Through Faith and By Faith - Hebrews 11

Looking at the achievements of faith from the perspective of persuasion and credence - Introduction.

Author: Randy Pritts

(⇓)

Part of the SoGreatSalvationSeries

Today's Text:

"Faith is..." v1

What is faith? How is faith different than hope? How does hope relate to evidence?

We come to one of the most misunderstood and poorly interpreted passages of the Bible today. We come into this with the hope of determining what the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews meant to convey to us as he addressed these young but troubled Hebrew converts new to the Christians Faith. "What he meant to convey" I say because it is often our mistake to read through such a passage reading into to it what we want it to mean, fill his words with our preconceptions and cultural and generational biases. It is no wonder the passage remains so misunderstood. No wonder our faith has become so many fragmented and desperate individualistic things.

Let me begin by bringing back into light the author's intention as to why a proper definition of faith should even matter.

I'll remind you that the entire letter has been addressed to converts, people who have left one faith for another. What faith was and what faith is now to them is in extreme conflict. While in many respects the Jewish faith and the Christian faith are very similar, the author has gone to great lengths to show that the Christian faith is superior in that the promises of God of old have been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. He uses words like "better testimony" "better sacrifice" "better covenant" to describe what he calls a "so great salvation" from what we otherwise could not be escaped from without.

It might be easier for us to first describe what the hope involved here is, because it is the same in both cases; both have their origin and focus upon the promises of God. The hope for the Jew is that God will fulfill HIS promise given to them (future tense). The hope for the new messianic Christian is that the very same promise already has been fulfilled and is in the process of further being fulfilled to its' completion in the person of Jesus Son of Man and Son of God, as evidenced in the death and resurrection and accession to the right hand throne, in direct fulfillment of numerous shadows and types and prophecies and predating priestly orders and covenants. The hope for the Gentile Christian is that not only has Jesus fulfilled this, but the non-Jewish populations of the Earth can get in on this tremendous blessing as well.

To the condition of this "hope" (fulfilled/unfulfilled) is given a particular tangible substance. To the traditional Hebrew that substance is evident especially in the Law and Ritual and the Oral Traditions built up out of it that they attempt to hold themselves to. They dwell within the rigidness of a obedience based conditional national covenant, double measure blessing if they are able to keep to it, double measure curse if they fall from or neglect to keep themselves to it. For the Messianic or Gentile Christian the substance shifts to the person/work/blood and higher priesthood of Christ Jesus, who is the fulfillment of all these previous shadows and types and symbolisms. They dwell within the liberty of a significant grace bestowed upon them by no particular merit of their own, being spiritually quickened/conscience purged/sins cleansed/indwelled by the Holy Spirit/repurposed and called out/baptized into the suffering and death of Jesus in order to raise in the power of eternal life/partake of the divine nature/boldly enter the Holy of Holies in line behind Christ.

Do all Christians know enough to partake in all this? Do all Christians act responsibly and with full reverence within this tremendous liberty? No, but they certainly should. That is our current mission and difficulty.

So now having this hope and giving to it substance, that is what the author is defining as faith (Pistis - what they are persuaded of/pay credence to/are morally convicted by/rely upon for salvation). Faith then is more than mere belief, it is a persuasion, a way of life. This way of life is one of several important evidences to others of a hope or belief that would otherwise go unseen.

Why is the author bring this faith business to our attention at this current juncture?

These new converts are also caught in an awkward spot somewhere in between the milk and the meat of God's word, as human tendency is, to stake a claim somewhere in the middle where they are no offense to the unconverted brethren of the faith that was, safe from further ostracization and harm, and being accepted by the more mature and uncompromising brethren of the new faith having tasted of God's grace and the Holy Spirit by the better testament of Christ.

The modern reader has no one to blame but himself if it is his/her belief that the perfect faith is one that is free from dissent and opposition. Nowhere in the past nor the scriptures is it presented that faith is to be a safe harbor, a shelter from the tempestuous waters, the christening of a docked vessel everyone else in their right mind will want to get aboard. Such is not the case here in the list of exemplary persons given by the author to further his case to these converts. These are not examples of how to live the safe lilypad type of faith, they are each examples of how much opposition and self sacrifice might be required to keep one's self and family within the substantive faith without compromising or transgressing it. The list is an important and sobering read for all of us.

"For by it the elders obtained a good report" v2

There is something you should know before starting in on the list of good reports. This is not divulged by the author purposely until 11:39-40

39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

This is not to say that there is something special about us, it is to say that there is something special about us now having Jesus (shall I say Jesus having us). The report that they have is good, we would be wise to look deeply into each, as long as we keep it in the perspective of what their faith was able to endure and sacrifice on the long path to what Christ Jesus was willing and able to endure and sacrifice on theirs' and ours' mutual behalf. With this understanding then is how the author could continue on in chapter 12 to proclaim :

1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The context matters very much here if we are to understand this list. You'll remember it being said that Christ was perfected through His sufferings. It can also be said that we too are perfected in His sufferings and the sufferings that we are willing to endure in His wonderful name. This is yet another aspect of what is meant by the author as to substance and evidence.

You see, the faith of old knew all about these listed persons. They looked up to every one of them. They were placed as icons high above the lowly congregant. They were taught moral lessons by each one of these endearing stories, but they were taught them from the vantage point of Law and conditional national covenant (which very few of these examples were even under).

The author does not intend to recycle the lessons of a often broken and rebellious hardened Judaism to make his case. His intention is to present the good reports of these storied elders in a fresh and much more relative to the present situation manner. He presents them as people that desired a "better country", a "heavenly", a "city built by God", strangers and pilgrims here on earth, of whom this present world "was not worthy". Notice how closely his description of these saints of old mirrors what Jesus envisioned the attitude of the new testament saint as being.

By faith and through faith, it is written, these elders were used by God to advance the promises further and further for the sake of their children's children, the future generations (not for themselves). Can the same be said of these vacillating new converts? Of course not, for they were only thinking terms of the here and now and a moment or two of quiet safety. Can the same be said of us? Of course not, for our generation vacillates just the same if not worse, and we are nowhere near under the same amount of hostile social pressures. No, our modern faith is pre-conditioned into being quiet, timid and quick compromising.

If we were to ask: was there to be a good report eventually produced of these first century converts? Well we may not know their names and location nor the Apostle that wrote this letter, that might be for their own protection, but we are reading the tiny little letter centuries later. Apparently there were enough of these milk drinking converts that switched over to the meat of God's word, who stood firm under hostile fire/provoking one another during the battle unto good works and to love, enough to inspire the children's children beyond them and the children's children leading all the way unto us.

Shouldn't we then ask will a a good report be remembered by our children's children about the meaty faith participated in and experienced by us?

I'll up the ante another twenty pieces silver - being in Christ Jesus now, where as they weren't yet perfected until Christ, shouldn't our report be more than just a "good" report but be one of many "most excellent"?

"...the substance of things..." v1

The safest faith, if that is what you are after, is to have no substance behind what you hope for. The second safest faith is to have one of chameleon like substance, it looks like my faith when you are near to me, like a much different faith when you are close to another's.

Some people hope that there is a God; that's about as safe and nebulous as a faith in God can get. Some people take it a step further: "this is God, my God is a God of love". Well that is almost as safe and nebulous as the previous example, but then you do have to provide a debatable position as to what love means to your God of love. A unconditional God of love for instance exhibits the same personal and moral attributes as there being no God at all.

Some people will take it several steps further: "this is God, this is what HE has said and done, this is what HE has promised us all along that HE will do". Now we can see that there is quite a bit more substance to this hope and a whole lot more at hand that needs to be paid credence. There is also a whole lot more substantial grounds on which to be attacked. One step further than that is the individual Christian who proclaims: "not only did this God promise this, HE sent HIS own Son to accomplish it in the person of Jesus Christ". Even the older traditional promise believers are on attack mode at that point.

So then the substance of things hoped for defines the faith of the Christian. The faith of the Christian behaves as it behaves because of this substance. People that say that they have this faith but exhibit none of this substance are Christians in name only and lukewarm in the faith at best. You'd be surprised by the number of people in this present generation that amount to such, both in the pews and the pulpits. In more peaceable times such as these, these faiths largely go ungroomed and untested. In more perilous times as is soon coming, these safe haven faiths become a danger to those faiths that it all on the line for Jesus.

How does the faithful "all on the line" Christian determine which Christian he/she can trust and which he/she cannot. The passage being considered today can just as easily be used in the opposite. A individual's faith is largely indistinguishable from the rest unless judged by the substance of what they individually hope for and the evidences past and present of a consistent and productive walk in Christ. What ever that level is, that's what the level of their faith is likely to be and therein the potential danger that they pose in times of religious turmoil.

Ya, these elders had this uncompromising type of faith, even if they had to be corrected by God over and over to get to it. It may have been one thing that they said or did that gives us our best evidence, but, that one thing shows us a willingness to surrender self and personal cause to a greater transcendent cause that perhaps may not play out for several generations in the future. Some of these examples are from the most unlikely/unexpected character types whose rest of the story might not fit well into what we would consider to be God's overall plan. But, by faith and through faith, God was able to accomplish HIS will through them and exceed their sacrifice with a much more significant sacrifice of HIS own.

We will now move our considerations into the individual examples given by the author in this list. My hope is that by examining each of them, we will come to a clear understand as to what it means to have the Christian Faith, that in so clarifying God will be able to make a good report from a peculiar thing we might say or do and sacrifice for, flawed and unremarkable individuals that we are are, as well!

As it is written :

Comment Board: ThroughAndByFaith

Tags: Faith, Hope, Evidence, Report, Torah, Grace, Persecution, ,

Further Resources:

Child Threads: