Hebrews Chapter Eleven, Defining Faith

 

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,

 

With chapter 11 we have arrived at a lynchpin in Scripture. Verse 1 follows the line of thought culminating in Hebrews 10:39, the latter portion of the verse stating, “but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.” Those who believe are, of course, synonymous with those who profess and exercise faith.

Here begins a fascinating exploration of the nature of Christian faith. What is Christian faith? Let us begin with what it is not. Christian faith is not blind faith. Blind faith, loosely defined, believes in something despite a scarcity or even absence of any evidence to bolster one’s belief. Santa Claus falls into this camp, for a very obvious example. Many small children in the United States believe that there is a Santa Claus. Why? Largely because their parents’ encouragement. Children succumb to their naiveté or gullibility, innocently believing the white lie that Santa exists, simply on the word of someone in authority. How often, even as adults, have we surrendered to the declarations of supposed authoritarians in their field (politics, science, religion) because we trust them without evidence? That too, is blind faith.

 

Neither is faith purely mental assent to formulaic creeds. The epistle to the Hebrews goes to great lengths to dispel the notion that assenting to something is not the same as believing in something. The Jews under Moses accepted that God was real. They saw the Shekinah glory, ate the manna from Heaven, and passed through the Red Sea, being delivered from Pharaoh’s wrath. Despite seeing these things, they did not believe. Jude wrote, “the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe,” Jude 5. Apparently the cliché, “seeing is believing,” is not universal in its application.

 

When Thomas refused to believe that Jesus had in fact risen from the dead, our Lord condescended to assuage Thomas’s unbelief by appearing to him. When Thomas finally believed, Jesus answered, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed,” John 20:29. There is a hint, perhaps, of chiding in Jesus’ reply to Thomas’s reaction.  But Thomas was a hardened realist, it seemed, and wanted empirical proof that Jesus was alive. Perhaps that isn’t even correct, because his fellow Apostles, coupled with the women at the grave, all saw Him already, and he did not believe their eyewitness testimony. Our Lord said of this penchant for wanting validation, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe,” John 4:48. In this instance our Lord certainly was exasperated with man’s inability (or unwillingness) to accept the testimony the Father gave of His Son, and what Jesus said of Himself. 

 

The Pentecostal movement and similar sects in Christendom is founded largely upon a misunderstanding of this verse, thinking that Jesus encouraged signs and wonders. But if signs and wonders truly convinced and converted the lost, then every living soul in Israel in Jesus’ time should have been saved. But even when Jesus resurrected Lazarus, which is an astounding miracle demonstrating His power over the grave and human life, “some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did,” John 11:46. After miraculously feeding thousands the night prior, the Jews, insulted by Jesus’ doctrine, “went back and walked with Him no more,” John 6:66. These were the same people who had witnessed what the Lord had done, and did not believe to the saving of their souls. They hadn’t come to the place that John had reached after Jesus’ death. When he and Peter raced to the tomb. John, “went in also; and he saw and believed,” John 20:8. It wasn’t the miracle that convinced John; it was accomplished Scripture. Jesus foretold of His own death, and that He would rise again the third day, in His disciples’ presence. John weighed the testimony, he considered the evidence, and believed.