03.17. Faith and Its Assurance.
Faith and Its Assurance.
Faith is the foundation principle of the Christian religion, that on which all else depends for its validity and efficacy. In the New Testament "faith" is used in different senses. The range of meaning is wide, from a belief on testimony tip to a full confidence in and reliance upon a divine person. Faith concerns at once the cognitive, emotional and connative aspects of mind. Not intellect alone, but feeling and will, must be engaged, if the faith is to be of any avail. There has been a distinct loss when faith has been treated as if it were synonymous with intellectual assent. The faith which saves not only leads us to believe in the testimony regarding Jesus Christ, but to give ourselves in loving surrender to him; it is confident, reliant trust in him as our Saviour.
One of the great New Testament passages dealing with faith is Hebrews 11:1, where the writer gives an interesting description of its nature. The verse, which is variously translated and interpreted, reads as follows in the Common Version:
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The Revised Version reads as follows:
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proving of things not seen."
Faith’s power of realisation. The word "hupostasis," which is in the Common Version translated "substance" and in the Revision "assurance" means "something which stands underneath," "foundation." "ground of hope or confidence, and so assurance itself." In the New Testament the word occurs elsewhere in 2 Corinthians 9:4; 2 Corinthians 11:17; Hebrews 1:3 and Hebrews 3:14. In one of these passages (Hebrews 1:3) the translation is "substance" in the sense of "substantial nature" or "essence." Christ is of the essence of God, "the very image of his substance." In the other three passages the undoubted meaning is "confidence," as even a casual reading will show. When we come to Hebrews 11:1 it will be found that the context does not so definitely decide the meaning. The reading of the Common Version must, we think, be given up. Vincent says that "the meaning ’substance,’ ’real being,’ given by A.V., Vulgate and many earlier interpreters, suggests the true sense, but is philosophically inaccurate. ’Substance,’ as used by these translators, is ’substantial nature’; the real nature of a thing which underlies and supports its outward form or properties. . . . It cannot be said that faith is substantial being. It apprehends reality; it is that to which the unseen objects of hope become real and substantial. ’Assurance’ gives the true idea. It is the firm grasp of faith on unseen fact."
Dr. Weymouth’s translation seems to us to express the meaning admirably: "Faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see." He adds in a footnote a helpful quotation from Vaughan: "Faith is that principle, that exercise of mind and soul, which has for its object things not seen but hoped for, and instead of sinking under them as too ponderous, whether from their difficulty or from their uncertainty, stands firm under them, supports and sustains their pressure--in other words, is assured of, confides in and relies on them." The faith of a Christian, then, is the inner confidence which he has. Things which have not as yet appeared in actual form, but which are objects of hope, are by him apprehended as real. He is sure that his hopes will be realised, that the promises of God will be fulfilled. It is faith which gives us certainty of that which lies in the future. Just as Abraham left home and kindred, not knowing whither he went, but went forward trusting in the promises of God, so the Christian with serene confidence commits his way to the Lord and reckons that what God has promised is as good as received. We recall the Saviour’s striking word regarding prayer. He said: "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24, R.V.). It seems, at first, impossible to speak of believing that ye "have received" them. But yet a great lesson is taught. The prayer has to be offered in faith, and he who prays according to the will of God should be confident of the Father’s answer, which is to be considered as good as here when the conditions of acceptable prayer are fulfilled.
One writer has well summed up the teaching of Hebrews 11:1 : "Faith has a power of realisation, by which the invisible becomes visible and the future becomes present. While hope is the confident anticipation of a future regarded as future, faith appropriates that future as an experience of the present." The title deeds of faith. The comparatively recent discoveries of business documents and ordinary correspondence written in the Greek language about the time when the New Testament was written have revealed an interesting use of the word "hypostasis." The late Dr. J. H. Jowett in one of his sermons commented as follows on the discovery and its meaning: "Among other words which have been disinterred there is the word which in my text is translated ’substance.’ How do you think they used it? You would find an ordinary correspondent, using that word, or a man who was going to select or buy a house, or a seller of a house, using that word with the content of ’title-deed.’ When they wanted to use our equivalent to the word ’title-deed,’ they used the word which is hiding behind the word here translated ’substance.’ Many have come to believe that the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews must have had this content in mind when he was trying to express his wonderful conception of Christian faith; for, look you, how life and color come into the word when we take this recovered meaning and insert it in my text: ’Now faith is the title-deed to things hoped for.’ Yes, thrice blessed, the word leaps into actuality. It becomes fervid and full of color. You at once have the figure of a man with a title-deed in his hand to take possession of splendid estates. And to me the fine, significant figure is this, there are vast moral and spiritual estates waiting for their heirs, and faith is the title-deed which gives possession and makes them ours. Faith is the title-deed of a house. The house is yours. Faith is the title-deed to all the glorious things hoped for in the Word of God." The firm conviction of the believer. The second part of the description of faith deals with "things not seen," which include more than the "things hoped for." "The latter is restricted to that which is purely future," while the former includes "not only future realities, but all that does not fall under the cognisance of the senses, whether past, present, or future."
There has been and still is much discussion regarding the meaning of "elenchos," which in the Common Version is rendered "evidence," and in the Revised Version "proving." A usual meaning of "elenchos" is "proof," or "test," and many writers contend that "proof" must be its meaning here. Dr. Marcus Dods, who takes this view, says that "substantially the words mean that faith gives to things future, which as yet are only hoped for, all the reality of actual present existence; and irresistibly convinces us of the reality of things unseen and brings us into their presence. Things future and things unseen must become certainties to the mind if a balanced life is to be lived."
Dr. T. C. Edwards in "The Expositor’s Bible" is another who takes "elenchos" to mean "proof." He writes: "Faith is this assurance of things hoped for, because it is a proof of their existence, and of the existence of the unseen generally." The writer, he says, "intentionally describes faith as occupying in reference to spiritual realities the place of demonstration. Faith in the unseen is itself a proof that the unseen exists." God’s thoughts, he concludes, have manifested themselves in nature, in the incarnation of his Son, in the redemption of sinners. But the intellect that knows these things is the good heart of faith."
Most interpreters, however, think that the writer here attaches a subjective meaning to "elenchos." "Proof" brings to men "conviction"; and so by a figure of speech, wherein the effect is put for the cause, the word here denotes "persuasion" or "conviction." On the whole, this seems to be the best rendering, and it is adopted by the American Standard Revised Versions, by Weymouth, Moffatt and Rotherham. The meaning simply is that the Christian is fully convinced, "has a firm inner persuasion of the existence of unseen things, even as though they were manifest to one’s eyes."
Some of the choicest passages of Holy Writ deal with the reality and the supremacy of the unseen. "Our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). In Hebrews 11:27 we have a great phrase which looks back to the description of faith at the opening of the chapter: Moses endured, "as seeing him who is invisible." There is a higher vision than that which comes through the physical eye. It is a great mistake to take for granted that all knowledge comes through the intellect, or that the only reality is that which can be apprehended by the so-called "five senses." The Apostle Paul made a prayer for his brethren at Ephesus: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of his inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe" (Ephesians 1:17-19). If one who was literally blind were to deny the glory or the reality of that field of vision on which we look, we should not be disturbed in mind, though we might pity him, whose deficiencies cramped his life and limited his understanding. We should be as little perturbed when those who have not "the eyes of their heart" enlightened deny the great spiritual realities by which we are surrounded. They who "walk by faith and not by sight" prove in their own experience the glorious reality of the spiritual life. This last comes very near to the thought of Hebrews 11:1-40, which deals with the lives of the great heroes of faith. The "for" of Hebrews 11:2 introduces a proof of the statement concerning the nature of faith. "Faith has power to see and realise the unseen, ’for’ the experience of the fathers proves it." Their experience may be ours.