The Nature of Faith (11:1–3) Hebrews 11 has been called the great faith chapter. What, exactly, is faith? If it is so important to the redemptive process, we must have a clear understanding of its nature. That need is supplied in verses 1–2. Faith, according to the NIV text, is always two things: (1) a sense of assurance within us (being sure of what we hope for) and (2) a certainty that there are realities which we cannot see with our physical eyes (certain of what we do not see). A slightly different sense is conveyed by the KJV text, which I prefer at this point. Paul, in Colossians 1:5, sees faith and love as flowing out of the hope awakened by the gospel. Hope, which “springs eternal in the human breast,” comes first. Then, faith sees freedom from sin on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice, a consequent loving relationship to God, peace with one’s neighbors and joy in the midst of life (all what we hope for). These realities, though invisible, are personally appropriated; as a result, love for both God and others flows from the sense of gratitude which faith has awakened. Thus, the famous triumvirate of “faith, hope, and love” are central to all Christian living.
This quality of faith is what the ancients were commended for. This is the theme of the rest of the chapter, consisting of a list of those who triumphed in God’s eyes because of their faith. Verse 3 provides an example of faith’s ability to see invisible realities. No one can see the words by which God brought the universe into being, but since that is the statement of Scripture (Genesis 1 records 9 times “God said”), faith understands that behind everything visible is the invisible command of God. The statement what is seen was not made out of what was visible constitutes a scientific truth which modern physicists recognize: behind everything visible is invisible energy. Faith in God’s revelation is a way of grasping reality, without necessarily comprehending all the steps that may be involved.
Verses 4–38 list examples of this kind of faith in men and women of the biblical past. The American philosopher Henry David Thoreau is famous for the remark, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” That is a good description of the men and women listed here. They hear another drumbeat which others do not, and this accounts for the way they often act contrary to normal expectations. The first three examples, Abel, Enoch and Noah, show us the nature of faith. The rest show how faith behaves in real life.
The Qualities of Faith (11:4–7)* Though the writer has, throughout the epistle, held up Abraham as our model of faith and perseverance, verses 4–7 indicate that true faith was practiced from the very beginning, even before the Flood. As in a modern docudrama, Abel appears first to testify to the value of faith. He and his older brother Cain lived when the world was young. They enjoyed what we would call today “the simple life,” which clearly included a recognition of God and a need for a personal relationship. Each brought an offering which reflected his occupation: Cain, the farmer, brought fruits and grains; Abel, the shepherd, brought fat from the firstborn of his flock.
It is a mistake to read into this Genesis account any hidden reasons for God’s acceptance of Abel’s offering and rejection of Cain’s. Various explanations have been offered, but the writer is silent about everything except that God “spoke well” of Abel’s offering because it was “better” than Cain’s. The word “better” is pleiona, which means “greater” or “more important” as suggested by its use in Luke 12:23: “Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” If Abel’s sacrifice was more important than Cain’s, what made it so? The reason suggested is that it came from a heart made righteous by faith! If Abraham’s faith was “credited to him as righteousness” (Rom 4:9), so also was Abel’s. Bruce comments on this, “Sacrifice is acceptable to God not for its material content, but in so far as it is the outward expression of a devoted and obedient heart” (1964:283).
We are not told just how God made known to the two brothers his acceptance of one and rejection of the other. Genesis 4:7 indicates that when Cain learned that his offering was unacceptable, he grew angry and rebellious. This revealed the attitude of his heart toward the sovereign choices of God. Cain’s subsequent murder of his brother showed his stubborn rejection of the opportunity God gave him to repent and to offer again, presumably with a contrite spirit. Cain’s offering was rejected because a heart of pride and self-sufficiency lay behind it. This explanation fits well with the context of Hebrews where the writer repeatedly warns against possessing “an evil heart of unbelief.”
The focus in 11:4, however, is not on Cain but on Abel. By faith he still speaks, says the author, even though he is dead. This is a direct allusion to Genesis 4:10, “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” It must be linked also with Hebrews 12:24, where our author states that the blood of Jesus “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” It is often suggested that the blood of Abel cries out for the final vindication promised to all the saints (2 Thess 1:6–7), but the blood of Jesus speaks of proffered forgiveness. This seems a likely explanation of the continuing testimony of Abel. His faith in God was one of trust and loving acceptance of whatever God sent. He was willing to wait for ultimate vindication of injustice and mistreatment. His faith teaches us that we must often wait for God’s redress of injustice. We do so because we know God cannot ultimately fail to act.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, appears next on the stage of testimony in verses 5–6. Two important things mark the character of Enoch’s faith: (1) he pleased God by turning away from the godlessness of the world in which he lived and (2) he maintained a daily walk with God which grew so intimate that he was taken to heaven without experiencing death. The Genesis account (5:21–24) indicates that for the first 65 years of his life, Enoch did not walk with God. Presumably he went along with the deteriorating morality of his times, which Genesis 6:5 describes as, “The lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” As Genesis 5:25 suggests, the event which changed Enoch’s outlook was the birth of a son, whom he named Methuselah. Some scholars derive the meaning of Methuselah from the Hebrew root muth, which means “death,” and translate the name “His death shall bring (it).” This would imply a revelation to Enoch of the coming judgment of the world by means of the Flood. The chronology of Genesis 5 places the Flood as occurring the year Methuselah died. In the New Testament, Jude 14–15 mentions such a prophecy given to Enoch, and much of the Wisdom literature of the intertestamental period views Enoch as a far sighted prophet. At any rate, the Genesis account states that from the birth of Methuselah throughout the following 300 years, Enoch “walked with God.” This turn in his life was a result of faith, and since faith always requires a word from God to rest upon, it confirms the idea that Enoch was given a revelation of a coming judgment which changed his life.
The walk with God which Enoch experienced was one of deepening intimacy. A walk implies a journey in a certain direction and at a measured and regular pace. Enoch’s faith flourished as he walked and God bore witness to him that his daily life was pleasing in his eyes. Enoch is an example to the readers of Hebrews of what the writer longed to see happen to them: a steady, daily growth in grace achieved by the inner resources which God supplies to those who take him at his word and act in faith on what he has said. Enoch enjoyed the continuous presence of an unseen Person, and related his life daily to that Person. The result was a fellowship which death could not interrupt. He was translated to glory and was “not found,” implying that someone searched for him for some time, but in vain. He and, later, Elijah are the only two individuals in the Scriptures who never died a physical death. They serve as precursors for a whole generation of Christians who will be so translated at the parousia of Jesus (1 Thess 4:17). We learn from Enoch that faith can draw inner strength from God to such a degree that it triumphs over the ravages of death.
Our author views Enoch’s faith as so outstanding that it constitutes a general example for all time of how to come to God and to live pleasing to him. Without faith it is impossible to please God, he proclaims in verse 6. This brings to mind Paul’s similar assertion, “the world through its wisdom did not know him” (1 Cor 1:21). It is impossible through human reasoning or scientific searching to find God: faith in God’s self-revelation is essential! But that revelation is not confined to Scripture; it begins with nature as Paul forcefully states in Romans 1:19–20 and the psalmist declares in Psalms 8 and 19.
Hebrews 11:6 is a helpful answer to the persistent question: “What about the primitive peoples of the world who never hear the gospel?” This verse says: anyone who comes to him [God] must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Nature presents overwhelming evidence of the existence of God. Elizabeth Barrett Browning has put its witness well:
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush aflame with God.
But only those who see take off their shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries!
Only a deliberately resistant mind can set aside nature’s testimony to the wisdom and power of an Intelligent Being beyond us. If the witness of nature leads an individual to an honest search for the Creator, God promises to help and reward those who earnestly seek him. More and more knowledge will be granted which, if followed, will lead to Jesus. As Peter declared in Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” What the writer is implying, by linking verse 6 with the life of Enoch, is that Enoch, seeking God and believing the word he was given, found Christ by faith! So we learn from him that faith means turning from human wisdom to God’s revelation and walking in daily obedience to it until it leads to a fellowship which death cannot interrupt!
The spotlight of witness then shifts to Noah, who illustrates for us a still different quality of true faith. His faith, too, saw what was invisible, namely the coming of the Flood! (vs. 7). He “saw” it because he believed the warning he received from God 120 years before the Flood came (Gen 6:3, 7). Moved by fear of that catastrophe, Noah obeyed God and built an ark of wood, by means of which his whole family was saved. Such obedient faith, the writer states, condemned the world, by showing how wrong it was. This made Noah an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. In the phrase condemned the world, we may rightly visualize the mockery and jeering which Noah must have daily faced as he built a huge ship. He was a hundred miles from the nearest ocean, with a ship many times too big for his own needs, and when he had finished, he filled it with animals! Had he lived in our day he would have been dubbed, “Nutty Noah”! Yet Jesus used “the days of Noah” as representative of the condition of the world before his own return, and indicated that his followers must be prepared to face the same kind of scornful hostility that Noah met day after day.
Noah’s faith persisted despite massive resistance, and that can only occur when there is an inward change of spirit that is caused by the presence of God. That is what is meant by Noah becoming heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. His faith, like Abraham’s, was “credited to him for righteousness.” He is, in fact, the first individual to be called righteous in the Scriptures (Gen 6:9). His sturdy, obedient faith stands forever as an example of persistence against hostility that marks those who are born of God and who cannot ever be lost. In these three men, Abel, Enoch and Noah, we are shown that faith waits, faith grows in intimacy, and faith persists. Without these qualities it is impossible to please God.
The Activities of Faith (11:8–38) “Faith without deeds is useless,” says James (2:20). If there is true faith, there will be consequent actions. The writer now launches on a lengthy section in which he shows the variety of actions that can accompany faith, depending on the circumstances which an individual faces. The one mark that is shared by all these activities is that each is unusual—it is not the normal reaction ordinarily expected of those who face such situations. Faith makes some people act differently than others. They will not fit the common mold or drift along with the multitude. The Faith of Abraham and Sarah (11:8–19)* Already in Hebrews, Abraham has shared with Moses a prominent part as an example of faith in the redemptive process. Again, he appears as the preeminent role model for all believers in Christ. Verses 8–19 are devoted almost exclusively to Abraham’s faith and the author’s comments on it. He singles out the highlights of Abraham’s life, beginning with his call to leave Mesopotamia and culminating with his willingness to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command. At every point, Abraham responded to a promise of God with unwavering obedience. That is the writer’s chief point. God promised Abraham a land, a posterity, a great name and universal influence (Gen 12:1–3). Abraham believed God and left his kinfolk, his present comforts and prospects, and, at the age of seventy-five, set out for Canaan, a land he had never visited and knew nothing about (v. 8). When he got there he lived as a resident alien, residing in tents and owning nothing except the cave of Machpelah in Hebron, where he buried his wife, Sarah. The motive for this remarkable behavior was his anticipation that God would fulfill his promise and produce on earth, a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (vv. 9–10). It is amazing how far Abraham saw by faith. He lived two thousand years before Christ, and we live two thousand years after him. Yet Abraham, believing that what God had said would take place, looked across forty centuries of time and beyond to the day when God would bring to earth a city with eternal foundations. Abraham saw what John saw in Revelation: a city coming down from heaven onto earth (Rev 21). That is what Abraham longed for; an earth run after God’s order, where people would dwell together in peace, harmony, blessing, beauty and liberty. Because of that hope he was content to dwell his whole life in tents, looking for God’s fulfillment. Abraham shows us that faith seizes upon a revealed event and lives in anticipation of it. Faith gives purpose and destination to life. The hope of achieving a utopian city of peace and universal blessing is what we hold out for even today; “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The second highlight of Abraham’s faith centered on God’s promise of a posterity (vv. 11–12). This involved Sarah as well, for though Abraham was now a hundred years old, and Sarah ninety, God had expressly told Abraham that he would have a son who would produce a long line of descendants. Paul, in Romans 4:19, observes: “Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead … and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God.”
We must not exclude Sarah from this reckoning of those who triumphed by faith, as the NIV rendering of verse 11 does. For though she laughed incredulously when she overheard God’s promise to Abraham that she would bear a son (Gen 18:11–12), nevertheless, God countered her incredulity with the question, “Is anything too hard for the lord?” Those challenging words would surely have been the source of her meditation in the days that followed. Genesis 21:1 states, “Now the lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the lord did for Sarah what he had promised.” God’s invariable method for fulfilling a promise is to awaken faith first in the recipient. Sarah’s growth in grace and spiritual maturity is recognized in 1 Peter 3:6, and all this would powerfully support the design of our author by including Sarah’s name deliberately. She shared with Abraham that faith which produced descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. It is highly unlikely, given our author’s precise use of language, that these two phrases should both describe the same descendants of Abraham, whether they are physical or spiritual. Abraham was first promised seed “like the dust of the earth” (Gen 13:16). Then some thirteen years later, when God announced the birth of Isaac within a year, Abraham was shown the stars and the promise was given, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them…. So shall your offspring be” (Gen 15:5). This widely separated revelation suggests the phrases should be understood as a reference to two lines of posterity: a heavenly seed (as numerous as the stars in the sky) which would embrace all who fit Paul’s description: “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:29); and an earthly line (as countless as the sand on the seashore), which includes all the physical descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob. This would agree with Paul’s statements in Romans 11:11–12 that despite the formation of the church (the heavenly seed), God has not yet finished with his people Israel (the earthly seed). As the writer of Hebrews has intimated, the time will come when God will fulfill the new covenant of grace to “the house of Israel and the house of Jacob.” The blending of these two lines will be found in the city for which Abraham looked, on whose gates is written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and on its foundations the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Rev 21:12–14). The writer comments, in verses 13–16, on these Old Testament names. They all died, he admits, without receiving the things promised, though they still expected God to fulfill his word to them. The fact that they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance indicates their understanding that the promises were in the future and would have spiritual as well as physical fulfillment. For this reason, their own imminent deaths did not diminish their confidence that the promises would be fulfilled. This lively faith was shown by their willingness to abide as aliens and strangers in the land they had been promised. Toward the end of his life, Abraham described himself as such in Genesis 23:4. Though he and his son and grandsons could have returned to Mesopotamia had they so chosen, as Jacob did for a while, yet their faith in the promise of their own land not only kept them in Canaan, but also led them to understand that eventually they would live in that city of God which would come down from heaven. Because their faith grew to encompass eternal realities as well as earthly prospects, the writer declares that God is not ashamed to be called their God. Once again we see the deliberate link between the visible and the invisible. The land of Canaan was a picture of the heavenly country which would be theirs by faith, as 4:8–9 asserts. Since, as we have seen, “faith is being sure of what we hope for,” this meant that they were already enjoying, in their inner lives, the intimate blessings that the resurrected body promised when the city of God came down from heaven (Rev 21:10). Such inner fulfillment is the gift of faith to those who today are willing to look beyond death to God’s day of perfect fulfillment. We cannot demand instant answers from God for all our earthly problems, but we can welcome them from a distance. We must not lose faith that God will satisfy every promise.
Having expanded our understanding of the faith of the patriarchs, our author returns to the severest test of Abraham’s faith, and its most glorious triumph, the sacrifice of Isaac (vv. 17–19). Emphasis is laid on the fact that Abraham was asked to slay his son Isaac, even though he had received promises that Isaac would establish the guaranteed posterity. Ishmael was also a son of Abraham, but only Isaac was the son of promise. That is the meaning of one and only son. Some have criticized God for subjecting Abraham to such unbearable anguish, but it must be remembered that Abraham’s faith in the loving character of God enabled him to solve this crisis. He reasoned that God was in full control of both death and life; he could restore as well as take. On that basis Abraham was able to carry through what was seen as a grisly task. Little of this is seen in the Genesis account (22:1–10), though Abraham did assure his servants that both he and the lad would return from the mountain. The substitution of a ram for the son was intended to portray that later scene at Golgotha when the Son of God would willingly lay down his life. It is, perhaps, this very scene that Paul has in mind when he writes, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” The restoration of Isaac to his father’s arms is called a parable (Gk parabolē) of resurrection by the writer. So Abraham’s faith reached the highest pinnacle of faith: belief in a resurrection that would fulfill all the promises of God.
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LLS:29.63.3
2020-11-12T20:20:58Z
Series: IVP New Testament Commentary
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