Hebrews 11:3 and the Hope of Resurrection ANZABS; Christchurch; December 6, 2011 Matthew C. Easter INTRODUCTION Hebrews 11:3, the first in the list of anaphora (pi,stei) in Hebrews 11, 1 speaks not of an Israelite hero of faith, but of us: “by faith we understand (noou/men) that the worlds (tou.j aivw/ naj) were prepared (kathrti,sqai) by the word of God, so that what is seen (blepo,menon) was not made out of visible things (fainome,nwn).” Although this verse may not be advancing a doctrine of creatio ex nihilo, a belief in God as creator is clear. 2 But it is not immediately evident why the author begins his anaphora with reference to our understanding of God’s creative power. Hebrews 11:3 may develop “the theme of ‘proving the unseen’ enunciated in vs. 1.” 3 Following this reading, William Lane writes, “The discernment of the unseen creative activity of God behind the visible universe exemplifies the capacity of faith to demonstrate the reality of that which cannot be perceived through sense perception, which is celebrated as the essence of faith in v 1b.” 4 This interpretation accounts for God creating the seen out of the unseen (11:3b) and faith’s nature as the proof of things not seen (11:1b), but it does not explain how this verse fits the larger encomium that follows. Lane denies that 11:3 is logically connected with the examples of faith that follow, 5 but this does not adequately account for why the author begins his anaphora here. While Lane rightly connects 11:3 to 11:1, I suggest he highlights the wrong aspect of 11:1. Heb 11:1 is thoroughly eschatological. “The things hoped for” and “the things unseen” in 11:1 refer to the future hope. 6 If we read 11:3 in view of this eschatological aspect, then our interpretation takes a 1 The anaphora continues until 11:32, where the author ends with a flurry starting with “and what more shall I say (kai. ti, e; ti le,gw)?” 2 For creatio ex nihilo in Heb 1:3, see Bruce, Hebrews, 279; Ronald Williamson, Philo and the Epistle to the Hebrews, ALGHJ 4 (Leiden: Brill, 1970), 313, 377-85. In contrast, see Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 569-70 and Lane, Hebrews 9-13, 332. 3 Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Hermeneia (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989), 315. 4 Lane, Hebrews 9-13, 330 (italics mine). 5 “The logical connection of this assertion is not with the acts of faith of the attested witnesses but with v 1, for it is a statement about faith itself” (Lane, Hebrews 9-13, 330). 6 Most interpreters agree that “the things hoped for” refer to the eschatological hope (see, for example: Attridge, Hebrews , 310-11; Johnson, Hebrews, 277; Koester, Hebrews, 473; Lane, Hebrews 9-13, 326 note c). Within the context of Heb 11, ev lpizome,nwn likely refers to the promises that the heroes of faith hoped for (11:9, 10, 13, 24-26, 39). “The things unseen” are grammatically parallel to “the things hoped for,” which suggest s that both refer to the same things. Furthermore, in 11:7 the author of Hebrews credits Noah with acting on the basis of God’s warning of “things not yet seen (tw/n mhde, pw blepome, nwn).” Here the unseen things are clearly the future events of the flood and the destruction it would bring (see also S. M. Baugh, "The Cloud of Witnesses