Through Faith and By Faith - Hebrews 11
Looking at the achievements of faith from the perspective of persuasion and credence. Introduction Part B
Author: Randy Pritts
Part of the SoGreatSalvationSeries
Today's Text:
"...by the word of God..."
Chapter 11 of Hebrews has been called by some Bible scholars "The Hall of Faith" placing the emphasis on the individual elders listed here as having a "good report", what they were able to achieve because of their faith. I would like to change that emphasis in our considerations throughout this series from what these men and women were able to do to what the framing word of God was able to do through them that pointed them and their successive generations to an eventual Messiah, the same Messiah we now look upon as Christ Jesus who has achieved the ultimate work of Faith in mankind's redemption. Such an emphasis would make a whole lot more sense in the surrounding context of this author's effort to guide his troubled and tested Hebrew converts.
I've already begun to explain to you in the previous introduction that the unconverted Hebrews of that day knew all about these exemplary reports of their elders, elders of their faith, each one of these had been taught them from the viewpoint of the conditional nation covenant and existing oral tradition. The author though is attempting to reprogram their understanding from an entirely different "Christ Centered" prospective. It is the same stories from a fresh and enlightening point of view. So now we think upon these good reports from the novel vantage point of a growing/developing/fulfilling body of substance and evidence called the "framing word of God.
The first thing to consider about this word is indicated by the Greek word used by the author translated frame - katartizÅ (repair/adjust/fit/frame/mend/make perfect/prepare/restore) dict:strongs G2675 . It is not just something verbally that is uttered, not just listened to by us and evermore written, it is something that is vocalized by God for the purposes of repairing/adjusting/putting back into the order originally intended.
The second word needing clarified in our translation is worlds - in the Greek aiÅn better meaning ages or worlds by their ages, meaning measures or collections of time. For instance, we could say that there is an age between Adam and Noah that God dealt with man called Antediluvian (before the deluge/flood). There is an age between Noah and Abraham, Abraham through Moses, Moses through David, several ways the progressing story line can be divided up or thought of or analyzed that we would call ages. God's word to Adam therefore would not only frame (move toward repairing) Adam's understanding but also the generations leading to Noah. We can look back on what was said to Noah and it still frame/repair ours. Add to that what HE said to Noah, what HE said to Abraham on and on. The framing word is something that is collecting through these ages, gathering towards a climax or apex in Christ Jesus meant for our ultimate repair.
Next, there is the reaction/response of man to the framing word of God. When God speaks, fallen man reacts mostly in opposition or defiance of it with very little exception. That is because man does not consider himself in need of repair or adjustment; at least not God's adjustment. Call this their faith (Pistis), man is persuaded and pays credence and is morally guided by his own formulations and desires and self interests. We see this even in the elders here in this chapter that we admire for the achievements of their faith the most. God had to move even them little by little towards HIS way of seeing things best HE could.
So then the age of mankind and God's long and patient dealings with him can be divided in to ages, God's word is at the center of these ages and is framing them toward repair, man is responding mostly negative with a the few exceptions of individuals who have been moved into at least a temporary compliance to it. If not viewed by us correctly, even these few positive reactions can be misinterpreted, made into something they are not, built into far reaching oral traditions and religions that are only but a thin veneer of actual faith and actual repair.
The Bible records these reactions, some good, most missing the mark. One of the most difficult things to understand about the Bible, especially when considering its' claim of infallibility is the recognition that God's perfect framing word is recorded side by side with our frequent imperfect response and misinterpretation. The two are often juxtaposed for the purpose of contrast and illustration. It might even be said that Holy Spirit who has recorded these texts has included the fallible response and understanding of men and women and mankind to best serve HIS infallible and restorative purposes.
"...not made of things which do appear." v3
While I suppose that there is no harm in thinking of v3 in terms of God's creative "Let there be..." word, I really don't think that this is all that our author intends it to mean. We are still to hold it in the context of God's repairing and restorative word since then working upon the fallen/poorly/self blinded reacting ages. And in this case his reference to the unseen or things that do not appear is focused upon the promises of God on which we hope, of which remains for God to fulfill. In other words it is the fulfillment of these promise that is the object that remains unseen. This however in no way means that these fulfillments yet unseen are not effective in drawing us the direction God's restorative word needs to accomplish to proceed.
In the majority of these elder's reports, the report is of them being driven by a faith in God's eventual fulfillment generations distant, driven to go places and do things they never would have thought themselves to achieve. Along the way there were evidences, minor fulfillments, successive fulfillments, growing evidences of God intention to fulfill for them to observe and receive. To get to the over arching promise of there being a kingly high priest messiah over all redeemed mankind, there had to be a series of smaller other promises along the way; and many many of these smaller promises were fulfilled at their appropriate time. With each promise the saints of that age were stretched more and more in their faith, able for God to accomplish more and more through them. And then there were often times those periods of set back, for which God was tolerant, as fitting the overall scheme of HIS overarching promise. So indeed in several positive aspects the author can truthfully claim "so that things which are seen were not made (caused) of things which do appear".
"Through faith we understand..." v3
Perhaps now we can better put these first three verses together into one consistent understanding. A more consistent understanding is going to be required in order for us to examine these exemplary elders in the proper light of God's repairing constantly age defining word. Let us not read through these reports of faith and come the same old school interpretive mistakes.
Let's begin with the word "we" v3. The understanding of who "we" is is of tremendous importance. We, first and foremost, is centered upon the new Hebrew converts to which our author is addressing; persons much like these elders called out by God to do something different/atypical/beyond what the others surrounding them have settled themselves into. The "we" is not all inclusive, as the others are in direct confrontation with the word of God that is doing this ages framing. The others have both the numbers and the cultural traditions, but they don't have the heart and the persuasion to follow the framing word to Christ its' ultimate conclusion. Because of this, the "we" are confused, timid, thinking of turning back, being made to suffer.
The author's intent is to help these converts hold fast, stand firm, draw near, provoke one another unto Christ-like love and sacrificial good works. By use of these many familiar examples, he attempts to center their faith on God's promises. The center of a Christian's universe, you see, is not their faith, it is on God's promises. Where ever time and circumstance and personal belief and religion might sway and lead them, if it is anchored on the central promises, said faith will never drift too far away.
As we see in these fine examples, the promises of God are not hardly ever received in the same generation, though parts and pieces of them can become evident, they are mostly forward looking, as would be expected from a word and approach that is constantly framing towards an eventual repair and restoration. The object at hand is not for God to fulfill it in order that we might now believe in it. The object is to get us (the extended "we") to believe and be fully persuaded into action by it, be stretched and transformed by the experience, grow and mature in the confidence of it, become a good report of our own unto our future generations, then God is willing and prepared to fulfill it; that is the truer nature of what is going on in relation to our faith.
To have any other understanding is to set our selves up to fail the word of God. The movement toward the promise and its' fulfillment has to become central. The movement that we now have that these elders did not have is the actual fulfillment of these promises that has literally transpired in the person of Jesus the Christ. We now have that kingly high priest messiah that these elders had so patiently looked for. It should be no problem for these converts in their generation or us in ours to hold fast, stand firm, draw near, provoke one another unto Christ-like love and sacrificial good works, because the Christ part of the promise has now been fulfilled. We can look back on that as a certainty, have the recognition and acknowledgement of that add to us its' mighty faith changing substance and living evidences. And yet, we still have the final unseen part to God's promise, it continues to drive us, for it we are willing to sacrifice and give ourselves to the ordinary and unpopular, the things for which we also might be persecuted and maligned for.
So then, the framing word of God continues in our age, as it did in the previous ages. In so doing, it has become of itself much more weighty and substantial, the final repair and restoration that much closer. In so doing, we also fully know that the rest of mankind will become just that much more combative. They will respond to the framing word just as the generations of ungodly did that preceded. That too is part of the process that God has decided suits our needs the best. It is the way of truth. It is the path we take toward restoration.
Comment Board: ThroughFaithAndByFaithB
Tags: Gods Word, Ages of man, Restoration, Repair, Promises, Fulfillment, Elders, ,
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