Bible Text of the Month: Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

That in Hebrews it is the general idea of faith, or, to be more exact, the subjective nature of faith, that is dwelt upon, rather than its specific object, is not due to a peculiar conception of what faith lays hold upon, but to the particular task which fell to its writer in the work of planting Christianity in the world. With him, too, the person and work of Christ are the specific object of faith (13:7, 8; 3:14; 10:22). But the danger against which, in the providence of God, he was called upon to guard the infant flock, was not that it should fall away from faith to works, but that it should fall away from faith into despair.

Faith

What is faith?—It is that feeling or faculty within us by which the future becomes to our minds greater than the present; and what we do not see more powerful to influence us than what we do see.

THOMAS ARNOLD

Faith, in the N.T., is applied solely to the exercise of the mind on the divine testimony. It denotes a reliance on the veracity and faithfulness of God,—his veracity respecting the truth of what he has affirmed, his faithfulness in the accomplishment of what he has promised.

ROBERT HALL

Faith substantiates and realizes, evidences and demonstrates those glorious objects, so far above the reach and sphere of sense. It is constantly sent out to forage in the invisible regions for the maintenance of this life, and thence fetches in the provisions upon which hope feeds, to the strengthening of the heart, the renewing of life and spirits.

JOHN HOWE

It is faith alone that takes believers out of this world whilst they are in it, that exalts them above it whilst they are under its rage; that enables them to live upon things future and invisible, given such a real subsistence unto their power in them, and victorious evidence of their reality and truth in themselves, as secures them from fainting under all opposition, temptation, and persecution whatever.

JOHN OWEN

We are all apt to be led by sense and to plead natural improbabilities; and when any difficulty ariseth that checketh our hopes, we question the promises of God and say with Mary “How can these things be?”—This is a great dishonour to God, to trust him no further than we see him. You trust the ground with your corn, and can expect a crop out of the dry clods, though you do not see how it grows, nor which way it thrives in order to harvest … There is a reason why we believe, though we cannot always see a reason of what we do believe. Though there can be no reason given of many things that are to be believed; yet faith sees reason enough why they should be believed and that is the authority and veracity of God speaking in the Scriptures.

THOMAS MANTON

This, then, is the Apostle’s account of faith: “It is a confidence respecting things hoped for; it is a conviction respecting things not seen.” A promise is made respecting future good. I am satisfied that He who promises is both able and willing to perform his promise. I believe it; and in believing it, I have a confidence respecting the things which I hope for. A revelation is made respecting what is not evident either to my sense or my reason. I am satisfied that this revelation comes from one who cannot be deceived, and who cannot deceive. I believe it; and in believing it, I have a conviction in reference to things which are not seen. Faith in reference to events which are past, is belief of testimony with regard to them: faith in reference to events which are future, is belief of promises with regard to them.

JOHN BROWN

Future And Invisible

By “things not seen” the apostle intends all those things which are not proposed to our outward senses, which may and ought to have an influence into our constancy and perseverance in profession. Now, these are God himself, the holy properties of his nature, the person of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, all spiritual, heavenly, and eternal things that are promised, and not yet actually enjoyed.

JOHN OWEN

Faith hath eyes of her own; and what kind of eyes? To see things afar off; to see things invisible; to see things within the veil; to see things that are upward, things than our sense and reason can never reach unto. Reason sees more than sense; but faith sees the glory in heaven that all the eyes in the world cannot see. Faith corrects the error of reason; reason corrects the error of sense. Faith sees things in heaven; it sees Christ there; it sees our place provided for us there; it sees God reconciled there.

JOHN OWEN

All that the devil can plead, who works by sense, is the enjoyment of a little present profit and pleasure; he cannot promise heaven and glory, or anything hereafter; now therein he thinks he hath the start of God—heaven is to come, but the delights and advantages of sin are at hand. Faith, to baffle the temptation, strongly fixeth the heart of a believer upon things to come, that in some sort it doth preunite their souls and their happiness together, and by giving them heaven upon earth confirms the soul in a belief of better things than the devil or the world can propose.

THOMAS MANTON

In considering things “future” and “unseen” it will be felt that hope has a wider range than sight. Hope includes that which is internal as well as that which is external. Hence “things hoped for” is left indefinite as extending to the whole field of mental and spiritual activity, while “things not seen” suggest a definite order of objects and events outside the believer, which are conceived of as realities which may fall under man’s sense. Under another aspect “things hoped for” are more limited than “objects not seen,” for the latter embrace all that belongs to the requital and purification of the guilty, and the present government of God.

B. F. WESTCOTT

Polybius, speaking of Horatius’ keeping the field against the enemy’s forces, saith, that the enemies more feared his hupostasis (substance), his confident binding upon the victory, than his strength. Faith is the vital artery of the soul, and by the eye of it, through the perspective glass of the promises, a Christian may see into heaven. Faith doth antedate glory; it doth substantiate things not seen. Faith altereth the tenses, and putteth the future into the present tense.

JOHN TRAPP

It is in virtue of faith that things hoped for are now, so that faith is their essence in regard to the actual experience of the believer. Things which in the succession of time are still “hoped for” as future have a true existence in the eternal order; and this existence faith brings home to the believer as a real fact. So also things unseen are not mere arbitrary fancies: faith tries them, tests them, brings conviction as to their being.

B. F. WESTCOTT

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