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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Affirm; Affirmatives
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a-fuÌ‚r´ma-tivs (διΐσχυÏιÌζομαι, diischurıÌzomai). The verb “affirm†occurs in several passages of the New Testament in the sense of “assert†(; ; φαÌσκω, phaÌ-skoÌ„; φημιÌ, pheÌ„mıÌ; 1 Tim 17; διαβεβαιοÌομαι, diabebaioÌomaiÌŒ. The Hebrew does not employ affirmative particles, but gives a positive reply by either repeating the word in question or by substituting the first person in the reply for the second person in the question, or by employing the formula: “Thou hast said†or “Thou hast rightly said.†The Saviour used this idiom (σὺ εῖπας, suÌ€ eıÌÌ„pas) when answering Judas and Caiaphas (, ). A peculiar elegance occasionally attaches to the interpretation of the Scriptures because of their use of an affirmative and a negative together, rendering the sense more emphatic; sometimes the negative occurs first, as in : “I shall not die, but liveâ€; sometimes the affirmative precedes, as in Isa : “Thou shalt die, and not bye†is made peculiarly emphatic because of the negative placed between two affirmatives: “And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed, I am not the Christ.â€