Bible Dictionary
AFRESH
Afresh means again or anew. Hebrews 6:6 uses the expression in describing those who, by apostasy, symbolically crucify the Son of God again.
Definition
Afresh means again or anew. In Hebrews 6:6 it describes an action understood as crucifying the Son of God again or anew.
Biblical Usage
The word occurs only in Hebrews 6:6, in the expression “crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh.” The supplied discussion notes that the underlying Greek may be understood either reiteratively or simply as crucifying, but the context supports the rendering “crucify afresh.”
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>a-fresh': Only in Heb 6:6, "seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh," where it stands for the prefix of the Greek anastaurountas. It has been disputed whether in this word ana has the reiterative force ("again," "anew"). In classical Greek anastauroo has always the simple sense of "to crucify," (ie. "to rinse up on a cross," ana being merely "up"). So some would render it here (eg. Cremer, Lexicon of New Testament Greek). Against this it is argued</p><p>(1) that the classical writers had no occasion for the idea of crucifying anew (compare Winer, De verb. Comp., etc., Pt III, 9 ff, Leipzig, 1843);</p><p>(2) that in many compounds ana signifies both "up" and "again," as in anablepo, which means "to recover sight" as well as "to look up";</p><p>(3) that the rendering "crucify afresh" suits the context;</p><p>(4) that the Greek expositors (eg. Chrysostom) take it so without questioning. (So also Bleek, Lunemann, Alford, Westcott; compare the Vulgate's rursum crucifigentes.)</p><p>D. Miall Edwards</p>