Affirm; Affirmatives
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [1]
<translit> a </translit> - <translit> fûr´ma </translit> - <translit> tivs </translit> ( διΐσχυρίζομαι , <translit> diischurı́zomai </translit> ). The verb "affirm" occurs in several passages of the New Testament in the sense of "assert" ( Luke 22:59 ; Acts 12:15 ; Acts 25:19 φάσκω , <translit> phá </translit> - <translit> skō </translit> ; Romans 3:8 φημί , <translit> phēmı́ </translit> ; 1 Tim 17; Titus 3:8 διαβεβαιόομαι , <translit> diabebaióomai </translit> ̌ . 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 , <translit> sù eı́̄pas </translit> ) when answering Judas and Caiaphas ( Matthew 26:25 , Matthew 26:64 ). 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 Psalm 118:17 : "I shall not die, but live"; sometimes the affirmative precedes, as in Isa Psalm 88:1 : "Thou shalt die, and not bye" John 1:20 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."
