What Is Faith? (Hebrews 11:1)
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
The word “faith” here is an important one in Scripture and the gospel. The Greek word for faith was used in the sense of a guarantee or warranty, outside of scripture. In Scripture, it is the assurance that we receive from God that what He has said and promised is true and trustworthy. Our response to this assurance is to trust.
When the writer of Hebrews here tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, he is not saying that faith is equal to hope. It is not something that we hope for without confidence. Because of God’s assurances, we can trust and know that the salvation we are looking for is real. We hope, but in faith we can know. When he says that faith is the conviction of things not (yet) seen, we see the quality of the trust that we have in faith. The word translated “conviction” is actually the word for “proof.”
When we have faith in God, we can know that we are secure because we are trusting the God of the universe to be true to His word. We do have proof that what we do not see is real in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God’s people throughout history. The writer is about to give us an extensive rundown of much of that history…
The word “faith” here is an important one in Scripture and the gospel. The Greek word for faith was used in the sense of a guarantee or warranty, outside of scripture. In Scripture, it is the assurance that we receive from God that what He has said and promised is true and trustworthy. Our response to this assurance is to trust.
When the writer of Hebrews here tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, he is not saying that faith is equal to hope. It is not something that we hope for without confidence. Because of God’s assurances, we can trust and know that the salvation we are looking for is real. We hope, but in faith we can know. When he says that faith is the conviction of things not (yet) seen, we see the quality of the trust that we have in faith. The word translated “conviction” is actually the word for “proof.”
When we have faith in God, we can know that we are secure because we are trusting the God of the universe to be true to His word. We do have proof that what we do not see is real in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God’s people throughout history. The writer is about to give us an extensive rundown of much of that history…
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