Hebrews 11:1 - 3

What is Faith?

This is a difficult question because it cannot be quantified by fleshly means. Real faith requires sort of a 6th sense a spiritual sense.

The word faith is used in a number of different ways in the bible.

Faith can be a synonym for your Religion or belief system. Today though we want to look bat Faith in it’s essence. Now to many Faith means simply a wish or blind hope that something will happen.

But for us our faith is all about Who not What.

V1 - 3

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

The writer begins with a definition, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The word faith is “pistis” in the Greek and means: conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it, relating to God, the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ.

The word substance is interesting as well. In the Greek it is “hypostasis” and carries the idea of a substructure or foundation. Evidence is “elegchos” and means: a proof, that by which a thing is proved or tested.

relating to God

the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ

It is the basis for our hope. So our faith as Christians is all about Who our faith is in and is far different than a “blind faith”.

“Faith has its reasons. The Bible doesn’t recommend a “blind leap” of faith. But the reasons can’t be measured in a laboratory; they have to be understood spiritually. “Faith extends beyond what we learn from our senses, and the author is saying that it has its reasons. Its tests are not those of the senses, which yield uncertainty.” (Morris)

“Physical eyesight produces a conviction or evidence of visible things; faith is the organ which enables people to see the invisible order.” (Bruce)

Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Chapter 11

The phrase “things not seen” is literally “things not yet seen.” Faith is the substance of what you know is coming your way, even though it is not yet seen. Faith isn’t wishful thinking. No, based upon the Word of God, faith says, “Whether I see it presently, understand it intellectually, or experience it immediately, I know what God says He’ll do, He will do.”

If you have the substance before you or if you can see it, there is no use for faith. Faith is needed for what we can’t see and can’t touch. Faith is not a bare belief or intellectual understanding. It is a willingness to trust in, to rely on, and to cling to.

How is Biblical Faith different from “positive thinking” or faith in faith?

For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. People of faith down through the milennia had one thing in common. They trusted, relied on, and clung to the God revealed in scripture.

Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Chapter 11

While faith may sound somewhat impractical, in reality, every single one of us exercises faith constantly.

Upon entering church on Sunday, you exercised great faith that the architect and the engineer knew what they were doing. If you didn’t have faith, you’d be hiding under the pew. But even then, you’d be trusting the pew maker—that he knew how to design a pew to support not only your weight, but the weight of all of the people on it. That’s faith, folks!

If you drive your car sixty-five miles per hour, you do so trusting the engineers who drew the plans and the workers on the assembly line are men of responsibility and integrity, that the system will work, that when you hit the brake, the car will stop.

It’s an amazing thing, this world of faith in which we live. But the irony is that, although we have faith in the boys at Ford and in the maker of the pew; when it comes to God, we get a little iffy and a little shaky. This ought not be. Even though we don’t know how it works or when it will come to pass, we’re to be those who, like the elders in our text, have faith that God’s will shall be worked out ultimately—and that it will be good.

On the other hand, a lot of teachers in the “positive confession” or “hyper-Pentecostal” movement are in great error when they suggest that faith is a force you use to get your will done; that if you learn how to use the force by spoken word, by positive confession—like rubbing a genie’s lamp—you can control your destiny. That is faith in faith—and it is foolishness.

Faith is in the Father. Faith says, “I trust You, Lord, in whatever You choose to do in this situation.”

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

So by faith we comprehend that the entire universe, visible and invisible, was framed, perfected, completed by the Word of God.

The word used for Word is “Rhema”, Gods specific Word or direction.

The Word of God is a very interesting concept to me.

The Bible is the Word of God

Jesus is the Word of God

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word: This happened when God simply commanded, “Let there be light” (). As the Psalmist explains: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth... For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast”(, ).

So that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible: Most scientists at the time the Book of Hebrews was written believed the universe was created out of existing matter, not out of nothing. They believed the world was made out of things which are visible. But the Bible corrects this misunderstanding, clearly saying that the world was not made of things which are visible.

says “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..

The word for created is “bara” in Hebrew and means to create something out of nothing.

The evolutionist can never answer the question of “first cause”.