Hebrews 11:1-40
Faith in Action
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
The author of Hebrews tells us how he might define faith..."Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."...This Scripture tells us that faith is about trusting in God's promises, even when we cannot see how He will fulfill them and when we do not understand them...It is a confidence in the Hope of God, that He will do always follow the Perfect and Right Way...God is Working in all things so there will be in harmony and good...For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose...
So faith is more than just believing that God exists...Although He is pleased when we believe that He exists and He wants us to seek Him...Faith is a deep trust in God's character, His actions, and His promises, as revealed in His Word...And God's Word is Truth...So Truth and Faith are related...Faith is a reliance on God even when we cannot understand or see what He is doing or understand what He is doing...Faith is also about obedience to God...We seen this in the beginning, when Eve and Adam were not obedient to God in the Garden of Eden...St. James 2:17 says, "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."...These verses tell us that our faith is not real or true faith, if it does not lead us to obey God's Will, seek Him, and believe in Him...Faith is having one's Hope in the LORD...
Faith is essential for our salvation....St. Paul teaches us that it is by God's Grace we have been saved, through faith—and this is not our own doing; it is the Gift of God—not by our works, deeds, and actions, so that no one may boast...St. Paul adds that we are saved by God's Grace, through faith in Jesus Christ...
French theologian and pastor, John Calvin said these things about faith...“A perfect faith is nowhere to be found, so it follows that all of us are partly unbelievers.”...“It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone.”...“Our faith in doctrine is not established until we have a perfect conviction that God is its Author.”...
Calvin also said: “For what is more consonant with faith than to recognize that we are naked of all virtue, in order to be clothed by God?...That we are empty of all good, to be filled by Him?...That we are slaves of sin, to be freed by Him?...Blind, to be illumined by Him?...Lame, to be made straight by Him?...Weak, to be sustained by Him?...To take away from us all occasion for glorying, that He alone may stand forth gloriously and we glory in Him [cf. I Cor. 1:31; II Cor. 10:17]?”...“Faith is ultimately a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”...“...A man will be justified by faith when, excluded from righteousness of works, he by faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and clothed in it, appears in the sight of God not as a sinner, but as righteous.”...“They who strive to build up a firm faith in Scripture through disputation are doing things backwards.”...“For the Word of God is not received by faith if it flits about in the top of the brain, but when it takes root in the depth of the heart . . . the heart's distrust is greater than the mind's blindness...It is harder for the heart to be furnished with assurance [of God's LOVE] than for the mind to be endowed with thought.”...“The word ‘hope’ I take for faith; and indeed, hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith.”...