Page 503 - Demo

HEBREWS 
V. EXAMPLES, DISCIPLINE, DISOBEDIENCE
Faith of the Ancients.
11*1Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence* of things not seen.a 2Because of it the ancients were well attested. 3b By faith we understand that the universe was ordered by the word of God,* so that what is visible came into being through the invisible. 4* By faith Abel o ered to God a sacri ce greater than Cain’s. Through this
he was attested to be righteous, God bearing witness to his gifts, and through this, though dead, he still speaks.c 5By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and “he was found no more because God had taken him.” Before he was taken up, he was attested to have pleased God.d 6* But without faith it is impossible to please him,e for anyone who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7By faith Noah, warned about what was not yet seen, with reverence built an ark for the salvation of his household. Through this he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes through faith.f
8By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go.g 9By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise;h 10for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God.i 11By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age—and Sarah herself was sterile—for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy.j 12So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore.k
The Fall of Cain,
by Giambattista Mengardi (1738-1796)
11:1
What is faith? Here we have simple de nition: faith is to trust in, to rely on, to live by something we cannot see or touch, and yet know exists.
The word which is here translated “realization” can also be translated as “substance,” and denotes that which is beyond human experience,
and yet which we do experience, leading to the conviction that there is more to reality than what we can see, measure and test. Faith is a gift and an experience long before it becomes belief.
* [11:1–40] This chapter draws upon the people and events of the Old Testament to paint an inspiring portrait of religious faith, rm and unyielding in the face of any obstacles that confront it. These pages rank among the most eloquent and lofty to be found in the Bible. They expand the theme announced in Heb 6:12, to which the author now returns (Heb 10:39). The material of this chapter is developed chronologically. Heb 11:3–7 draw upon the rst nine chapters of Genesis (Gn 1–9); Heb 11:8–22, upon the period of the patriarchs; Heb 11:23–31, upon the time of Moses; Heb 11:32–38, upon the history of the judges, the prophets, and the Maccabean martyrs. The author gives the most extensive description of faith provided in the New Testament, though his interest does not lie in a technical, theological de nition. In view of the needs of his audience he describes what authentic faith does, not what it is in itself. Through faith God guarantees the blessings to be hoped for from him, providing evidence in the gift of faith that what he promises will eventually come to pass (Heb 11:1). Because they accepted in faith God’s guarantee of the future, the biblical personages discussed in Heb 11:3–38 were themselves commended by God (Heb 11:2). Christians have even greater reason to remain rm in faith since they, unlike the Old Testament men and women of faith, have perceived the beginning of God’s ful llment of his messianic promises (Heb 11:39–40).
* [11:1] Faith is the realization. . .evidence: the author is not
a. [11:1] 1:3; 3:14; Rom 8:24; 2 Cor 4:18.
b. [11:3] Gn 1:3; Ps 33:6; Wis 9:1; Jn 1:3.
c. [11:4] 12:24; Gn 4:4, 10.
d. [11:5] Gn 5:24; Sir 44:16.
e. [11:6] Wis 4:10.
f. [11:7] Gn 6:8–22; Sir 44:17–18; Mt 24:37–39; Lk 17:26–27; 1 Pt 3:20; 2 Pt 2:5.
attempting a precise de nition. There is dispute about the meaning of the Greek words hypostasis and elenchos, here translated realization and evidence, respectively. Hypostasis usually means “substance,” “being” (as translated in Heb 1:3), or “reality” (as translated in Heb 3:14); here it connotes something more subjective, and so realization has been chosen rather than “assurance” (RSV). Elenchos, usually “proof,” is used here in an objective sense and so translated evidence rather than the transferred sense of “(inner) conviction” (RSV).
* [11:3] By faith. . .God: this verse does not speak of the faith of the Old Testament men and women but is in the rst person plural. Hence it seems out of place in the sequence of thought.
* [11:4] The “Praise of the Ancestors” in Sir 44:1–50:21 gives a similar list of heroes. The Cain and Abel narrative in Gn 4:1–16 does not mention Abel’s faith. It says, however, that God “looked with favor on Abel and his o ering” (Gn 4:4); in view of Heb 11:6 the author probably understood God’s favor to have been activated by Abel’s faith. Though dead, he still speaks: possibly because his blood “cries out to me from the soil” (Gn 4:10), but more probably a way of saying that the repeated story of Abel provides ongoing witness to faith.
* [11:6] One must believe not only that God exists but that he is concerned about human conduct; the Old Testament de nes folly as the denial of this truth; cf. Ps 52:2.
g. [11:8] Gn 12:1–4; 15:7–21; Sir 44:19–22; Acts 7:2–8; Rom 4:16–22.
h. [11:9] Gn 12:8; 13:12; 23:4; 26:3; 35:27.
i. [11:10] 12:22; 13:14; Rev 21:10–22.
j. [11:11] Gn 17:19; 21:2; Rom 4:19–21 / 1 Cor 10:13.
k. [11:12] Gn 15:5; 22:17; 32:13; Ex 32:13; Dt 10:22; Dn 3:36 LXX.
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