What is Faith? (Hebrews 11:1-3)

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The Magic of Believing is about believing in yourself. Not so in the Bible. Hebrews 11 looks back to Hebrews 10:37-39.

  1. Faith is a sure hope.
    • 11:1. The word can be translated as ‘substance’ or ‘assurance’. Calvin favours the objective translation: ‘the foundation on which we plant our foot’.
    • Paul connects faith and hope in Romans 8:24-25. Believing is more than seeing – John 20:27-29.
  2. Faith is what justified the Old Testament saints.
    • 11:2; by faith, the ancients (the Old Testament saints) obtained a good testimony before God.
    • John 8:56; Matt.8:11.
    • for Abraham and David, see Rom.4:3-8.
  3. Faith recognises God as creator.
    • 11:3; Genesis 1; Psalm 33:6,9.
    • only God was there – see Job 38:1-11. In The Last Battle, Aslan says of the dwarves: ‘They have chosen cunning instead of belief.’
    • Aristotle believed that the world was always there. But see Rom.1:20. Calvin called the creation ‘the mirror of divinity’ and ‘the theatre of the divine glory’. Faith believes in Christ as the creator and the re-creator – 2 Cor.4:6.