See the Bible Through Jewish Eyes BIBLE STUDY WITH DR. RICH FREEMAN
Hebrews 11:1-3:
A Biblical Description of Faith
Hebrews 11 has been called the “Great Hall
of Faith” chapter. It’s a chapter filled with the
faith stories of the great Old Testament saints,
which are intended by the writer of Hebrews
to be teaching tools and examples for us for
our own personal faith journeys. Hebrews 11:1
begins with what sounds like a definition of faith
but is in fact a description of what faith does
and how faith works. In describing
faith as “the assurance of things
hoped for,” it is not blind optimism
with an “I hope so” or an “I hope
things will work out” attitude. It
is also not believing in something
without any evidence—which is
what we call superstition. Rather,
it is believing and trusting in God’s
word in spite of circumstances that
would typically lead you to do
otherwise. It is trusting that God’s
word is true and that you can rest
and trust in the consequences of
your actions when you obey Him.
Accepting Yeshua as your Lord,
Savior, and Messiah will result in
eternal life in His presence. God
will keep all His promises as He
truly is a promise keeper. The
word translated “assurance” means
literally “to stand under, or to support.” When a
believer has faith, it is God’s way of giving him
confidence and assurance that what is promised
by God will be experienced. He can stand under
it with the confident assurance that it won’t all
collapse upon him.
Continuing to describe faith in 11:1, the
writer of Hebrews adds “…the conviction of things
not seen.” The Greek word ellegos can either be
translated “conviction, evidence, or proof.”
Either way, the thought is that the person of
faith is living out that faith convinced that these
unseen things are absolutely true. Those “things
not seen,” already elaborated upon in Hebrews,
would include the priestly ministry of Jesus, the
full access to God and to His throne of grace,
the full pardon of sin, and the full atonement
through the death of Jesus. While the believer
is unable to see these things, he nevertheless is
convinced that they are indeed true. In 11:2,
the writer states, “For by it, the men of old gained
approval.” It is as if the writer is saying, just look
through the examples of the Old Testament
saints, which will be the remainder of the chapter,
and see how they acted in history and how God
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approved of how their faith was
lived out. They will ultimately be
the “great cloud of witnesses” spoken
of in Hebrews 12:1.
Finally, Hebrews 11:3 says,
“By faith, we understand that the
worlds were prepared by the word of
God.” The phrase “by faith” will be
repeated many times throughout
the chapter. Here, it is in relation
to how creation is viewed and is
a clear allusion to the creation
account in the first chapter of
Genesis. Since no man was present
to observe the creation of the
universe, it is only by faith that we
can understand God created it by
His word. The writer concludes
the thought with the phrase “…
so that what is seen was not made
out of things which are visible.”
Theologians today use the phrase “Creation ex
nihilo” when speaking about the universe being
created out of nothing. That’s not what the writer
is referring to, which is something that the Greek
philosophers of his time would reject. Rather,
he is saying that the universe did not originate
from some sort of primal ooze or anything that is
visible. Most people view faith as something that
is always looking forward to the idea that one
day we will all be with Jesus in eternity—and
this is the basis of our Christian faith. But faith
sometimes looks backward, and in this case at
creation, believing that God exists even though
no man has ever seen Him. What the writer of
Hebrews is saying here is that creation itself bears
witness to the existence of God.
Dr. Rich Freeman, D. Min.
serves as the Vice President
for Church Ministries
and Conferences with
Chosen People Ministries
and lives in South Florida
with his wife, Julia.
Hebrews 11:1-3
1 Now faith is the
assurance of things
hoped for, the
conviction of things
not seen.
2 For by it the men of
old gained approval.
3 By faith we
understand that the
worlds were prepared
by the word of God, so
that what is seen was
not made out of things
which are visible.