Hebrews 11:7

Hebrews 11:7. Three antediluvians are named Abel, the penitent and martyr; Enoch, the prophet (Jude 1:14-15) and saint; and now is introduced Noah, the righteous and perfect man the first man to whom this title is applied (Genesis 6:9, compare Ezekiel 14:14-20). Being warned of God (having received a Divine admonition)... moved with godly fear. The word thus rendered is a form of the expression found in chap. Hebrews 5:7. Its meaning depends in part upon the context, and varies from (mere prudence) the fear that excites careful forethought (Acts 23:10) to the filial reverence of our Lord Himself. Here reverence for God, or what is practically the same thing, for the message that was given to him, best suits the passage. The rendering, taking forethought (Delitzsch, Alford), separates the quality from the faith, and describes worldly caution rather than Christian grace. When things unseen and fearful are revealed, faith believes them, and fears accordingly. Faith works by fear in such cases, as it works by love.

By which faith he condemned the world not by the ark (Chrysostom, Calvin, etc.); though this is true: only it is feeble, and it is of faith the whole chapter treats by which faith, as shown in this way, is, however, the full thought. He condemned the world, showing how the world ought to have regarded the warnings God gave, and how guilty they were in disregarding them. The penitence, faith, and holiness of godly men all condemn their opposites, and excite the hatred of bad men on that ground.

And became heir (possessor) of the righteousness which is according to faith the righteousness which owes its quality, as it owes its origin, to faith. All these expressions are intensely Pauline; and it if instructive also to note that the great doctrine of righteousness by faith, which is not the main subject of the Epistle, must have been familiar to all its readers.