“The Substance of Our Faith”
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Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
There is no article in there so this is speaking about faith in general. Theres no article on this passage “The Faith”
This verse is showing us how faith works.
Substance - realization
NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. AMP
Jesus could’ve easy came down right after Adam and Eve sinned but He left us proofs in prophesy. 1,000 of years of prophesy to reveal proofs of His coming. HE quoted many verses about Who HE was to provide proof.
Faith here is referring to persuasion.
This persuasion is not the outcome of your imagination but based on fact.
Faith isn’t something we emotionally work up in our minds. But its based on the fact of the word of God.
to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Infallible proofs- unmistakable proofs .
The resurrection was proven by sight touch and feel.
Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—
Many people didn’t believe in that day because they believed the lie was more compelling then the truth.
We can have a gnostic way on how we view life. Like everything that is physical is demonic and everything that spiritual is from heaven.
Sometimes we fail to engage our minds because its not looked as as being Spiritual but God wants you mind your body.
God has redeemed it and is redeeming it.
Paul in 1 Cor. 15:1-11 is saying put your trust in the resurrection because it is a fact. Something that corresponds with reality.
1 Corinthians 15:1–11 (NKJV)
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Paul here is laying out the facts and saying this is why you should believe.
Post resurrection Christ was seen by Cephas, then the twelve
He was seen by 500 brothers at once, BTW some still are alive
He was seen by James then by all the apostles
Then He was seen by Paul a persecutor of the church.
These are the evidences on why you should believe.
Belief in the gospel is to hold firmly on the resurrection of Christ. If you don’t hold firmly to the resurrection you faith is in vain.
above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Sometimes, the Eastern soldiers had shields so large that they were like doors, and they covered the man from head to foot. Others of them, who used smaller shields, nevertheless handled them so deftly, and moved them so rapidly that it was tantamount to the shield covering the entire person. An arrow is aimed at the forehead: Up goes the shield, and the sharp point rings on the metal. A javelin is hurled at the heart, but the shield turns it aside. The fierce foe aims a poisonous dart at the leg, but the shield intercepts it.
Virtually, the shield is all surrounding. So it is with your faith. As one has well said, “It is armor upon armor, for the helmet protects the head, but the shield protects both helmet and head. The breastplate guards the breast, but the buckler or shield defends the breastplate as well as the breast.” Faith is a grace to protect the other graces. There is nothing like it, and therefore I do not wonder that Satan attacks faith when he sees its prominent position and its important influence.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
Believing in Christ is precedes calling on Him. First one must believe in order to call on Him.
But in order for one to believe there has to be a hearing of the gospel!
And in order for one to hear there must be a preacher.
and how can one preach unless they are sent. God does the sending.
Paul quotes from Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Those who preach the gospel have a welcoming message.
In Isaiah 52:7 The messenger announced to Judah that God had ended their Exile in Babylon
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
All- is referring to the Israelites
Obeyed the gospel- It means “to hear with a positive response”
When was the last time that you obeyed the gospel.
The gospel contains in it a demand to obey it. Its not a passive thing which some would like to suggest.
To decline the gospel invitation is to disobey God.
Theological truth is useless until it is obeyed.
A. W. Tozer
Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God, obeys God.
Charles Spurgeon
If believe in it I ask God to work this into my life.
A passive or indifferent response is a negative response towards the gospel.
Isaiah says “who have believed our report. Who has believed our message to be true.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
This verse is the “summarizing conclusion”
This hearing is referring to the hearing of the crucified Lord and the exalted risen Lord.
This is teaching about The Christ and from Christ.
This is speaking about how persuasion is not the outcome of your imagination which we deem to be faith. If you have faith because somehow you where persuaded by someone you have persuasion and not faith.
manipulation is not the outcome of
Heb. 11:1 , “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” means that persuasion is not the outcome of imagination but is based on fact, such as the reality of the resurrection of Christ (1 Cor. 15), and as such it becomes the basis of realistic hope.
(D) In 2 Cor. 5:7, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” means that which appears before us may not be what it seems to be, while faith is something which stands on proof arrived at inductively. See also 1 Pet. 1:5, which means that faith obtains the future entrance into salvation, safe existence which will be provided by God at the end of the present season (cf. 1 Peter 1:7, 9).
(A) Particularly and generally (Acts 17:31, having given to all the ability to believe [cf. Rom. 3:23ff.]).
(B) In Rom. 14:22, “hast thou faith” means persuasion about what God wants you to do (see Rom. 14:23).
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, introduces the word ‘faith’ (pistis) without the article, which shows that the writer is thinking of faith in general and not specifically Christian faith.
Substance - conviction (elenchos) must be considered. This word basically means ‘proof, test’, which suggests that faith is seen as the proof of the reality of things not seen.
A conviction is not a conviction unless it’s proven. If you don’t have doctrine about what you believe it’s not a conviction but an opinion.
Faith is the act of commitment on the part of the believer, whereas hope is the state of mind which he possesses
Faith provides a platform for hope and a perception into the reality of what would otherwise remain unseen
Faith is closely associated with persuasion, confidence, truth.
Why did you think Paul fought hard to persuade people about Christ.
The reason why we have Bible college is because we want people to be assured of there walk with God.
Vs 4 . By Faith Abel
Matt 23:35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
The cumulative effect of the rejection and murder of all God’s spokesmen is graphically traced from Abel to Zechariah, who were the first and last martyrs of the Old Testament, since 2 Chronicles was the last book of the Hebrew canon, and Zechariah’s murder is recounted in 2 Chronicles 24:20–22. In both accounts the call for vengeance is explicit (Gen. 4:10; 2 Chr. 24:22), so that the choice of these two examples is doubly appropriate to Jesus’ theme of the culmination of blood-guilt. The Zechariah of 2 Chronicles 24 (who is clearly indicated here by the specific mention of the place where he was killed) was son of Jehoiada; Barachiah was the father of the postexilic prophet (Zech. 1:1), but the two Zechariahs were frequently confused in Jewish tradition (see Gundry, UOT, pp. 86–88, note).
(D) In 2 Cor. 5:7, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” means that which appears before us may not be what it seems to be, while faith is something which stands on proof arrived at inductively. See also 1 Pet. 1:5, which means that faith obtains the future entrance into salvation, safe existence which will be provided by God at the end of the present season (cf. 1 Peter 1:7, 9).
(A) Particularly and generally (Acts 17:31, having given to all the ability to believe [cf. Rom. 3:23ff.]).
(B) In Rom. 14:22, “hast thou faith” means persuasion about what God wants you to do (see Rom. 14:23).
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, introduces the word ‘faith’ (pistis) without the article, which shows that the writer is thinking of faith in general and not specifically Christian faith.
Substance - conviction (elenchos) must be considered. This word basically means ‘proof, test’, which suggests that faith is seen as the proof of the reality of things not seen.
A conviction is not a conviction unless it’s proven. If you don’t have doctrine about what you believe it’s not a conviction but an opinion.
Faith is the act of commitment on the part of the believer, whereas hope is the state of mind which he possesses
Faith provides a platform for hope and a perception into the reality of what would otherwise remain unseen
Faith is closely associated with persuasion, confidence, truth.
Why did you think Paul fought hard to persuade people about Christ.
The reason why we have Bible college is because we want people to be assured of there walk with God.
Vs 4 . By Faith Abel
Matt 23:35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
The cumulative effect of the rejection and murder of all God’s spokesmen is graphically traced from Abel to Zechariah, who were the first and last martyrs of the Old Testament, since 2 Chronicles was the last book of the Hebrew canon, and Zechariah’s murder is recounted in 2 Chronicles 24:20–22. In both accounts the call for vengeance is explicit (Gen. 4:10; 2 Chr. 24:22), so that the choice of these two examples is doubly appropriate to Jesus’ theme of the culmination of blood-guilt. The Zechariah of 2 Chronicles 24 (who is clearly indicated here by the specific mention of the place where he was killed) was son of Jehoiada; Barachiah was the father of the postexilic prophet (Zech. 1:1), but the two Zechariahs were frequently confused in Jewish tradition (see Gundry, UOT, pp. 86–88, note).