ContradictionsReading order 367Bible context 2 min read
Did Sarah have faith that she would conceive?
Hebrews credits Sarah's faith, while Genesis emphasizes her initial disbelief and fearful denial.
- Textual conflict
- Weak tension
- The alleged conflict needs substantial assumptions, such as treating an omission as a denial or figurative language as literal.
- Importance
- Supporting
- A supporting event, teaching, or biographical claim.
An initial doubtful response can precede the later faith credited with conception; the accounts do not fix one simultaneous attitude.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Sarah conceives through confidence in God's promise
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Hebrews 11:11
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Hebrews 11
Sarah laughs at the promised birth and denies laughing
And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then