biblical description of faith hebrews 11,1 to 3

The Biblical Description Of Faith, Hebrews 11:1-3

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Welcome back to our study of the book of the book of Hebrews, today we’ll begin chapter 11, and zero in on verses 1 through 3- the biblical description of faith. It’s important that we continue to recall the background to this letter. The readers were being tempted to go back to Judaism to avoid persecution. And in chapter 10, the writer proved the superiority of Christ’s sacrifice over the old sacrificial system that couldn’t even take away sins. Christ died once and perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. One of the things that the readers were struggling with was not being able to physically experience the new spiritual realities Christ had purchased for them by his precious blood. So the temptation to go back to the old system was always lurking around. The writer ended chapter 10 by calling his readers to live by faith as a way of to resist that temptation. And in verses 1 to 3, he is going to explain what the faith he is mentioning looks like.

Biblical Description Of Faith

The Passage 

By Faith

11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Notes

  • Verse 1

Contrary to popular opinion, faith is not a feeling or something that we can muster up, conjure up, manipulate or create in our own strength. It isn’t a leap in the dark, it isn’t wishful thinking, it isn’t magic. According to the word of God, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. But how does one acquire this type of certainty and assurance in things hoped for? Romans 1:17 gives the best answer to this question

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Let’s understand that 

In other words , faith is birthed by listening and acting upon what is being commanded and listening and acting upon what is commanded is birthed by the WORD OF GOD. We can look at several references of the Word in Scriptures but I want to zero in on the 2 references below.

John 1:1-2:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God

1 Samuel 3:21  Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the Word of the Lord.

So we understand that the Word of God is God HIMSELF ( JESUS)

Why Is That So Important?

Let’s go to John 5:2-9,

2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic[a] called Bethesda,[b] which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.[c] 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

The invalid man didn’t know who Jesus was, he had lived his entire life in seclusion and he was the best candidate for God to show his glory. Why, listen to this :

Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.

Jesus gave the command and what happened?

John 5:9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked….

Was this man healed because of his faith or was he healed because of Jesus’s command? In most Scriptures that refer to healing, Jesus commends the people for their faith and we have to be careful to really understand what is going on. These people’s faith was a result of God’s creating that faith so God gets the glory. We should never ever think that faith is a result of our doing. Faith is a gift of God that’s why the righteous shall live by faith. Because faith glorifies God because faith comes from God.

So it’s God through His Word who enables us to have faith, the kind of faith the writer is mentioning is birth by the word of God ( confidence and trusting in the word of God) and that is only possible in a person who has been truly converted. For the natural man does not delight in the word of God because he/she can not.

  • Verses 2-3

The former saints were commended for their faith by God. It is God who works in us both to will and act according to his good purpose so that God gets the glory while we get to be recipient of His favor. The very first thing we ascribe to God by this faith that the writer is mentioning is creation. Even though prior to our conversion we knew that God existed, we didn’t want to acknowledge Him. So the very first act of faith is understanding that the universe was created by the word of God. The writer is saying to his readers that they’ve come to believe that all things were created by the word of God so that the things that are visible to our eyes were made by the invisible God in accordance with “Romans 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made”

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