CHAPTER 11
Hebrews Chapter 11:1 | |
1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. | 1. Porro fides est rerum sperandarum substantia, demonstratio eorum quae non videntur. |
1.
He calls faith the
The same view is to be taken of the second clause, when he calls faith the
Then these two things, though apparently inconsistent, do yet perfectly harmonize when we speak of faith; for the Spirit of God shows to us hidden things, the knowledge of which cannot reach our senses: Promised to us is eternal life, but it is promised to the dead; we are assured of a happy resurrection, but we are as yet involved in corruption; we are pronounced just, as yet sin dwells in us; we hear that we are happy, but we are as yet in the midst of many miseries; an abundance of all good things is promised to us, but still we often hunger and thirst; God proclaims that he will come quickly, but he seems deaf when we cry to him. What would become of us were we not supported by hope, and did not our minds emerge out of the midst of darkness above the world through the light of God's word and of his Spirit? Faith, then, is rightly said to be the subsistence or substance of things which are as yet the objects of hope and the evidence of things not seen.
1 Griesbach makes the division at the thirty-eighth verse of the last chapter, and this is no doubt what the subject requires. -- Ed.
2 "Faith is here generally described, not only as it justifies, but also as it acts towards God and lays hold on his promises, works, and blessings revealed in his word, past, present, and future." -- Pareus.
3 The two words "substance" and "evidence" have been variously rendered, though the meaning continues materially the same: "substinance" and "demonstration" by Beza: "confident expectation" and "conviction" by Grotius and Doddridge: "confidence" and "evidence" by Macknight: "confidence" and "convincing evidence" by Stuart. When the primary meaning of words is suitable, there is no necessity of having recourse to what is secondary. The first word means properly a foundation, a basis, a prop, a support: and what can be more appropriate here? Faith is the basis or the prop (as Calvin renders it in his exposition) of things hoped for; that is, faith is the foundation of hope; it is the fulcrum on which hope rests. The other word is properly "demonstration" a proof supported by reasons -- what is made clear and evident. Conviction is the result of demonstration. So, then, the meaning is this -- faith sustains hope, and exhibits to view things unseen: it is the basis on which the objects of hope rest, and the demonstration or manifestation of what is not seen.
The word "substance" is derived from the Vulgate: though its etymological meaning corresponds with the original, yet its received meaning is quite different. The original word occurs five times in the New Testament, and is rendered " confidence" in 2 Corinthians 9:4, 11:17; Hebrews 3:14, -- "person" in Hebrew 1:3, -- and here "substance;" but why not its more literal meaning, "foundation?"
The things "hoped for" include the promises; but the things "not seen," all that is revealed as to what is past and is to come, -- the creation, the future destiny of man, etc. -- Ed.
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