioTLg Abel offered a
better sacrifice than Cain.
Cain offered fruits of the field, which in
themselves were not adapted for sacrifice, for the atoning nVis (corap.
what is said on chap. ix. 19, seq.), and were also not so valuable as
animals. Abel offered the firstlings and fattest beasts of his flock.
He willingly gave up, therefore, a dear and valuable earthly possession
for the invisible possession of the consciousness of reconciliation,
and the manifestation of gratitude to God. He thus gave evidence
that he had that state of mind which in ver. 1 was called faith.
Therefore ((Jt' 7/f refers to -long, as also Si'' av-ijc, in respect of the
sense, must refer to Trlo-ig) it was testified to him that he was righteous
; for, inasmuch as God was well pleased with his oftering (fire
from heaven consumed it), he testified to Abel that he w£\s justified.
And therefore, also, does Abel still speak after his death. AaXd is
praes. hist, referring to Gen. iv. 10 (" thy brother's blood cries to me
from the ground"); as appears evident also from Hcb. xii. 24.
Therefore did God take it upon himself to be the avenger of the
murdered one, because he had died in faith, nay, on account of his
faith ;
for Cain had envied him just on account of God's being well
pleased with him. (The reading XaXelrat " he is still spoken of after
his death" is but ill-confirmed by external proofs, and yields a most
unsuitable sense ; Cain is still 8})oken of too ! Even the jiassage
chap. xii. 24 proves that AaA« must be the reading).
Vers. 5-6 is a kind of sorites. By faith Enoch was snatched
away so that he did not see death (Gen. v. 24). Wherefore by
faith ? He was taken away, because lie led a life well-pleasing to
God ;
but God can bo pleased only hy faith. In this form, however,
the reasoning is still incomplete, because built upon a very general
axiom ; hence the author in the words nKTrtvaai yap del . liri .
. . . .
mentions that in the case of Enoch also, it was that faith which was