§27 The Nature and Importance of Faith (Heb. 11:1–3)
The mention of the importance of faith in the last two verses of the preceding chapter leads naturally to this famous chapter on faith. It is impossible to know whether the author is making use of a source, which he now takes over in part or totally, or whether he is composing a fresh catalogue of heroes on the model of existing examples. Extensive reviews of the history of Israel had been composed to substantiate a warning or to provide encouragement, and some of these would have been known to our author. As examples, we may mention Psalm 78; Wisdom of Solomon 10; Sirach 44–50; 1 Maccabees 2:51–64; and Acts 7.
The author’s purpose in this magnificent section of his letter is to encourage his readers to emulate these heroes and heroines of faith, who on the basis of what they knew about God and his promises had the courage to move out into the unknown, with their hearts set upon, and their lives controlled by, a great unseen reality. The application of the chapters comes to full expression in the following chapter. This list of heroes is meant to provide the readers with strength and encouragement in their own difficult circumstances. According to our author, if there is a key to unlock the gate to effective Christian existence, it is to be found in the reality and the motivating power of faith.
11:1 / In his opening statement, the author makes it plain that faith is oriented to things not yet present or visible. Faith has in mind what (plural, “things”) we hope for, that is, what (plural, “things”) we do not see. What then is the nature of faith concerning these things? The answer hinges on the meaning of two key words in this verse. Both words are capable of being interpreted subjectively or objectively. NIV opts for the subjective meaning in both cases, thus focusing on the assurance or inner certainty of faith with respect to things hoped for and not yet seen. Throughout this chapter, however, the emphasis concerning faith is not on the subjective confidence of the persons mentioned, but on the ways in which they acted out, or gave expression to, their faith.
The author’s argument is that faith results in conduct that points unmistakably to the reality of what is not yet seen. The first of these two words, which NIV translates being sure, is a noun that can be understood (as NIV does) in a subjective sense. Many translations choose this interpretation (RSV and NASB: “assurance”; GNB: “to be sure”). It is equally possible, however, as well as more natural, to understand the word in an objective sense, as expressing the basis or foundation of things hoped for. Some translations follow this interpretation (KJV: “substance”; NEB: “gives substance”; JB: “guarantee”; cf. Geneva Bible: “Faith is that which causeth those things to appear in deed which are hoped for”).
The second key word, which NIV translates certain, is a noun that means “a proving” or “a means of proof.” Many commentators have interpreted this word as referring to the subjective certainty or “conviction” of faith (cf. 10:22). But here too the objective sense is to be preferred, parallel with the first statement (so interpreted). The action produced by faith is a manifestation or a proving of the reality of things not yet seen.
The objective interpretation of these two words is in agreement with one of the major emphases of the entire chapter, that is, that faith is active in obedience. But when faith manifests itself in this way, the unseen and the hoped-for become real. Faith expressed in this way can be said to objectify what is believed. This in turn strengthens faith itself (which is why faith and obedience must accompany each other).
The objective understanding of this verse, of course, presupposes the reality of subjective assurance (itself dependent on the experience of God’s goodness) as the wellspring of acts of faith. But it is the expression of faith rather than the conviction of faith that is the author’s point in this chapter. The obedient response of faith substantiates what is promised. Effective faith, although directed to future realities, also in a sense makes the future present. Faith that is authentic recognizes the reality of the unseen and allows itself to be governed by that reality. In a similar vein, Paul can write, “so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). And he adds a little farther on, “we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). What our author provides here is not so much a technical definition of faith as it is a description of what authentic faith does and how God provides evidence in the practice of faith that what he promises will eventually come to pass. The future and unseen realities can be made real by Christians through faith. We may paraphrase this verse in the following words: Faith through its active character gives substance to, that is, expresses the reality of, things hoped for; it demonstrates the truth of things not yet seen.
11:2 / This is what the ancients (lit., “the elders”; a common Jewish term with a variety of uses that here must take its meaning from the following list of persons) were commended for (lit., “born witness to” or “attested”). The same verb occurs in a similar statement in verse 39 that rounds out the list of the heroes and heroines of faith. These men and women of the past are to be brought forward as specific illustrations beginning in verse 4, so that the present verse can serve almost as a title for the remainder of the chapter.
11:3 / But the author begins his great catalogue with a reference to the origin of the created order, for here he finds an illustration of the very principle in faith that involves unseen reality coming to concrete expression. The universe (lit., “the ages”) was brought into existence at God’s command (lit., “by the word of God”; cf. Gen. 1; Ps. 33:6, 9), with the obvious result that what we know and see was not made out of what was visible (lit., “not from things which appear”). Thus the creation itself involves a model similar to faith. The event of the creation is like faith in that it is an unseen reality of exceptional importance that is prior to and indeed generates the world we can see. Our understanding of the creation of the universe through the word of God is itself by faith. That is, here too we reckon the truth of an unseen reality, despite the account of creation given in Scripture. From the creation we may indeed know of God’s power (Rom. 1:20) but not the manner of its creation, that is, that it was created by his word.
11:1 / The word faith (pistis) is used more often in Hebrews than in any other NT book, occurring twenty-four times in the present chapter alone. Faith in Hebrews involves active obedience rather than a passive belief in the truth of God. (Cf. the close relationship between unbelief and disobedience in 3:18f.) This obedience obviously also involves trust. Thus the word faith in Hebrews approximates “faithfulness” (cf. 10:36–39). See R. Bultmann, TDNT, vol. 6, pp. 205–8. The Greek word underlying being sure of (hypostasis) occurs elsewhere in Hebrews in two places. In the first of these (1:3) the word has an objective sense and is translated “being” by NIV: “the exact representation of his being.” In its second occurrence (3:14) the word may have a subjective sense and is translated “confidence” by NIV: “the confidence we had at first.” Even in this passage, however, an objective sense is possible (as Koester argues). The objective sense is probably to be favored in the present passage because it is more in keeping with the normal meaning of the word and the main thrust of the chapter. A third option, similar to the objective meaning of the word, has been suggested on the basis of the use of the word in contemporaneous secular papyri, where it means “title-deed” or “guarantee” (thus J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1930]). See G. Harder, NIDNTT, vol. 1, pp. 710–14 and H. Koester, TDNT, vol. 8, pp. 585–88. The second key word (elenchos), which underlies NIV’s certain, occurs only here in the NT. Against understanding the word as subjective persuasion, see F. Büchsel, TDNT, vol. 2, p. 476. Behind NIV’s what we hope for is the strong Christian word for “hope” (elpizomenon), which involves not wishful thinking, but confident expectation (cf. 6:11; 10:23; Rom. 8:24f.). The reason for the confidence of this hope—and indeed of our faith itself—is the faithfulness of God (cf. 10:22f.). Faith is explicitly related to what is unseen also by Philo (On Dreams, 1.68). What the author here means by the unseen will become clear as the chapter unfolds.
11:2 / The verb for “well attested” (martyreō) is used three times to refer to Scripture (7:8, 17; 10:15). In the present chapter it also occurs in the sense of being attested in Scripture, and perhaps also tradition (vv. 4, 5, 39). The word “elders” occurs only here in Hebrews. It lacks the technical meaning it has elsewhere in the NT, here meaning something like “ancestors.” The listing of examples from the past illustrating some virtue or ideal is found not only in Jewish literature (see introduction to the present section) but also in Hellenistic, and particularly Stoic, literature.
11:3 / In the Greek text, this is the first of eighteen sentences where the initial word is pistei (“by faith”). Thus, the word receives emphasis by its very position in each of these sentences, and the repetition itself is intended to have a cumulative impact on the reader. Of the twenty-four occurrences of the word “faith” in this chapter, this is the only time the author applies it to himself and his readers directly. The word for understand (noeō) is found only here in Hebrews, but is the same word used by Paul in Rom. 1:20 in a similar context. “The ages” (aiōn) is the same expression used in 1:2, but the word for “create” here (katartizō) is different from that used in 1:2 (it occurs elsewhere in Hebrews only in 10:5 and 13:21). Although from 1:2 we know that our author views the Son as God’s agency in creation, we do not have this Christology reflected in the reference to creation by the word. Rather than logos for “word” (as in John’s logos Christology, John 1:1–3), here the Greek word is rhēma. Our author gives no sign of a knowledge of a logos Christology. On the significance of this verse for the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, see the excursus in Hughes, Hebrews, pp. 443–52. The new creation brought to pass in the preaching of and response to the gospel is described in the similar language of bringing something into existence out of nothing (cf. 1 Cor. 1:28). The God of creation is the God of the new creation and in the gospel he works a new miracle.