Hebrews Chapter Eleven, Faith: The Product Of Understanding

 

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

 

This verse treads some deep water. The NKJV and NASB use the word, “worlds” in this verse. The NIV and HCSB use the word, “universe.” The RSV uses the singular, “world.” The Greek word is, “aion,” The word as a noun expresses an age or era, and signifies, “a period of indefinite duration, or time viewed in relation to what takes place in said period.” It sounds as if the term “creation,” would not be an unfitting word to substitute for “worlds.” The era of time/space, and all that occurs within it is framed by the word of God.

The word “framed,” is the Greek, “katartizo.” It means, “to complete thoroughly, to render fit or complete and signifies the right ordering and arrangement.” The creation, the universe’s breadth and all that pertains to it, was rendered fit or complete, ordered and arranged by the word of God. This verse heavily infers special creation, and that in a rapid and orderly fashion, as described in the book of Genesis. God ordered all things, from the inception of light, to the dividing of the oceans from space, to the arrangement of the stars to tell time’s passage, and finally the organized arrival of living beings, culminating with mankind. There was no slow progression, no death and evolution, no survival of the fittest, cavemen, hominids, or geological ages that the fossil record supposedly recorded. Viewed through the bias filter of Humanism and Evolution, the evidence MUST indicate uniformitarianism and excruciatingly slow progress as non-life gave birth to life (abiogenesis) and then animal life produced intelligent, imaginative, humanity. Christians, too, have a bias filter. It is not whether we have one or not, because everyone does. Rather, it is: does my bias filter reflect reality accurately? Do my beliefs and assumptions conform to the universe I find myself in? If we have been convinced by Luke’s infallible proofs about Jesus Christ, a true Christian will stand in the reality God has liberated them to enjoy, and not renege from a single point. This includes the creation account, which the New Testament authors took quite seriously, and quite literally.

 

By faith we understand that creation, the universe in its time/space/matter totality, was framed, ordered, arranged, made fit by the word of God. He spoke, and it was so. What does it mean to understand? Oxford defines it as, “believe to be the case from information received.” Also, “to know or realize the intended meaning of words or a speaker.” How many Christians try to explain away the Genesis account, ascribing meanings to the first chapters that are dishonest and unnecessary? The account speaks for itself; it is literal, historical, and matter of fact. The Greek term “noieo” is similar, stating, “to exercise the mind, observe, to perceive with the mind,” and is variously rendered, “may understand, think, or consider.” To understand is to weigh evidence, consider it thoughtfully, and come to an informed conclusion. In modernity people find taking the Genesis account literally an intellectual embarrassment, even in some fundamental or conservative circles. They don’t want academia laughing at them, and so they swallow the camel of Darwinian Evolution and its manifold poisonous offspring. But we read, “Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God,” Luke 16:15, KJV.

 

The latter portion of the verse relates that the things which are seen (the visible time/space/matter creation) were not made with visible things. But what does this mean?