Faith in Hebrews 11
Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV)
Faith as it is defined here is not specifically talking about trust in God, nor primarily about how to live faithfully. It is the substance and evidence of the people's own lives as revelation of things to come. They did have a basis for the faith by which they lived: they heard the promises of God and they believed in them. That, according to the author to the Hebrews, is what so shaped their lives as to make their lives bear witness to the coming day of salvation. All of the events and examples given throughout that chapter in Hebrews are the "substance and the reality" of heaven projected down into history, making them actual instances of revelation. So this author is basically saying that the stories of these people's lives in times past are the concrete evidence (as in a court of law) of things hoped for: the coming of Christ and the kingdom of God.
I would think this point would not be missed by the Jewish-Christian audience. For they knew the stories, and they probably in the past had stumbled over some of them. Why did God divinely command Abraham to sacrifice his own son and thereby jeopardize the coming promised seed, and then divinely intervene at the last moment? Abraham was supposed to live according to promise, so how would his faith be in line with the promise of a blessed posterity if he had carried through and obeyed the command to kill?
These are the revelatory evidences of a redemption not yet seen. Abraham, seeing Christ from afar, "had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."
Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV)
Faith as it is defined here is not specifically talking about trust in God, nor primarily about how to live faithfully. It is the substance and evidence of the people's own lives as revelation of things to come. They did have a basis for the faith by which they lived: they heard the promises of God and they believed in them. That, according to the author to the Hebrews, is what so shaped their lives as to make their lives bear witness to the coming day of salvation. All of the events and examples given throughout that chapter in Hebrews are the "substance and the reality" of heaven projected down into history, making them actual instances of revelation. So this author is basically saying that the stories of these people's lives in times past are the concrete evidence (as in a court of law) of things hoped for: the coming of Christ and the kingdom of God.
I would think this point would not be missed by the Jewish-Christian audience. For they knew the stories, and they probably in the past had stumbled over some of them. Why did God divinely command Abraham to sacrifice his own son and thereby jeopardize the coming promised seed, and then divinely intervene at the last moment? Abraham was supposed to live according to promise, so how would his faith be in line with the promise of a blessed posterity if he had carried through and obeyed the command to kill?
These are the revelatory evidences of a redemption not yet seen. Abraham, seeing Christ from afar, "had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."
posted by Joe Branca | 1:13 PM
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