Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
The theme of Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, part of a segment that includes 11:1-40, is to bring ancient examples of faithfulness. The author utilizes the rhetorical tool of epanaphora, or repetition of key words, to highlight the importance of the key term, faith. The focus of faith in this chapter is on human acts and attitudes.[1] Issues of "faith" and the act of "faithfulness" were central concerns of the author of Hebrews. The author uses the word more in this epistle than in any other book of the New Testament. Chapter 11 uses it 24 times. This entire unit is almost wholly focused on what has occurred "by faith" throughout the history of God's people. What is faith, really? To answer that question, the Christian cannot escape Hebrews 11. The text deals with faith "more directly than any other text in the New Testament."[2] The dueling debate over this text among commentaries is whether it describes/defines faith or the future. If you are looking for a dictionary definition that fits faith into tidy, neat categories, you cannot find it here. However, if you are looking for a description of life lived in relationship to God, and how people act who enjoy that relationship, then here it is. Although people often speak of chapter 11 of Hebrews as the best formal expression of the praise of faith, the passage is not a poetic interlude, but an integral piece of this letter, in which the author gives flesh to his seemingly abstract definition of faith. This investigation into the nature and forebears of faith was prompted not only by his quotation of Habakkuk 2:3-4 in 10:37-38, but also by his insistence that his readers need to endure to obtain the promise which awaits them (10:36). They are not those who shrink back, but those who have faith (10:39). Hence, understanding the nature of faith is of dire importance to the preservation of their souls (10:39).
Hebrews 11: 1-2 are a definition of faith. Now, a stylistic feature of the book,[3] the effect of the frequent occurrence of the word in translation is to tie the argument of the sermon together, and to give the sermon a sense of forward movement. This sense of forward movement enables the author to introduce a discussion of faith (prepared for by that catchword in 10:39) that interrupts a larger discussion of Christ’s sacrificial example (chapters 10 and 12). Faith is the assurance (“very being” (1:3) and “confidence” (3:14), but etymologically meaning “a standing under” or “undergirding” in the sense of a foundation or as the ground of being.[4]) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.[5] This statement has the force of a definition.[6] Faith becomes the thing upon which one can build hope. Faith is what gives the believer the conviction that the future will be as God has promised. Indeed, it is faith in God's promises that enables the faithful even to envision that unrealized time we call "the future." Faith provides a secure place from which one can confidently face intangible things — things imperceptible or things in the future. Faith is a major concern of the author of Hebrews, in part because of the faithful nature of God (10:23), whose sacrifice in Jesus Christ is the true foundation of the Christian, giving content to the assurance and conviction to which the author refers here. The author relates faith closely to both doctrine and experience, the “conviction” that results from the examples about to be presented. Conviction is not simply a dream or pure subjectivity; the history of the household of faith provides numerous examples of the actual confirmation of the conviction of Israel’s worthies. Persecution has discouraged the Jewish Christians to whom the author is writing. Thus, the emphasis on faith means that only what is future and what is invisible that concerns hope. Theologically, it would mean the anticipated and assured possession of heavenly realities. Thus, they have tasted of the powers of the age to come (Hebrews 6:5), we hope in sharing the glory of God (Romans 5:2), and they have believed in Christ as the gospel of their salvation (Ephesians 1:13).[7] Hope reaches beyond what is present to something that is not yet visible. This is true of all hope, and therefore hope is part of our being human. Self-transcendence characterizes human life, specifically marked by the fact that we are filled with a sense of dissatisfaction with all that we now are and have, at least in the sense of realizing that all things earthly are frail and perishable. We are on the way to a future fulfillment. Therefore, new hopes always fill us. We vacillate between hope and despair. On what can we base our inclination to hope? Where does it find any solid ground? The point is that we need to shift our thinking from its basis in what we now experience to basing our hope upon God and what God has promised.[8] Such conviction has the sense of proof or persuasion. It refers to the presence of such persuasion. God is the one doing the convincing, meaning that faith stands on revelation, the Word and promise of God. Faith is confidence in that for which one hopes, since faith is the divinely conviction of things not seen. In this sense, faith is not in the believer, so that the believer would then prove to others the reality of unseen things, a notion not supported in the letter.[9] Yet, since Luther onward, the Protestant and eventually Roman Catholic exposition of this passage has been an understanding of faith as subjective and personal.[10] Such a notion can lead one to an understanding of faith as a tame, pious Christian virtue, encapsulated in spiritual slogans and greeting card phrases. Nevertheless, patristic, and medieval exegesis of this text, argues that there is only a sense of "representation" or "demonstration" as in Hebrews 1:3 where the Son is "an exact representation of [God's] real being."[11] For the writer of Hebrews, immersed in ancient apocalyptic thought and Jewish temple worship, the invisible heavenly world is real. The visible earthly world is temporal. Faith is the reality of that for which one hopes for in the same sense as Jesus the representation of the reality of the transcendent God in 1:3. The one formulation is as paradoxical as the other is. For Hebrews 1:3, we find the divine reality in the obedience of a suffering and dying man. In Hebrews 11, we find the divine reality in the faith of the community.[12] Here, faith is a sunburst of truth rather than a doctrine, proposition, creed, or willingness to say yes to the confession of a community. Faith is the behavior of someone who allows God to be God, trusting in someone other than oneself. [13] Thus, to have this faith is to believe in Jesus Christ. Our finite lives receive meaning and truth not in themselves but in relationship to Jesus Christ. In this letter, Christ is advocate and mediator. In that role, Christ gives our lives their meaning and truth. Faith is not a standing, but a being suspended and hanging without ground under our feet. Conversely, in faith, we abandon whatever we might otherwise regard as our standing, namely, our standing upon ourselves, because in faith we see it is a false and unreal standing, a hanging without support, a wavering, and falling. We abandon it for the real standing in which we no longer stand on ourselves, and in which we obviously do not stand on our faith as such, but on the ground of the truth of God and therefore on the ground of the reconciliation that has taken place in Jesus Christ and is confirmed by Christ to all eternity.[14] In this sense, we will realize the vision (not the idle wish) of our hearts. Our vision may be base or beautiful. It may be a mixture of both. Yet, we will gravitate toward that which we secretly love.[15] In commenting on this passage, Calvin perceives the discrepancy involved in the resurrection hope. We who are dead have received the promise of eternal life. A blessed resurrection is proclaimed to us, even while we are surrounded by decay. We are promised abundance of good things, even while we are rich only in hunger and thirst. What would become of us if we did not take our stand on hope, and if our heart did not hasten beyond this world through the midst of the darkness upon the path illumined by the word and Spirit of God!
2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. At this point, faith also might seem intangible, so the author turns to the example of the ancients, whose faith, resulting in action, received the approval of God. Faith in the promises of God enables the faithful to believe, not just in some nebulous divine plan, but also in specific events, people and occurrences that are in no way visible in the present reality. All faith, according to the writer's definition, is dependent upon the validity of God's word, God's promises, for its sustenance. The author intends the examples offered in this chapter to illustrate how faith is the source of patience and strength. This passage will offer ancient examples of faithfulness. This text offers more solid evidence for this conclusion as it draws from the Hebrew Scriptures, using both well-known and obscure references to paint a picture of ageless faithfulness. To demonstrate faithfulness, the author spends the rest of chapter 11 citing specific examples of those who lived their lives according to God's promises. It is through their acts of faith that these ancestors "received approval" (v. 2) before either the first or the second covenant was established. The enduring practice of faith is the overwhelming theme running through all of chapter 11. The author launches his discussion from the beginning of biblical time -- from the faith of Abel (11:4) through the faithfulness of Abraham (vv.8-22) and Moses (vv.23-28). The Hebrews were experiencing real struggle and loneliness, which had sapped them of their strength. Some were tempted to abandon the faith (3:12-14) or to leave the community completely (10:25). In responding to this situation, the writer of the letter speaks like a motivating coach at a sporting event (12:1). His concern is to help the Hebrews deal with the “game of life” as it actually is, even though there is no clear-cut playbook or explanation of the game. The writer simply urges the Hebrews on.[16] After a while, it dawns on the author that he cannot enumerate all the examples of faithfulness contained in the First Testament. The point of this list is to offer a reminder that faith is the opposite of shrinking back into apostasy. The emphasis is on their righteousness.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word (rhma) of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. We have here one of the key passages that refer to creation out of nothing. With the eye of faith, creation reveals unseen reality. Before creation, everything real existed in God from whom everything comes. I should note that the stress is that “something” arose from what we consider “nothing,” but that should assure us of the invisible or spiritual world of God is the source of the visible world. One can see the invisible power and divine nature through creation (Romans 1:20). What we can see is temporary, but what we cannot see is eternal (II Corinthians 4:18). The Bible begins with God creating what we see as the “heavens and the earth” and calling it good (Genesis 1:1-3, 31).[17] This verse suggests the reality of the invisible is accessible neither to the senses, nor the reasoning of people, but only to the capacity for knowledge one finds in faith. To understand, perceive, and acknowledge that the will of God as creator is the basis of all things is to think in terms of faith.[18] Faith needs a generous and vigorous soul, and one rising above all things of sense, and passing beyond the weakness of human reasonings. For it is not possible to become a believer, otherwise than by raising oneself above the common customs [of the world].”[19] Thus, the author begins his story of faith at the very beginning, which is a good place to start. Faith, that solid conviction, allows them to know that the word of God fashioned the æons. At the very beginning of the letter, the author noted that it was through the Son that God made the æons (1:2). Although the interplay between the Father and the Son is not strictly in view here, it does provide an interesting comparison between the Son as the Word and God’s word. However, what is in view is the author’s comparison between seen and unseen things, continued from the previous verse. Faith allows the author and the readers to know that the things that we perceive in the world come from the imperceptible word of God. By describing the word of God as something that one cannot see, the author seems to insinuate that through faith, his readers can even get a glimpse of God’s word, or God’s way of working in the world. He proceeds through the stories of Abel and Cain, Enoch, and Noah, noting their faith, their ability to perceive unseen things, and their righteousness. In the midst of these stories, the author presents another general statement. Faith is a necessary part of pleasing God. One who approaches God must believe that he exists and that God rewards those who seek him. Faith is the assurance that God is real and God is good.
The reader of Hebrews could leap from the conclusion of chapter 10, completely over chapter 11 to 12:1, not missing a beat. However, chapter 11 calls forth all the heroes of the past, and a history of faith in the unseen, and God's approval of faith and patience. The entire 11th chapter is tightly designed, showcasing 18 examples from the past.
The author refers to those who engaged in the journey by faith. They were obedient. He also refers to those tested by suffering.
In Hebrews 11:8-16, a segment that continues to verse 22,
the author offers seven statements that highlight Abraham.[20] The point will be that Abraham is an example of faith and obedience, even though he had not yet experienced what God promised. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. The author adds color contrast to the version of the initial call of Abraham for we find no specific reference to an "inheritance" in the story found in Genesis 12:1-3 although that theme certainly does appear later in the story (see Genesis 15:18; 22:17; 28:4). The inheritance that concerns this writer is different from the Genesis story's focus on the land of Canaan itself. Further, he set out, not knowing where he was going. This patriarch's first act of faith is indeed active - he obeys God's directive to leave his established home and journey to a place he did not know. Two things seem particularly important to the author about Abraham’s story. First, he obeyed and went out. His faith resulted in concrete actions. Second, he acted even though he could not see the result. Although the author is clearly using Genesis 12 as his template, his focus on Abraham's response as one of "obedience" is his own interpretation. We find obedience explicitly noted as part of Abraham's response to God only in Genesis 22:18 and 26:5, and both instances are concerned with the divine command to sacrifice Isaac. However, obedience is an integral part of faith throughout Hebrews - faith is always an active response to God's Word, not simply some intellectual, internal assent to the Divine. 9 By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised. Here is yet another unique contribution this makes to the Abraham story. Old Testament texts describe the "promised inheritance" or "the land which God swore" to give to Abraham and his descendants. However, surprisingly, yoking the land to the promise is not an Old Testament phrase and is a union found only here in the New Testament. Although the actual land itself is not of great interest to the author, he highlights prominently any example of a divine promise. He mentions the promise twice in this verse. Thus, Abraham lived as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. God promises a land foreign to Abraham, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelling this land only as wandering strangers, never establishing themselves as full residents. Faith is an act of obedience to a demand made of humanity that as such is also a promise, faith giving rise to hope in the fulfillment of the promise. Faith as such is the obedience that humanity gives to the Word and command of God. By receiving and respecting this as the Word of promise.[21] 10 For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. The reason for the voluntary itinerancy offered here widens the focus from the unique experience of Abraham to a hope that continued to live in the hearts of faithful Christians. Yes, on earth, where we are strangers and foreigners, life is difficult. However, God is good in providing a place that is our true home. Life is difficult in that we live in a world of unfulfilled promises and realities. However, God is good in providing a destination in which our finite lives, and the finite lives of all things, will find reconciliation and reach their fulfillment. The writer clearly intends the heavenly city, the dwelling place of God (Hebrews 12:22). The author of the Book of Revelation (21:10-11) “saw” the holy city Jerusalem, come down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God and radiance like a rare jewel.[22] The inheritance the author foresees and here foreshadows is not so much Canaan but the heavenly city of God that awaits the faithful. For this writer, Canaan is not the final goal of Abraham or the Abrahamic promise. Faith is a forward-looking endeavor. We will not find the ultimate fulfillment of promise of God in the stones and mortar of some dusty desert city. The promise will find its fulfillment in the city built by God as God's heavenly residence. Verses 9 and 10, like verse 8, highlight the unseen thing to which faith allows one to look forward. In these verses, God designs and builds the city. This is a theme that the author discussed in Chapter 3, where he described God as the builder of the house and Christ as the Son over it (3:2-6). In highlighting the unseen city that has foundations, the author also lifts up the contrast between the thing anticipated and the present lived reality. Even as Abraham looked forward to this city, he dwelt in tents as a foreigner. However, because he had faith his present circumstances did not discourage him. He kept his eyes on the future dwelling. 11 By faith, citing a third example of the faithfulness of Abraham, he received power of procreation (or to cast or lay down seed)even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised.[23] The focus remains firmly upon Abraham and both his physical and faithful contributions to the miraculous conception of Isaac. Nevertheless, this faith allowed something amazing to occur: From one who was near death descendants as numerous as the stars and the sand issued forth.12 Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.” Besides leaving his homeland and then voluntarily living as a stranger in a foreign land for the rest of his life, he also praises Abraham for his faith in God's ability to bring forth life from his body that was "as good as dead." Luke (Acts 7:2-8) has Stephen refer to the journey of Abraham as well. He focuses upon the call and promise of God, and the response of obedience. The descendants of Abraham would be resident aliens, where they would experience slavery and mistreatment. God gave him a descendant and established the covenant through circumcision.[24] Paul (Romans 4:16-21) uses similar language in his praise of the faith of Abraham, which shows us that faith is in the promise and therefore rests upon grace. We can see the close connection Paul makes between faith in the promise and that for which Abraham had hope, namely, descendants. For Paul, Abraham would have those descendants in all who respond to the promise of God in Jesus Christ with faith.[25]
In Hebrews 11:13-16, the author offers a brief commentary. The inheritance the author foresees and here foreshadows is not so much Canaan but the heavenly city of God that awaits the faithful. The writer sandwiches his comments, which have a distinctly eschatological tone to them, in between two units discussing Abrahamic faithfulness (vv.11-12 and 17-19). 13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted (welcomed, embraced) them. The author follows the triumphant note about numerous descendants by the stinging realization of death. The author notes that all of them died. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, 14 for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. Despite their death, they were able to look ahead to the promises and realize that the life they lived on Earth was lived only as foreigners and pilgrims. Here the author has picked up the promise of land and turned aside from the promise of descendants. He notes that they were not seeking the land from which they had departed (if they were, they could have returned to it), but a heavenly land. A blind faith, one that grasps only the promise given to it in a sign, will make one a stranger and sojourner.[26] The psalmist recognizes he is a passing guest, an alien, like his ancestors (Psalm 39:12) and that he lives in an alien land (Psalm 119:19).[27] In a similar sentiment, John 8:56 says, “Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad." 15 If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. The forward-facing stance results in God becoming their God without shame. For, indeed God is preparing for them such a heavenly city. The faith of those named enables them to see beyond even their own life span and greet the yet-to-be-fulfilled promise of the future as though it were already in their midst. The author now extrapolates the role of the "foreigner" or "stranger" that these patriarchs served beyond the boundaries of a country to include the entire earth. The faithful sojourn as strangers on this earth, he declares, as they await the time of their entrance into the heavenly city of God. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. The fervent longing by the faithful is not a vain hope. Faith, for this writer, relies on the absolute trust we may have in God's promises. Thus, before he recounts one of the most astounding acts of Abraham's faith - his willingness to sacrifice Isaac at the Lord's command - the writer makes it clear that the ultimate hope that kept these faithful ones going - the dream of a "better country ... a heavenly one" - was already a reality. Indeed, he has prepared a city for them. Of course, reading Revelation 21 would give a fuller picture of this heavenly country and city. Paul affirmed that our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). The author will have more to say about faith, but this definition and the story of Abraham (and Sarah) functions in an important way for his audience. As those who are suffering (10:32-34) and who are anticipating persecution (12:4), they need assurance that this life is only temporary and something better remains. It is faith, a firm trust in God’s existence and justice, which will allow them to endure and to look forward to the hopeful promise.
Faith and faithfulness are central concerns of the Bible. In one sense, Hebrews 11:1 attempts a definition of faith. Yet, the definition is not like what we find a dictionary. Rather, one describes faith when one describes a life lived in relationship with God, regardless of circumstances, sustained by the hope God has given. Those who live by faith do so because they must endure trials and struggles in this life that may make them doubt the hope God has placed in them. Those who live by faith live by the promise. They refuse to allow circumstances to make them shrink back from the journey toward the destination God has promised. Faith is the reality of that for which one hopes. In faith, the things for which we hope become reality. Faith gives substance to our hopes. Faith makes us certain of realities we do not yet see. Faith is what gives the believer the conviction that the future will be as God has promised. Indeed, it is faith in God's promises that enables the faithful even to envision that unrealized time we call "the future." Faith relies on the trust we may have in God's promises.
The heroes of the faith all abandoned any security the status quo may have provided. In some way, they recognized that a people in the process of dying tolerates the present, rejects the future, finds satisfaction in past greatness and half remembered glory.[28] Faith in the revelation of God does not support an ideology that glorifies the status quo or an ideology that seeks to overthrow it. Faith requires greater discernment of our present situation than what such superficial dualities suggest. If they had a comfort zone, they left it. Often, the status quo defines the mess in which we are now. However, the heroes of the faith mentioned in Chapter 11 may not have even realized they were in a mess. They may have simply gone about their lives when God told them to do something different and go to a place not yet defined. Yet, for Abraham, faith meant a vision that kept him moving forward.
We could develop the idea that faith means taking public steps observable by others. However, some of the most difficult steps of faith we may take occur within us. They require an interior journey. The movement from bitterness to acceptance, revenge to forgiveness, animosity to love, and indifference to compassion, are difficult journeys for us to make. They require faith, the confidence that God will give us words to say, that God will give us courage and that God will go before us preparing the hearts of others. Living by faith does not necessarily mean selling the house and traveling to Botswana or Cambodia to do mission work. It might mean trusting God for something as simple as performing an act of kindness for a co-worker with whom you are having trouble. It takes a ton of faith to be a faithful husband and loving father and take care of professional obligations as well. It takes faith to juggle all of the things many mothers do today. It takes as much faith to live a life of prayer in a cloister as it does to be a captain of industry.
Faith moves us forward from what already is to what is yet to be. The trustworthiness of God that one knows from past and present experience is the ground of faith that assures us we can move forward into the future with hope and conviction. This corresponds to Abraham and Sarah having the confidence to traverse from the old to the new, the familiar to the unfamiliar, the settled to the nomadic, the barren to the fertile, the earthly to the heavenly.
At this point, we could deal with the well-known distinction between tradition and traditionalism. Hebrews 11 is a powerful reminder that tradition is the living faith of the dead. Yet, it also challenges us that resorting to traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. It reminds me of the Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. Further, disconnecting from change does not recapture the past. It loses the future.[29] Tradition lives in meaningful and insightful conversation with the past. Yet, we read tradition while remembering where and when we are. We will still need to decide. Traditionalism says we should never do anything for the first time. All we need to decide today is to develop a homogenized tradition and heed its perceived unanimous testimony.[30] The point, of course, is that properly reading tradition broadens our vision, as we engage the plurality contained within tradition. Thus, both testaments of the Bible reflect pluralism that helps define the boundaries of the faith community as well as respect its diversity.
People within the community of faith will often appeal to the Bible to justify resistance to change. Yet, the Bible is a product of changes in the relationship between God and the people of God. As Hebrews 11 reminds us, the founders of the community that gives precedence to the role of the Bible in its community and the lives of individuals were a wandering people. Abraham and his family wandered. The name “Hebrews” for the Mosaic and tribal federation period means “wanderers.” Hebrews 11 makes it clear that the Christian enterprise is also about movement, pilgrimage, hearing new words, entering new fellowships, tasting new win, and seeing the new things God seeks to bring to fruition among the people of God. Jesus would take the disciples to new places, giving them courage and wisdom that they had not known before. A proper reading of the history of church helps us to see that newness continued through the leadership of the Holy Spirit, as the church became a global community present in every culture. Even our denominational age, for all its challenges to truly experiencing the Body of Christ, is a new form for a new age. The founders of many of these denominations recognized the status quo was not something to idolize, but rather, to challenge. They often became the inspiration for creative new forms of organization and ministry. Of course, some innovative ideas and some changes fail. Some reinventions will fail. Some of them will be foolish. Human beings who they are, some innovative ideas and some changes will arise out of a desire to create mischief for the church. Yet, being the temporal, historical communities and individuals that we are, change will happen. If we do not reinvent ourselves, the world will reinvent us to suit its purposes. [31]
The ultimate hope that kept these faithful ones listed in Hebrews 11 going is the dream of a "better country ... a heavenly one." That ultimate hope was already a reality. God has already "prepared a city for them." The Christian life is a journey from where we are in Christ to the full realization of our destiny in Christ. The American folk and gospel song of the 19th century expresses it poignantly.
I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger
A traveler through this world of woe
But there's no sickness, toil nor danger
In that fair land to which I go
I’m going there to see my father
I'm going there no more to roam
I am just going over Jordan
I am just going over home
I’m going home to see my mother
She said she’d meet me when I come
I’m only going over Jordan
I’m only going over home
I’m just a-going over home
As those who suffer, as those who find their hope challenged, we need assurance that this life is only temporary, and something better remains. Faith allows us to endure and to look forward to the hopeful promise. Such is the power of faith that sustains people when hope dims and circumstances are the worst.
I invite the reader to listen to a song by Pam Thum, Life is Hard. She is on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CofUkANTmeQ )
You turn the key
Then close the door behind you
Drop your bags on the floor
You reach for the light
But there's darkness deep inside
And you can't take it anymore
'Cause sometimes living takes the life out of you
And sometimes living is all you can do
Life is hard, the world is cold
We're barely young and then we're old
But every falling tear is always understood
Yes, life is hard, but God is good
You start to cry
'Cause you've been strong for so long
And that's not how you feel
You try to pray
But there's nothing left to say
So you just quietly kneel
In the silence of all that you face
God will give you His mercy and grace
Jesus never said
It was an easy road to travel
He only said that you would never be alone
So when your last thread of hope
Begins to come unraveled
Don't give up, He walks beside you
On this journey home and He knows
Life is hard, the world is cold
We're barely young and then we're old
But every falling tear is always understood
Yes, life is hard, but God is good
[1] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.2 [66.5], 597.
[2] Richard A. Spencer ("Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16," Interpretation, XLIX [July 1995], 288-292).
[3] See also 2:5; 3:5; 7:11; 8:1, although different Greek words are translated “Now.”
[4] (or “groundwork,” in G. W. Buchanan’s translation; see his To the Hebrews,177)
[5] An interesting variant reading is “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for (heaven) and the conviction of things unwanted (hell.).”
[6] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.2 [59.3], 331.
[7] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, (Hebrews 6:5
through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. (Romans 5:2)
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; (Ephesians 1:13)
[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 174-5.
[9] Buchsel, (TDNT, Volume 2, 476)
[10] This interpretation is reflected in such translations as ...
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (NRSV, NASB).
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (NIV).
"Now faith means putting our full confidence in the things we hope for; it means being certain of things we cannot see" (Phillips).
"Now faith means that we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see" (Moffatt).
"Faith means the assurance of what we hope for; it is our conviction about things that we cannot see" (Goodspeed).
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Inclusive Version).
"Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen" (Jerusalem Bible).
[11] (See Robert G. Hoerber, "On the Translation of Hebrews 11:1," Concordia Journal, 21 [January 1995], 77-78.)
[12] Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. This interpretation would mean that the translation should really read more along the lines of ...
"In faith things hoped for become reality" (Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker).
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (NKJV).
"Faith gives substance to our hopes, and makes us certain of realities we do not see" (NEB).
"Faith gives substance to our hopes and convinces us of realities we do not see" (Revised English Bible).
[13] (Spencer, 289).
[14] Barth Church Dogmatics II.1 [26.2], 159.
[15] (James Allen, As a Man Thinketh, in Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants).
[16](David A. Renwick, “Hebrews 11:29-12:2,” Interpretation, July 2003, 300).
[17] Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. (Romans 1:20)
because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. (II Corinthians 4:18)
1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. … 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1-3, 31)
[18] Wurthwein (TDNT, Volume 4, 951)
[19] John Chrysostom
[20] Here are the passages related to Abraham to which the author refers.
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. (Genesis 12:1-8)
"I am a stranger and an alien residing among you; give me property among you for a burying place, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight." (Genesis 23:4)
He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." (Genesis 15:5)
I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies … (Genesis 22:17)
Yet you have said, "I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.' " (Genesis 32:12)
[21] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.3 [73.1], 912.
[22] 10 And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. (Revelation 21:10-11)
[23] Verse 11 is difficult syntactically, leading to confusion about the subject of this verse. It has gone through some extensive revisions in the past few translations. While the RSV adheres to a translation that praises Sarah's faithfulness as well as Abraham's in the event of this miraculous fertility, the NRSV has adopted a translation that is probably grammatically correct, even if it is rather disappointedly one-sided in its focus. Sarah, however, expressed doubt when she heard the promise of the son (Gen. 18:12-13).
[24] 2 And Stephen replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, "Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.' 4 Then he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God had him move from there to this country in which you are now living. 5 He did not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as his possession and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. 6 And God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to others, who would enslave them and mistreat them during four hundred years. 7 "But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, "and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.' 8 Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. (Acts 7:2-8)
[25] 16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, 17 as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations")—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be." 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:16-21)
[26] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.1 [25.2], 57.
[27] "Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
do not hold your peace at my tears.
For I am your passing guest, an alien,
like all my forebears. (Psalm 39:12)
I live as an alien in the land;
do not hide your commandments from me. (Psalm 119:19)
[28] A dying people tolerates the present, rejects the future and finds its satisfactions in past greatness and half remembered glory. —John Steinbeck, America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction (Penguin, 2003).
[29] —Kathleen Norris, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography (Ticknor and Fields, 1993), chapter 9.
[30] —Jaroslav Pelikan, interview in U.S. News & World Report, July 26, 1989.
[31] Inspired by —Tom Ehrich, Just Wondering, Jesus: 100 Questions People Want to Ask (Church Publishing, 2005), 125-26.
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