TUESDAY-THURSDAY RADIO STUDIES HEBREWS H:l-40
by Dr. Lloyd T. Anderson Pastor, Bethany Baptist Church West Covina, Calif.
in 3:14; 10:35; II Corinthians 9:4 (A.S.V.), meaning “that steadiness of courage which underlies brave action or patient pursuance of a difficult way.” These are the only other places the word is used. Commentators disagree as to which use the writer intended in Hebrews 11:1. If he uses the word in the sense of “substance,” he is saying that everything God has in store for His children — the promise (10:36), the reward (10:35), all that they hope for and will experience in the completion of the “saving of the soul” (10:39)— is really theirs here and now. The ground, basis, substance, or reality of this possession is that vital link be tween God and man called “faith.” Faith is not often a result of logi cal reasoning — though logic may lead some to put their faith in God. Nor is faith the result of a conscious act of the will, though man’s will comes into play when his heart responds to the Holy Spirit’s moving. Faith, then, is a direct result of God’s working in the human heart (cf. Eph. 2:8, 9). Christ said, “'No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him” (John 6:44). Along with this drawing by the Father, we must not overlook the part also of the writ ten Word, both in the origin and the nourishment of faith. Hebrews 11:3 — Through faith we understand that the worlds w e r e framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Vine, “Thought logic, in itself, does not usually lead to faith, faith does heighten our mental perceptions. The author introduces a fundamental prob lem which, though never satisfactorily answered by philosophy or science, is solved for those who look at it through the eyes of faith. Science or philoso phy may provide theories about the 29
DEFINITION OF FAITH (Heb. 11:1-3) The word for “faith” used in the New Testament is similar to the word for “trust” in the Old Testament. Both must always have an object. We trust some thing (for example, a bridge, that it will hold up under our weight) or we trust some one (that he is what he represents himself to be or will do as he says he will). “Trust,” then, means to “have faith in” a person. Meyer has said, “Faith is the eye of the soul.” It is our organ of spirit ual perception. As our organs of see ing or hearing must have an object— they could exist independently of light or sound, but we would be unaware of their existence unless light or sound impinged on our eyes or our ears. So potential trust, or faith, needs an ob ject to bring it into operation. Old Testament saints spoke often of “putting their trust in God,” and this trust operated in every area of their lives. By the teaching and per suasion of those who had God’s revela tion, by experience and by intuition, they were convinced that an Almighty God existed who was concerned about them as individuals. Believing this, they lived accordingly, and the author of this epistle cites many of them as proof that the faith he was urging on his readers is really possible. The “faith” referred to in Hebrews 11 is wider in scope than the concept of faith that people usually associate with “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” — i.e., with what is often termed “saving faith.” Hebrews 11:1 — Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evi dence of things not seen. The Greek word translated “sub stance” means literally, “that which stands under.” It can be translated “person,” as in 1 :3, meaning “the sub stance or reality which underlies,” or it can be translated “confidence,” as
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