Receiving Faith
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Hebrews 11:11-12 English Standard Version
Hebrews 11:11
1. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive,
a. Who received power?
i. Abraham
1. “By faith also, with Sarah, he received the ability to procreate even past the normal age, because he regarded the one who had promised to be faithful.” (Hebrews 11:11, LEB)
2. Subject of verses 8-10and verses 17-19.
3. The Greek phrase translated as the word “conceive” is a masculine term.
a. the wording καταβολην σπερματος is a Hellenistic idiom for the male act of procreation (literally “putting down sperm”) [1]
b. Thus, there are two ways to include both Sarah and Abraham as subjects of this verse: (1) “by faith he [Abraham], even though past age—and Sarah herself was barren—received power to beget,” and (2) “by faith he [Abraham] also, together with barren Sarah, received power to beget, even though past age.” The first rendering considers the words και αυτη Σαρρα στειρα to be a Hebraic circumstantial clause, allowing for Abraham to be the subject. The second rendering considers this phrase to be a dative of accompaniment (TCGNT).[2]
4. “One man” is the subject of verse 12.
a. the subject of v. 12 is Abraham, “since both the pronoun henos, “one,” and the qualifying participle nenekrōmenou, “already impotent,” are masculine in gender. Thus, from v. 8, Abraham remains the subject.[3]
5. Sarah Is not a good example of faith in the Old Testament.
a. Genesis 18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”
b. Genesis 18:13 The Lordsaid to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’
c. Genesis 18:14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”
d. Genesis 18:15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
ii. Sarah (one of two women names in Hebrews 11 (Rahab v.31) (women v.35).
1. On the other hand, throughout Hebrews 11 the name of the individual(s) exercising faith closely follows the opening “by faith” (vv. 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 17, 20, 21, 22, 24, 29, 31). (The only exceptions are vv. 23 and 30.) “Sarah” is almost certainly in the Greek nominative case, and is thus the subject who “received power.”[4]
2. it is Sarah’s incapacity to conceive (“past the age”) that is highlighted in verse 11.34Abraham’s reproductive incapacity (“as good as dead”) is not introduced until verse 12. [5]
3. Abraham had no problem with the “disposition of seed.” He successfully impregnated Hagar fourteen years before the birth of Isaac (Gen 16:4, 15–16). He fathered other children after the death of Sarah (Gen 25:1–4). Although the OT mentions Abraham’s age in conjunction with his childlessness, it puts the main emphasis on Sarah.26 The opening genealogy of the Abraham narrative sets the tone for what is to follow by introducing Sarah as “barren” (Gen 11:30).[6]
4. Abraham is no better an example of faith than Sarah is in the Old Testament.
a. Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
Work It Out
1 Receiving Faith is not restricted to natural limitations (Hebrews 11:11).
a. Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
b. Romans 4:19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.
i. Faith is not a tightrope.
ii. Romans 4:20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
1. Faith – Greek: pistis
2. Unbelief – Greek: apistia
3. Doubt - to think that something may not be true or certain—‘to doubt, to be uncertain about, doubt.’[7]
c. Hebrews 11:12a Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead,
i. Romans 4:19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.
ii. Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lordappeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,
iii. Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
d. Hebrews 11:12b were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
i. Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
2 Receiving Faith is confident in God’s promise (Hebrews 11:11).
a. Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
b. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
c. Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
d. Romans 4:19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.
e. Romans 4:20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
f. Romans 4:21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
g. Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
3 Receiving Faith is empowered by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 11:11).
a. Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
b. Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
c. Spirit, breath, wind – Hebrew: rûaḥ
d. Genesis 17:5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
e. Genesis 17:15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
f. Luke 1:34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
g. Luke 1:35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
[1] Philip W. Comfort, New Testament Text and Translation Commentary: Commentary on the Variant Readings of the Ancient New Testament Manuscripts and How They Relate to the Major English Translations(Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2008), 713.
TCGNT Metzger, Bruce. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. 2nd ed. New York: United Bible Societies, 1994.
[2] Philip W. Comfort, New Testament Text and Translation Commentary: Commentary on the Variant Readings of the Ancient New Testament Manuscripts and How They Relate to the Major English Translations(Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2008), 713.
[3] David L. Allen, Hebrews, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B & H Publishing Group, 2010), 552.
vv. verses
vv. verses
[4] Dennis E. Johnson, “Hebrews,” in Hebrews–Revelation, ed. Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, vol. XII, ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 168.
34 The ESV follows manuscripts that read, “Sarah herself received power to conceive … past the age.” Another textual tradition, appearing as early as a papyrus dated around AD 200 and preferred in the standard edition of the Greek New Testament (NA28), contains not just one but two references to the impossibility of Sarah’s conceiving: “Sarah herself, barren, received power to conceive … past the age.” Both of Sarah’s disabling conditions appear in Genesis (Gen. 11:30; 16:2; 17:17).
[5] Dennis E. Johnson, “Hebrews,” in Hebrews–Revelation, ed. Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, vol. XII, ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 168.
26 Abraham was one hundred when Isaac was born (Gen 18:11–12; Rom 4:19; Heb 11:12); Sarah was ninety. Abraham mentions his age in Gen 17:17; Sarah mentions it in 18:12.
[6] Gareth Lee Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012), 543.
[7] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 369.