In recent decades, discussions of Heb. 11.3 focus primarily on the
phrase μὴ ἐκ ϕαινομένων—how to read the phrase grammatically and, by extension,
to what it refers. One view is that the particle μή negates the clause,
modifying the infinitive γεγονέναι. The result is the claim that the universe
is “not made from that which is visible” (Ehrhardt 1964: 217; Haacker 1969:
280, n. 7; Lane 1991b: 332). This reading, which corresponds to the word order
typical of Koine Greek, understands the author to be asserting that the
universe was not produced from the visible material world, which leaves
open the question of what it is made of. But some have pointed out that,
although this is the more typical construction in the New Testament (as it is
generally interpreted), the syntax of classical Greek offers the possibility
that the negative particle might negate only the object of the phrase (Blass
and Debrunner 1961; BDF §433[3]). If this is the case in Heb. 11.3, then the
phrase should be translated: “made from that which is not visible” (Michel
1957: 382–83; Bruce 1964: 278–79; Attridge 1989: 315; Ellingworth 1993: 569;
Koester 2001: 474; Johnson 2006: 280; Adams 2009: 127; Cockerill 2012: 524–25;
Griffiths 2014: 127). Thus, instead of claiming that the universe was not
made from something visible, the author would be claiming that the world was
made from something invisible—the “seen” from the “not seen.” (Madison
N. Pierce, “The
World Spoken Through the Son: Divine Speech and the Creation in the Epistle to
the Hebrews,” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 64, no. 1
[2023]: 38-39, emphasis in original)
Further
Reading:
Blake T. Ostler, Out of Nothing: A
History of Creation ex Nihilo in Early Christian Thought
