Particularization

One of the literary structures that happens in the Bible is when a general statement is made and then the writer expands or explains it using one or more examples.  The literary device is particularization, the writer moves from the general to the particular.

I saw that for the first time this morning in a really familiar passage, Hebrews 11.  Many memorize Hebrews 11:1, I have.  The thing I saw this morning is that the rest of the chapter is a particularization of "not seen".  The phrase is explicitly repeated in verse 7.  But look also at all of the references to promises Hebrews 11:9, 11, 13, 17, 33, 39.  But the kicker is in 11:40.  These people who were approved through their faith did not see the fulfillment of the promise.  That came to us.

The question then becomes after the description of the better deal that we have been given by The Lord by living in this age, how does the particularization of what it means to be convicted of what is not seen set up the discipline in chapter 12.

Inquiring minds want to know...