Dictionaries :: Author

Author:

o'-ther: This word is used to translate two Greek words:

(1) aitios, literally, "cause," hence, "author." Heb 5:9, He "became the author of eternal salvation."

(2) archego = literally, "chief leader," "prince," "captain"; then author, originator. It is rendered "author" in the following passages:

(a) Heb 12:2, "looking unto Jesus, the author [King James Version, Revised Version] and finisher [Revised Version, "perfecter"] of our faith." But here it seems better to take archegos in its primary sense, "leader" (Revised Version margin "captain"), rather than in its secondary sense "author." The meaning is, not that He is the originator of faith in us, but that He Himself is the pioneer in the life of faith. He is first in the company of the faithful (compare references to His "faithfulness," Heb 2:17; 3:2,5,6), far surpassing in His fidelity even the Old Testament saints mentioned in chapter 11; and therefore we are to look to Him as our perfect pattern of faith. Faith has not only Christ for its object, but Christ for its supreme example. So Bengel, Bleek, B. Weiss, Alford, A. B. Davidson, Grimm-Thayer. Others, however, take the word in the sense of "author."

(b) Heb 2:10, "to make the author [King James Version, "captain"] of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Here the idea of Christ as originator or author of our salvation is present (compare the passage Heb 5:9, where however a different word is used; see above). But here again the original meaning of "leader" is not to be lost sight of. He, being the first possessor of salvation, becomes the author of it for others. "The idea that the Son goes before the saved in the same path ought perhaps to be retained" (Davidson). Compare Heb 6:20, where Jesus is said to be our "forerunner."

(c) Ac 3:15, King James Version margin and the Revised Version margin have "author," where text has "prince." Here again it is possible that the two ideas are present.

Written by D. Miall Edwards

Author:

an adjective (cp. aitia, a cause), denotes "that which causes something." This and No. 2 are both translated "author" in Hebrews. Aitios, in Hbr 5:9, describes Christ as the "Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him," signifying that Christ, exalted and glorified as our High Priest, on the ground of His finished work on earth, has become the personal mediating cause (RV, margin) of eternal salvation. It is difficult to find an adequate English equivalent to express the meaning here. Christ is not the merely formal cause of our salvation. He is the concrete and active cause of it. He has not merely caused or effected it, He is, as His Name, "Jesus," implies, our salvation itself, Luk 2:30; 3:6.

Author:

translated "Prince" in Act 3:15 (marg., "Author") and Act 5:31, but "Author" in Hbr 2:10, RV, "Captain," RV marg., and AV, and "Author" in Hbr 12:2, primarily signifies "one who takes a lead in, or provides the first occasion of, anything." In the Sept. it is used of the chief of a tribe or family, Num 13:2 (RV, prince); of the "heads" of the children of Israel, Num 13:3; a captain of the whole people, Num 14:4; in Mic 1:13, of Lachish as the leader of the sin of the daughter of Sion: there, as in Hbr 2:10, the word suggest a combination of the meaning of leader with that of the source from whence a thing proceeds. That Christ is the Prince of life signifies, as Chrysostom says, that "the life He had was not from another; the Prince or Author of life must be He who has life from Himself." But the word does not necessarily combine the idea of the source or originating cause with that of leader. In Hbr 12:2 where Christ is called the "Author and Perfecter of faith," He is represented as the one who takes precedence in faith and is thus the perfect Exemplar of it. The pronoun "our" does not correspond to anything in the original, and may well be omitted. Christ in the days of His flesh trod undeviatingly the path of faith, and as the Perfecter has brought it to a perfect end in His own person. Thus He is the leader of all others who tread that path.
See PRINCE.

Note: In 1Cr 14:33, the AV, "the author," represents no word in the original; RV "a God of."