It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise. Hebrews 11:11
The example of Sarah is a very interesting one. Sarah is marked with the “by faith” introduction so she was certainly the intended example of faith in the mind of the author of Hebrews. However, note the way the verse starts with ‘even’ Sarah. Twenty out of 27 translations render the conjunction [καὶ] which appears in two places in the sentence as “even” rather than “and” or “also”. It is like Sarah is being set over against the example of Abraham and maybe even the other examples.
I have drawn your attention already to the fact that the first mention of Isaac and Jacob are without the “by faith” marker in verse nine. They are simply noted as having to endure the foreigner / nomad experience along with Abraham. In one sense, Sarah is in that category as well, in that whatever Abraham experienced, Sarah experienced too as his wife. When you are called to be “living in tents” as a “missionary” or one called of God to go to a far off country, as a married couple, you are called together. That certainly has been our experience. Each time God has called us, firstly to work with Wycliffe, He called us together. Whenever, God made it clear to us that He was leading us in a different way or into a new venture for Him, He made it clear to both of us.
The bulk of the inclusion of Abraham’s story indicates that all of these mentioned between Hebrews 11:8 and 11:19 experienced what they did because Abraham was called in the first place. The whole nation came from this one man, Abraham (verse 12). All died without seeing the promise fulfilled and wore the nomadic – foreigner label together (verse 13). All in the greater family followed Abraham into a similar life of being a sojourner for God in a foreign land, living in tents and looking forward to what was promised; Sarah too, given that she was Abraham’s wife.
Yet notice how her brief example begins. Even Sarah, though previously doubting, eventually believed the promises of God, even though she was beyond the age of child-bearing she came to believe that God would keep His promise. There are hints in this one verse to Sarah’s laugh and her doubts. But as we saw in the previous Gem, Abraham had his doubts too; Abraham wavered. Sarah appears to have been included in this list of the examples of faith as another example like Abraham. God looks beyond our momentary wavering to the point of our coming to maturity in the matter of faith. The overall message is that Abraham and Sarah can be regarded as the epitome of faith despite their doubts. Now isn’t that encouraging!
But hang on there is one more element in this verse we need to explore given its curious nature. The issue is related to the words chosen by the author in this verse, over which there is huge debate among the commentators.
The words used are [εἰς καταβολὴν σπέρματος]; translated as – conceiving / receiving sperm.
A number of translations render this phrase (for that is what it is) “received seed or sperm conceiving offspring“. [CSB, ESV, LITV, LSV, RV TLV, WEB et al]. The construction is a strange one with the use of the word [καταβολὴν] which is a noun related to the male function and/or anatomy. Yet in this verse it’s almost verbal or at least interpreted as being verbal. It’s a very unique use of the word and for that reason brings confusion to this verse. It is almost as though the sense infers it was Abraham’s faith which enabled the conception to take place, i.e. his faith enabled the transference of seed and the success of conception to take place. There are four translations among the digital versions I have loaded in E-Sword which make Abraham the focus of Hebrews 11:11:-
ERV – Sarah was not able to have children, and Abraham was too old. But he had faith in God, trusting him to do what he promised. And so God made them able to have children.
GNB – It was faith that made Abraham able to become a father, even though he was too old and Sarah herself could not have children. He trusted God to keep his promise.
GW – Faith enabled Abraham to become a father, even though he was old and Sarah had never been able to have children. Abraham trusted that God would keep his promise.
NET – By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old, he received the ability to procreate, because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy.
All other translations I have loaded make Sarah the focus as seen in the NLT version at top of this Gem.
There has been much written about this unique construction with a number feeling that Abraham’s faith has been the key factor in them being able to conceive. I like the way Eugene Peterson put it in the Message version when he translated this segment as, “barren Sarah was able to become pregnant”. It is the impossibility of the conception which I feel is in focus here. But I stand firm on the belief that Sarah is the one in the spotlight given the wording of “by faith even Sarah”.
In conclusion, the sense of this ‘one-liner’ is focused on Sarah. The use of “by faith” indicates that the author was talking about Sarah’s faith; not Abraham’s. I disagree with the four translations above which suggest it was Abraham’s faith that was in the focus. But I must admit I need to do some more thinking about the strange wording in this verse. I have only just come across it in the course of looking at each verse of Hebrews in detail. I need time to ponder on this feature simply because it is so strange. I feel it carries more weight than I have explained at this point. Let’s put this one on hold for the moment to allow the significance of it to sink in.
True faith only goes into operation when there are no answers.
Elisabeth Elliot
As in the example of Sarah and Abraham, Sarah had to have her own faith and not somehow piggy-back on Abraham’s. So too do you.
Ian
True faith means to take God at His word and allow the outworking of the circumstances to convince you that God knew the end from the beginning all along.
Ian
Faith Is Not The Absence Of Fear. It’s The Divine Confidence That Causes Me To Forget The Reason Why I Ever Thought I Would Never Make It.
Robb Thompson
Inter dependent faith could be a part of the puzzle here. Was Sarah’s faith required as well as Abraham’s faith in order for both seed to be produced and received?
Did Sarah’s faith enable Abraham to have faith and thus conception occur?
Reminds me of 1 Peter 3:1-2 (and a few verses further, too)
That’s a very astute comment Rebekka. You had to have been thinking outside the box to come up with that one. Yes, I think it was the combination of the faith of both of them which ultimately brought about God’s purposes. The same is likely true of both related to the degree of unbelief between them as well. Just as faith works in tandem so too does doubt.