From: Eric Weiss (eweiss@gte.net)
Date: Wed Jul 08 1998 - 18:58:34 EDT
A certain author claims that the "great cloud of witnsesses" in Hebrews
12:1 are in a sense "spectators" of what the present-day church is
doing, as though they are in a stadium, watching us run the race and
cheering us on, since apart from us they can't be made perfect (11:40).
My two commentaries on Hebrews suggest the same, so it's not an uncommon
idea.
I note that the verbal form (MARTUREW) of the word translated as
"witness(es)" (MARTUS) occurs in the immediately-preceding chapter 11
five times (the noun MARTUS only occurs in 12:1 and 10:28): at 11:2
("for by it the elders received a witness/testimony"), 4(2x) ("through
which he was testified as being righteous"; "God testifying/bearing
witness to his gifts"), 5 ("for before he was translated/taken up it was
testified that he was pleasing to God"), and 39 ("and these all having
received the witness/testimony through their faith did not receive the
promise"). It is to the persons in chapter 11 that the author is
referring when he writes about "the great cloud of witnesses."
Is it possible that from the usage of MARTUREW in chapter 11, it is
because God bore witness (MARTUREW) to their faith that they are called
MARTUS - witnesses - i.e., those who have obtained a witness/testimony
from God because of their faith, and that they surround us in the sense
that the testimony of their faith always "surrounds" us as we strive to
show the same perseverance? This, as opposed to the usual idea that they
are "witnesses" because they are watching us run our race?
In the next verse, 12:2, the author states: "turning away from all else
and looking to Jesus, the author/pioneer and perfector/finisher of our
faith." If we "down here" are to keep our eyes on Jesus, would not those
who are around the throne or in Paradise or wherever they are do the
same thing? He (Jesus), not we, is the one that is going to complete
this thing. For the "witnesses" to be cheering us on would mean that
they are fixing their eyes on us, trusting in us and our perseverance to
make them perfect (11:40).
I know this borders on theology and not exclusively Greek language
understanding, but my question/interpretation hinges on how one would
translate MARTUS (plural genitive MARTURWN) in 12:1 - and whether the
usage of MARTUREW in 11 has any bearing on this. Does the fact that it's
a "cloud of witnesses" help the interpretation, i.e., is that a
technical or idiomatic Hellenistic term for spectators at an arena?
-- "Eric S. Weiss" http://home1.gte.net/eweiss/index.htm eweiss@gte.net S.D.G.--- B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu] To unsubscribe, forward this message to unsubscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu
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