What Is Faith?

INTRODUCTION

The end of chapter 10: But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls (Hebrews 10:39) flows quite well into the beginning of chapter 12: let us…lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

It would have been appropriate for the author to go from the rally cry of “We will not quit!” at the end of chapter 10 to the admonition to “Run well” at the beginning of chapter 12.

However, between these two verses appears a 40 verse, parenthetical statement by the author. This statement, ultimately, is to emphasize the working of faith in the lives of Old Testament heroes.

The audience of the letter, as we know, are Jewish people who were so grounded in what they did, it made it a truly visual based religion.

Just look at the various encounters that Jesus had with the Pharisees. To contest that, the writer of Hebrews has been building a case and making a point that they need to stop all this “DO” and put their faith in the One who has “DONE.”

But, how could that faith really work? How can it make a difference?

The Jewish religion, as all works-based systems, was despised by God.

It was a corruption of the true system He had given. God has never redeemed man by works, but always by faith

Habakkuk 2:4 ESV

“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Hebrews 11 is correctly referred to as the “Hall of Faith,” as it brings to the spotlight those who lived by it. Works have always been commanded as a by-product of faith, never as a means of salvation. God does not tolerate any self-imposed ethical system as a means of reaching Him

As we jump into the text, the author wastes no time in addressing the question of What Is Faith? in the first three verses.

FAITH IS ASSURANCE AND CONVICTION (v. 1)

Read Hebrews 11:1

The word assurance carries the idea of a firm foundation.

It is actually part of a play on words between 10:39 and 11:1.

we are not of those who shrink back (ὑποστολῆς)...faith is the assurance (ὑπόστασις)

Thus, instead of shrinking back, we are to stand firm.

Instead of ὑποστολῆς, we are to ὑπόστασις.

Faith is living in a hope that is so real that it gives an absolute assurance.

Faith is not a wistful longing that something may come to pass.

It is an absolute certainty, often of things that the world considers unreal and impossible.

We follow a God whose voice we have not audibly heard, and believe in a Christ whose face we have never seen, because our faith has a reality and an assurance that is unshakeable. Jesus commends the person with faith along these lines:

John 20:29 ESV

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Man’s natural response is to trust his physical senses, to put his faith in the things he can see, hear, taste, and feel. But the man of God puts his trust in something more durable and dependable than anything he will ever experience with his senses. Senses may lie; God cannot lie

Conviction implies a response, an outward manifestation of the inward assurance. The person of faith lives his belief. His life is committed to what his mind and his spirit are convinced is true.

Spurgeon (illustration):

Suppose there is a fire in the upper room of a house and the people gather in the street. A child is in the upper story; how is he to escape? He cannot leap down—he would be dashed to pieces.

A strong man comes beneath, and cries, “Drop into my arms.” It is a part of faith to know that the man is there. It is another part of faith to believe that the man is strong. But the essence of faith lies in the dropping down into the man’s arms. That is the proof of faith, and the real essence of it.

So, sinner, you are to know that Christ died for sin. You are also to understand that Christ is able to save, and you are to believe that. But you are not saved unless in addition to that you put your trust in Him to be your Savior and to be yours forever.

There is a sense in which all men live by faith.

Society is built on a foundation of faith.

We drink water out of a faucet, with perfect confidence it is safe.

We eat food in a restaurant, confident that it is not contaminated.

We willingly receive our pay in the form of a check or paper money—neither of which has any intrinsic value. We accept them because of our faith in the person or the company or the government that issues them.

We put our faith in a surgeon, and in medical science in general, though we may not have the least training, competence, or experience in medicine. We submit to the surgeon’s knife entirely by faith.

The capacity for faith is created in us. Spiritual faith operates in the realm of that capacity. It willingly accepts and acts on many things it does not understand.

But spiritual faith is radically different from natural faith in one important way. It is not natural, as is our trust in water, money, or the doctor.

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Just as natural trust comes by natural birth, so spiritual trust comes from God

FAITH IS THE TESTIMONY OF GODLY INDIVIDUALS (v. 2)

Read Hebrews 11:2

Faith enabled the heroes of the Old Testament to receive a good standing with God. They believed their God, and believed all that was revealed to them by His Word and His Spirit.

This point will become well established as we go through Hebrews 11:4-38.

The author compiles a library of men and women of faith who provide examples of those who did not shrink back, but lived by assurance and conviction.

A word of caution here, before moving on. It is great to go through this list and be in awe of how these Old Testament saints lived their faith. However, I want to encourage you to also read their stories.

These members of the “Hall of Faith” are not pictures of perfection. They have all sinned and fallen short. They all struggled in one capacity or another. Some, did some horrible things that might cause us to wonder if they really belong here (i.e. Samson).

But the bottom line is this: God included them for a reason. His grace is greater than their sin. Their faith, though not perfect and unwavering, serves as a great encouragement that “we can, also, live by faith.”

Because without it, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

FAITH IS OUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF OUR CREATOR (v. 3)

Read Hebrews 11:3

Believing that God created the world involves us believing (i.e. having faith in) the Word of God.

We were not eyewitnesses to the beginning of all things. We did not experience it.

Yet, by faith we know that all that we see around us and all that takes place on earth came from the One we cannot see. In fact, even the things we do not see: our emotions, our conscience, and the spiritual realm were created by God.

Colossians 1:16 ESV

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

By observing creation, we learn of God’s power and intelligence.

Unfortunately, we live in a world who by-and-large reject the creation narrative as given in Genesis 1 and have created their own origin story. They, as Paul says in Romans 1:18, suppress the truth.

Mankind has spent hundreds of years of investigation, speculation, comparing notes, developing theories, and going back to the drawing board to figure out a viable explanation of our origin. Every time a consensus seems to be developing about a particular theory, someone comes up with evidence that disproves it or makes it less plausible.

No matter how hard they try, the philosophers of this world cannot explain creation without faith.

Bertrand Russell spent most of his 97 years as a philosopher. His most certain conviction was that Christianity was the greatest enemy of mankind, because it taught of a tyrannical God who stifled man’s rightful freedom. He admitted at the end of his life that philosophy “was a wash-out,” that it held no answers for anything.

He had written that “we must conquer the world by intelligence,” and yet all of his own great intellect and all of the other intellects who looked to themselves for answers never found an answer. Russell’s greatest faith was in the idea that there is no God. In his search for answers, meaning, and hope for mankind, he rejected the only one who could provide them.

Science has done no better than philosophy in offering answers to the origin of the universe. To be honest, they can’t.

Science, by definition, is limited to the observable, measurable, and repeatable. Yet, some scientists persist in speculating about the origin of the earth and of the entire universe, trying to reconstruct the process from what can be observed today.

Like the philosophers, they have assumed a burden far beyond their competence and resources. Man’s attempt through reason, apart from God, fails society 10/10 times.

Spurgeon:

Reason is all very well, but faith mounts upon the shoulders of reason and sees much farther than reason with her best telescope will ever be able to see. It is enough for us who have faith that God has told us how He made the world, and we believe it.

CONCLUSION

We are entering an exciting chapter in the book of Hebrews: the “Hall of Faith.”

While faith often gets written off as man’s attempt to explain something he does not understand, without using his mind to think, we find the exact opposite here in Hebrews 11.

At this point, we have seen that FAITH IS ASSURANCE AND CONVICTION. Not something that may be true, or may be not. But the firm foundation that, even though we can’t see it, it is indeed true.

And we see it fleshed out through the Old (and New) Testaments, as FAITH IS THE TESTIMONY OF GODLY INDIVIDUALS. They believed God and all that was revealed to them by His Word and Spirit.

Ultimately, the journey of faith must start with an acknowledgement, as FAITH IS OUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF OUR CREATOR. For us to believe that what is unseen is true, there must be someone who created it and told us.