01.01. Chapter 1: Beyond Uncertainty

CHAPTER ONE Beyond Uncertainty "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) The chapter begins with the statement, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The Greek word for faith used here is pistis ("strong belief," "persuasion," "conviction") but it seems to reflect the Hebraic idea of emun or emunah (from Heb. aman meaning "to build up or support"; emeth, "truth", is another derivative of it). This pistis (emun) is not just undeniably related to the truth (emeth) of God but is also the ground and support (aman) of all spiritual experiences, as we will see shortly. Obviously, what the writer here has in mind is true faith in God and His revelation. It is not blind faith or herd-mentality faith. Faith in God is of ultimate kind and is, therefore, both unique and absolute. Since it is not concerned with contingent things of this world it is also not like the belief in the contingent things of the world. Further, belief in God is foundational to our common-sense assumptions about this world as both moral and rational. Anyone who denies God must also deny the existence of absolute morals and absolute truth, for both lose their foundation if their foundation is found within this world itself. It would be like trying to place a ball on that ball itself. Without an unchangeable transcendent ground, there can be no absolute point of reference (as in outer space where all bodies hang in positions relative to each other). The unchanging nature and character of God is the foundation of true morality and His veracity is the foundation of all reasonability and truth. Therefore, divine existence is the surest fact of reality as the psalmist also says that it is only the fool who says in his heart that there is no God (Psalms 14:1). Since God is the final cause, ground, and reason of this universe and all human experience, faith in God is also final and ultimate. It is this reason why God can accept no excuse for unbelief from the unbeliever. For the faith of God (Mark 11:22) is both distinctive and final; it is the ground of the ultimate form of experience which is divinely given.

BETWEEN NOW AND ETERNITY In the Greek (in which the New Testament was written), the order of words gives emphasis to "things hoped for". These "things" are firstly, "hoped for", but also "not seen" as Paul clearly explains it to the Romans that "hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth?" (Romans 8:24, ASV).

Hope is defined as "expectation and desire"; thus, "to hope" signifies wanting something to happen and believing in its possibility. Thus believing and hoping are connected as the now to the future. We believe in the present what we hope about the future; the future being invisible at the present. The future possesses the goal and meaning that integrates our present life and gives us a reason to move forward. Thus, faith is that which binds history together with meaning. One tends to look at history as general and particular. General history deals with the history of the world: its origin (also including the origin of time), its progress, and its destiny. Here, we are not just talking about History as a study-discipline but history as the whole of events in general – past, present, and future. Particular or specific history, on the other hand, deals with some particular object like a people, phenomenon, or an individual: thus, we have Indian history, history of religion, and autobiographies. According to the Bible, general history is not absurd but intrinsically and teleologically meaningful. In other words, it is through and thoroughly meaningful to the end. Its processes are meaningful and its end is also meaningful because the processes are controlled by God and the end is determined by God. Therefore, every event that occurs in history can measure its significance by referring to God’s general purpose for His creation. This does not proclaim the teaching of determinism or fatalism but of the judicious governance of this world by God. To fall short of God’s will and purpose means to lose the true meaning of life and degrade to inauthentic existence – a life that is not seriously concerned with its reality and focus or one that suppresses the truth of God by giving in to the faith-destroying voices of unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). This kind of life has two kinds of responses towards the future: false hope and hopelessness. False hope is hoping in things that are unreal in the sight of God; for instance, the hope of the demons to defeat God. This is a false hope because it is not based on a reality sanctioned by God. Their faith, therefore, lacks a solid basis and their hope has no real anchor. It is also, therefore, both useless and dangerous. Obviously, false faith leads to false hopes.

Answer to Hopelessness

Another kind of response is seen in the sense of hopelessness. It is the single-most greatest assailant of joy in modern times. In the absence of hope, people lose all sense of living. The fact is that when faith is renounced, hope is also lost with it. When one can’t believe anything, one can also expect nothing. I think that’s the reason why our present (postmodern) age of relative truths and values has lead to more sighs of despair than ever. With nothing to hold on to and no solid ground to stand on, there remains no sure expectation left. The euphoria of relativity only leads to the evaporation of hope because the uncertainty of present is chained to the uncertainty of future. Faith in absolutes provides the rail track for the train of action to move on towards the destiny of hope, towards ’things hoped for’. Thus, faith is the substance or ground of things hoped for. An example of this is found in the life of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes. Reporting his frustration with a life lived without divine reference, merely ’under the sun’ (a phrase that signifies a materialistic and godlessly rationalistic lifestyle), he writes:

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? ...I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind…. I tried cheering myself with wine.… I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself…. made gardens and park…. made reservoirs…. owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem…. amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces…. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun…. So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me (Ecclesiastes 1:2; Ecclesiastes 1:14; Ecclesiastes 2:3-8, Ecclesiastes 2:11,17, NIV). To this writer, most probably King Solomon, a loosening of faith in God led to spiritual bankruptcy and life lost its ultimate focus. Terrestrially speaking, this world had no final meaning for him once death took him into its bosom. To the materialistic mind there is no difference between the death of an animal and the death of a man. One may believe in the spirit and its survival after death but his materialistic orientation breeds more frustration than hope.

Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless (Ecclesiastes 3:19, NIV).

Thus, when ultimate faith is lost, ultimate hopes also evaporate. Therefore, the Preacher admonishes the young to remember God and submit to Him in reverence in the blossom of youth, before old age dawns on them with feelings of worthlessness and a wasted life (Ecclesiastes 12:1; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

Another clear example of the relation between faith and hope is found in the book of Job. Job was a sincerely devout and pious believer. However, Satan finding occasion came before God and accused him of utilitarianism (that Job feared God only because God provided for and protected him). God allowed the trial of Job. One thing to note here is that God allows trials into the lives of His children not to destroy and debase them but to prove that their faith is pure. If we can believe that then the devil is plundered and victory is ours. In the case of Job, the devil’s main accusation was that Job was a utilitarian; he followed God because God gave him what he wanted. In other words, he wanted to say that Job’s faith was not spiritual but natural and carnal. According to him, Job honored God for natural and carnal reasons and not because he loved God in spirit and in truth. Such response is animalistic, instinctive, and natural. Even a dog is faithful to its master. The nature or being of God didn’t matter much to him. What God did for him was more important to him than who God was. Bluntly, the devil was saying that God was not being worshipped because He was worthy of it but because people were getting their fill of desires. Once these materialistic blessings were removed, he said, Job would turn against and curse God to His face (Job 1:11). Even Job’s wife agreed to this as the expected response for misery (Job 2:9). But Job did not flicker because he knew that though circumstances might change, the nature and being of God is beyond the shadow of a change, and that his faith was anchored not in the appearance of circumstances but in the constancy of God. His faith was not a response of the flesh that sought physical motivation to go on; it was the ground of his existence. Therefore, he says "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15). If Job didn’t have faith in the truthfulness and faithfulness of God, suffering for him would have been both pointless and absurd. Everything would be madness. But it was faith in God that infused in him a hope for the future. However, this hope was not of some materialistic, utilitarian fulfillment but of a spiritual encounter with God Himself. As he says,

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:25-27, NIV).

Apparently, it is not just a hope of resurrection that is expressed here: it is the hope of seeing God "with my own eyes". Job’s faith was not based on space-time instances, but on the eternal reality of God Himself, a vision that connected his now to eternity. THE CERTAINTY OF FAITH The Greek word for "substance" used here is hupostasis (ὑπόστασις), from which is derived our English word "hypostasis", which means, in metaphysics, "essential nature or underlying reality." Literally, it meant "that which is placed under", that is the ground beneath something on which the thing gains a firm foothold. It is in this sense that the Septuagint (LXX) uses it for "standing" in Psalms 69:2, where the psalmist says, "I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing," or place for the foot to rest. The word is used five times in the New Testament; thrice as "assurance" or "confidence", once as "person" or "essential nature", and once, i.e. here, as "substance". Obviously, a word can be used in more than one sense, as for instance the word "ground" in the English language can be used to mean "the surface of the earth", "a piece of land", e.g. a playground, "the basis for some action or belief", e.g. moral grounds or grounds for belief, or "a preliminary coat of paint applied to a surface", among many other things.

I believe that the three basic meanings of the Greek word hupostasis may together help us to understand a greater import of the text. The three forms are as follows:

Faith is the ground or basis of things hoped for.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Faith is the assurance or confidence of things hoped for.

Faith as Foundation

Firstly, faith is "the ground of things hoped for." It is on the basis of faith alone that God can give to us what He desires to give us. However, faith can only be a basis because of God’s Word (Truth of God). The faith that is not based on God’s Word is not foundational about the things of God. It leads to somewhere else. But the faith that is connected to God’s Word is the ground for experiencing the things of God. There are many instances in the Scriptures that illustrate this truth. The Israelites perished in the wilderness and couldn’t enter the Promised Land due to their unbelief (Jude 1:5). Moses could not enter the Promised Land because of his unbelief in the word of God (Numbers 20:12 ; disobedience is a form of unbelief). Jesus could not do many miracles in Nazareth because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5, 6; Matthew 13:58). Scripture tells us that those who do not believe in Jesus Christ will not be saved (Mark 16:16). It is on the basis of faith that we receive healing (Matthew 9:22), salvation (Zephaniah 2:8), the promise of the Spirit (Galatians 3:14), and eternal inheritance (Acts 26:18). Obviously, faith is the inevitable condition for the appropriation of divine gifts, not because God is incapable of acting without our faith but because faith is the spiritual relation between a heart that willingly receives and the heart that willingly gives. However, the text also has a second implication: that faith is the ground upon which things are hoped for. We can only hope of better things because we have, first, faith. As has already been seen earlier, if I can’t believe in someone, I can’t hope anything from him. I can’t have hopes of victory, for instance, from an army that I don’t believe to be capable of victory. Without faith there is no hope, without hope there is no vision, without vision there is no strength, and without strength there is no thrust. In other words, faith determines a lifestyle by providing both vision and inspiration, and also a reason to live.

1.    Faith as Ontological Basis of Spiritual Blessings. By ontological basis is meant that it is not just a mental assent but is also a real and solid basis for spiritual blessings. In fact, faith connects knowledge of truth with the reality of the truth itself. In that sense, it is the basis of the things hoped for. Faith is a real act of commitment to the truth, a space-time event that pierces through time to eternity. Therefore, an act of faith has inevitable results. When Moses acted out in faith on God’s word and struck the Red sea, it was inevitable that it split into two parts. When the blind man obeyed Jesus and washed his eyes in the pool of Siloam, it was inevitable that his eyes be opened. This is so because faith is the basis of things hoped for. The faith of God is an act directly related to God and not this space-time world; therefore, it pierces through space-time and catches hold of the hem of God’s garment unleashing His power and blessings in this temporal frame. That is why miracles are possible, despite the general laws of nature. Peter walked on water by the faith of God that sees God as the Lord of creation and not limited by its phenomenal functions, its natural laws, or the way things happen. God is the source of all created reality and all phenomena owe their existence to God. His infinite power spans the difference between being and non-being and brings things out of nothing. Therefore, He is Lord of all creation. For God, nothing is impossible. An act of faith connects to the will and power of God. Therefore, Jesus said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed…nothing shall be impossible to you" (Matthew 17:20); for through faith what is possible to God is also possible to the believer.

2.    Faith as Epistemic Basis of Spiritual Experiences. Faith not only connects to the will and power of God; it also connects to the knowledge of God. It is both mental consent and commitment to the truth proclaimed by God. Therefore, it is the epistemic basis of spiritual knowledge. The experience of faith is the experience of divine truth. This is very obvious in the Scriptural assertion that the natural or carnal man cannot receive the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14). They have no personal significance for him. There were many people who saw and heard Jesus during His physical ministry in this world; however, it was very few who really believed and, consequently, experienced Him. Let’s compare two perspectives here: the first, of the high priest and the second, of Jesus’ disciple, John:

(1) And the high priest answered and said unto him, "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus saith unto him, "Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, "He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy" (Matthew 27:63-65).

(2) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14). The contrary experiences of the high priest (feelings of desperation, fury, anguish, discomfort, and rage) were governed by his refusal to believe the confession of Christ. He could never know Christ because he could not believe Him. On the other hand, John saw Jesus as the Son of God who came and dwelled among us. The high priest accused Him of blasphemy; but John saw Him as being full of grace and truth. The high priest could not know God because of his unbelief. Thus, faith is considered to be essential to knowledge. To know means also to believe. This is very true also in relation to statements about this temporal world. For instance, if someone says that he knows that the earth is spherical, it also means that he believes the earth to be spherical. Further, knowledge is composed of truth; therefore, knowing something means also to believe in the truth about that thing. To believe in falsehood does not constitute knowledge. For instance, one may believe that the earth is flat, but since this belief doesn’t correspond to reality therefore, it is obvious that this person doesn’t really know what the earth is like but is, on the other hand, deceived about it. False belief doesn’t constitute knowledge; it constitutes ignorance and deception. True belief alone, therefore, is knowledge. Evidently, then belief is elemental to knowledge. There is a difference between sensory experience and spiritual knowledge because spiritual knowledge is not given to us in the form of sense-perception but must be received on the basis of faith alone. For instance, the knowledge of Christ’s atonement on the cross is not derived from a sense-observation of the crucifixion – there were many who saw the crucifixion but only few who truly understood it. It is based on faith in God’s revelation and a communication of this conviction to the heart of the believer by the Spirit of God. Therefore, the nature of this revelation is spiritual, transcending all limitations of language and thought though not contradicting them. Evidently, then, faith is the basis of spiritual experiences. Therefore, the Scripture says:

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:9,10).

Faith as Substance

Secondly, faith is "the substance of things hoped for." In other words, the things that we hope for are, at present, composed of and given to us as faith. Therefore, whenever we have faith we also have the things we hope for in the form of faith now. That is why Jesus said "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24). He doesn’t ask them to believe that they will receive it in future but to believe that they have already received it in faith. In other words, if someone has faith in God for something, he already has that thing. I believe this is so because God is not conditioned by time but if something is "yes" in Him then it is eternally "yes" and the same in future, present, and past. Thus, it is not whether that thing will be real to us in the future but whether it is already real in the sight of God that is significant. We may have those things later on, but if God has already said a "yes", then there is no doubting about their reality which we experience in the form of faith. Faith itself, thus, becomes the evidence, as we shall see later, of things yet unseen. But more than just being evidence, faith is the fact of our having what we are hoping for. It is in this spirit that we know that we are the children of God, that our citizenship is in heaven, and that the devil is a defeated foe. Obviously, all these facts will be physically manifest only at the last day but they are readily known as facts by us now without any doubt. That is faith: to know the future in the present as true. Therefore, a man of faith doesn’t live his life regretting about the past or worrying about his present but he is elated by faith to see the hopes of the distant future as a timeless reality and lives his life in accordance to the reality of those facts in the sight of God (Php 3:7-10). That is one reason why unbelief in God’s revelation is sin; because it attempts to falsify God (1 John 5:10). It attempts to deny what is true and undeniable in the sight of God. Therefore, the unbelievers cannot inherit the kingdom of God since they cannot see it and know it now. Weighing the ultimate value of spiritual faith, it has infinitely greater value than the temporary escapism of drug hallucinations, day-dream fantasies, and entertainment. These may provide temporary escape from the inescapable void of the future inherent in the blank realities of the present that the unbeliever experiences, but can’t liberate the soul in reality, engendering more vexation of spirit than peace. Life, as a result, becomes more banal, confused, and dissatisfying. But faith connects the life of the believer to the eternal realities of God and, therefore, his spiritual experiences possess the value of a far greater reality that the world can’t counterfeit.

Faith as Conviction

Finally, faith is "the assurance of things hoped for." The assurance or certainty of faith is based on the finality of its object. Finality refers to that which is both foundational and terminal. By foundational is meant that which is basic and necessary. Terminal refers to that which is the end and finality of something, its destiny. Now, it is evident that God is the foundation and terminal of faith since He is the Beginning and the End of all reality; for everything consists and subsists by Him (Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 48:12; Colossians 1:7 ; Revelation 21:6). In other words, all that is real and true has its source in Him and has Him as its final end as the Word says about the Son of God "he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Colossians 1:17). This world cannot be the final source and end of faith since it is contingent and therefore not final in itself. Secondly, since we ourselves are part of this world, to trust in this world would amount to trusting in nothing (objective); for, it would be like a man trying to walk on his boots. Therefore, God alone is the foundation and end of faith. Faith begins and ends in Him. It is the reality of God where the world finally collides and comes to an end. There is nothing conceivable by reason, experience, or faith beyond Him. Therefore, the faith of God is final. As seen earlier, God’s finality for faith is also seen in His not just being the beginning and the end of all things but also in His being the only eternal, infinite, all sufficient, unchanging, absolute, necessary, and relational being. The last attribute, relationality, is essential for faith to be able to relate to God and find its finality in Him. Relationality means that God has an infinite relational possibility, implying also His eternality of relation to someone. If God didn’t have such eternal relation then relationality would not be an essential attribute of Him. But if relationality were not an essential attribute of God then faith cannot in anyway relate to Him in reality or essentially. Therefore, relationality must be an essential attribute of God for faith to be possible. However, relationality cannot be an eternal attribute of either a finite deity (polytheism) or monad deity (unitarianism); the former is not eternal or infinite and the latter has no relations except after the creation of this world, which is logically impossible since it presupposes an infinitely lonely god who finds the possibility of relation only through creation, indicating his insufficiency and contingency. It is only in the Christian concept of God as a Trinity that one finds eternal relationality. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are eternally related to each other in love. Thus, finality of faith presupposes the finality of God as an eternal, infinite, all sufficient, unchanging, absolute, necessary, and relational being. If such were not the conception of God, then faith in a contingent, fluctuating, finite, self-contradictory, and unrelated god will and must not be final. If someone finalizes his faith in such a god that lacks such attributes, his faith is incoherent.

Faith is being assured and confident about the reality of things hoped for. Since this faith is distinctive and final, being based upon the absolute and unchanging nature of God, this assurance is also unshakeable and final. That is the reason why a man of faith is at peace with himself; he is not alarmed at the appearances of contradicting situations because he knows that the thing he is hoping for is assured in the sight of God (Isaiah 26:3). This gives him confidence in confessing and living out his faith. This drives away all fear and discouragement. Fear is a sign of unbelief; that is the reason why cowards cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Revelation 21:8). Those who are not bold enough to confess their faith do not have that faith. This is because the possession of faith also means the possession of assurance and confidence, since faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The assurance of hope is stronger than hope alone. For in it hope is combined with confidence. It gives greater strength for meaningful living. It is not like a man who embarks on a journey without a roadmap, but as a man who boards a train with its destination clearly signified on it. Thus, faith is being assured and confident about things hoped for. This assurance, however, is not passive but coterminous with accepting the reality of God and His truthful nature. Thus, whenever one believes God, he is also assured of the promises of God for his life. It is this assurance that gave Peter boldness to tell to the cripple, "Silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk" (Acts 3:6, MKJV); and the man leapt, stood up, and walked because his healing was a fact which Peter knew beyond a doubt. Miracles only exist for those who can believe in them. If we can’t be assured about the possibilities of God then we can be assured about nothing else. Therefore, the faith of God is distinctive and admitting no excuse.

FINAL EVIDENCE The second part of this statement is parallel to the first. It modifies the first clause. Thus "substance" is "evidence" in the same manner that "things hoped for" are "unseen". A significant truth of revelation here is that faith doesn’t need further evidence for its existence than its presence itself. Since it is the final ground of the things hoped for, it is also the evidence of the things hoped for. It is not based on anything else. It is the basis for everything that we know and experience. Attempts to base faith on rational or empirical proofs, i.e. on logic or experience, adds nothing to it. These may help to justify beliefs but cannot be the source of faith. One must not search for evidence for faith. Faith itself must be seen as the evidence for everything else. In fact, it is through the eyes of faith that meaning and the meaningfulness of divine truths is discerned. One proceeds from faith to the things and not from things to faith. The Greek word for ’evidence’ is elegchos (ἔλεγχος), which can either mean ’proof’ or ’conviction’. A conviction is an unshakeable belief in something without need of proof or evidence. This talks about the finality of this kind of faith. It doesn’t need evidence. The other meaning implies that having this faith itself is the evidence that the unseen things hoped for are true. That you can have faith for the things you hope for is the surest evidence of their reality and possibility.

There are, however, certain criteria to measure the authenticity of such faith since this could easily lead to superstition and false belief. First of all, the believer must possess a sound mind. This is necessary in order for faith not to be based on illusions or delusions; one knows that there are many in the lunatic asylums that have strong faith about many things which are not true. Secondly, faith must be open to reason; in other words, open to verification and falsification or, at least, justification. Faith is justified belief; by this is meant that the believer must always be able to give a justification for his faith as the Scripture says "Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you…" (1 Peter 1:15). This doesn’t mean that faith follows evidence; nor that evidence strengthens faith. On the other hand, it means that faith in itself is neither irrational nor without evidence, but is full of proofs though not based on proofs; therefore, an evangelist is never short of proofs – in fact, he might often be astounded by the proofs of his faith. Thirdly, this faith must be connected with righteousness and peace. This is so because the faith of God cannot contradict the character of God. By righteousness is meant not only that this faith is internally consistent (possesses integrity), but also that it is legally consistent (conforms to the righteous Law of God). At the same time, it engenders peace (good relationship with God and removal of fear and doubt). Fourthly, and most importantly, it must not contradict the written Word of God, i.e., the Scriptures, which reveal God. By this is meant that it must not contradict the real import of Scriptures – this doesn’t apply to false interpretations of Scriptures; faith has nothing to do with them.

Now, to say that faith is the "evidence of things unseen" means that the invisible things are proven by faith. Evidence may be classified into two categories: rational evidence and empirical evidence. Rational evidence is expressible in the form of arguments or reasoning. Empirical evidence may be divided into two further groups: primary evidence and circumstantial evidence. Primary evidence is based on first-hand witness (e.g. the disciples saw the risen Lord). Circumstantial evidence is evidence not drawn from direct observation (e.g. the empty tomb). Faith is neither rational nor circumstantial evidence; it is primary evidence. In other words, faith is neither a set of arguments nor a set of data that needs interpretation and verification. On the other hand, the experience of faith itself is evidence of things unseen because it is the experience of a knowledge that is revelatory, illuminating, and convicting; it is the experience of the truth of God. To have the faith of God, therefore, means to possess the truth of God. Thus, though the things hoped for are invisible to us now, they are clearly known to faith.

Faith as evidence is also source of knowledge. Undeniably, faith is a voluntary act or else personal responsibility and even truth would be mythical. For if man doesn’t know by exercise of his will then his knowledge is determined; but if determined then there is no possibility of verifying that knowledge to know whether it is true or false. Man would only know and believe what he is programmed to believe. But faith as voluntary act is the precursor to knowledge as Jesus said, "If any man desires to do His will (God’s pleasure), he will know (have the needed illumination to recognize, and can tell for himself) whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from Myself and of My own accord and on My own authority" (John 7:17, Amplified). Thus, the will-to-believe is the condition for the knowledge of truth. If anyone is unwilling to accept the truth, then all evidence is meaningless (perhaps detestable) to him. Therefore, faith as evidence (Sanskrit, pramana meaning also source of knowledge) is also source of knowledge.

One question that may arise in this connection regards the source of faith. Obviously, the source cannot be either reason or experience. For that would mean that faith is based on them and is not itself the final evidence. Further, any amount of reasoning cannot produce the absolute assurance that faith possesses. Thus, reason cannot be the basis of faith. In fact, as the French mathematician Blaisé Pascal argued, to say that one believes on the basis of reason is to beg the question. For, one needs to first believe in reason itself before believing in its results. That is to say, reason itself is originally based on faith. Reason cannot be based on reason for that would evidently beg the question. The same also extends to experience. One can doubt the reality of everything about experience, as the French philosopher René Descartes showed. Consequently, faith itself cannot be based on experience. One chooses to believe in experience; one doesn’t have faith out of experience in the ultimate sense. Thus, experience can only be the source of knowledge when it is based on faith. Faith can only be final when it is not ultimately based on reason and experience. All knowledge of this world, therefore, deriving from reason and experience is not final. There is always some element of doubt that is admissible. But the faith of God, as has already been seen, is fully assured and final. In fact, this faith of God is that which stabilizes knowledge by giving meaning to both reason and experience. That is the reason why, disbelief in God, in its final form, leads to a sense of absurdity, hopelessness, skepticism, cynicism, and nihilism. The source of faith then can be neither reason nor experience. What then is the source of faith? It is an encounter with the revelation of God as the Scripture says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). This doesn’t mean that one has faith as soon as one hears God’s voice; but, one exercises faith only when face to face with the revelation of God. In fact, one may choose to even reject the revelation. Faith is a choice, it is not automatically produced. When one encounters the revelation of God one has the choice of accepting it or rejecting it. The nature of both the encounter and choice is spiritual and not rational or physical. Therefore, the choice is also a moral one. Further, the truth revealed is spiritual and so physical events (e.g. miracles etc) cannot be regarded as final proof of it. The truth itself is its proof and is known only by someone who responds in faith. The one who rejects it remains unprofited by the encounter (cf. Hebrews 4:2). The one who accepts it, however, is immediately ushered into the reality of God and, thus this faith becomes the substance and evidence of the unseen things one hopes for. As long as reason and experience are held on to, uncertainty and temporality holds the scepter; but faith unchains one from the infinite sequence of evidence and takes one beyond uncertainty to the substance, the ground, the confidence, and the evidence of the things of God. The value of this faith is not measurable by human standards: it is only measured by God. The possession of this solid faith of God earned the elders a good report and testimony (Hebrews 11:2). This was so because they possessed the thing they hoped for in the form of faith even though the fulfillment was scheduled only at the last day. They were undaunted by the present circumstances but were faithful to the end because of the assurance they had in God. Their faith was their evidence of the things still invisible to us, and by it they obtained a good testimony, God Himself testifying about their faithfulness. Their choice took them beyond uncertainty to obtain a good testimony from the Father. In view of what we have seen this far, it is obvious that the source of all frustration, fear, anxiety, boredom, vexation, emptiness, loneliness, and hopelessness is either the weakening of or the loss of faith. Of course, the world presents us with the crisis of faith: reasons for not believing in God. But the world has no substitute for the faith of God. To trust in the world or in man is to sink with the ship. Soon the loss of faith gives way to conscious or unconscious escapism. The means of escapism are not few and the worldliest are the most evil ones as well, hurting self and society. But they are also false ones along with the reality of their being temporal as well. They do not and cannot give eternal solace. It is the faith of God alone that gives true meaning, purpose, and reason to life.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

1.    One can only know and receive spiritual knowledge by faith.

2.    In matters of faith, faith alone is evidence; although, it is not separable from reasonability.