The writer began by stating three facts about faith. These are general observations on the nature of faith, some of its significant features. He then illustrated God's approval of faith with examples from the antediluvian era.
11:1 Essentially faith is confidence that things yet future and unseen will happen as God has revealed they will. This is the basic nature of faith. Verse 1 describes faith rather than defining it.
"This word hypostasis[assurance, NASB] has appeared twice already in the epistle. In Ch. 1:3 the Son was stated to be the very image of God's hypostasis; in Ch. 3:14 believers are said to be Christ's associates if they hold fast the beginning of their hypostasisfirm to the end. In the former place it has the objective sense of substance' or real essence' (as opposed to what merely seems to be so). In the latter place it has the subjective sense of confidence' or assurance.' Here it is natural to take it in the same subjective sense as it bears in Ch. 3:14, and so ARV and RSV render it assurance.'"350
"Faith is the basis, the substructure (hypostasismeans lit. that which stands under') of all that the Christian life means, all that the Christian hopes for."351
". . . faith celebrates nowthe reality of the futureblessings that constitute the objective content of hope."352
Someone else observed that faith is the spiritual organ that enables a person to perceive the invisible realities of life.
11:2 God has approved such confidence as is clear from His commendations of Old Testament men and women who walked by faith.
11:3 However faith is a way of viewing all of life, what lies ahead as well as what is in the past. It involves accepting God's viewpoint as He has revealed it in His Word. This extends to how the universe came into being (cf. 1:2-3) as well as how it will end.
"Belief in the existence of the world is not faith, nor is it faith when men hold that the world was made out of some preexisting stuff.' (In the first century there were people who did not believe in God but who held to some kind of creation.') But when we understand that it was the Word of God (God's command,' NIV) that produced all things, that is faith."353
Notice that the writer did not say that God created the universe out of nothing (creation ex nihilo). He simply said that the universe did not originate from primal material or anything observable. His description does not rule out creation ex nihilo, but neither does it affirm it. Genesis 1:1-3 and logic seem to indicate that God did indeed create the universe, something visible, out of His word, something invisible.
11:4 The readers could identify with Abel because he, too, had a better sacrifice. Those who based their hope of God's acceptance on an inferior sacrifice would experience disappointment, as Cain did.
By the way, what made Abel's offering superior to Cain's was evidently its being an offering of the "firstlings"(first-born) and its including the "fat"(Gen. 4:4). Ancient Near Easterners commonly held that a deity deserved the first of whatever man, beast, or crop brought forth. The fat likewise represented the best part of an animal offering. Abel's offering shows the respect he gave God as worthy of the best whereas Cain's offering, as Moses described it in Genesis 4, indicates that he did not so reverence God.354Another view is as follows.
"The general tenor of Scripture indicates that the superior quality of Abel's offering derived from the integrity of his heart rather than from the nature of the offering itself. This is the clear implication of Gen 4:7, where the Lord says to Cain, If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?'"355
". . . what gave Abel's offering greater value was his faith, not the fact that it was an animal sacrifice."356
11:5 Enoch set an example of walking by faith all his life that readers would do well to follow.357The Lord may return at any time to take modern Enoch's into His presence just as He took that great saint.
11:6 Walking by faith involves not only believing that God exists but also believing that he will reward the faithful. The original readers faced temptation to abandon that hope, as we do. Note that those He will reward are those who "are seeking after Him"(present tense in Greek), not believers who have stopped seeking after Him. Ultimately we know God's will by faith.
In almost all of the following exemplars of faith that the writer cited, there is a clear and direct relationship between faith and reward.358
"The best way to grow in faith is to walk with the faithful."359
11:7 Noah prepared for things to come. He did not live for the present. By continuing to believe the promises of God even when everyone else disbelieved them Noah inherited a new world after the Flood. The writer had promised the readers "the world to come"(2:5-8). Noah's faith led to the preservation of his family. Likewise as we continue to trust God we will encourage others to do so and they will also enter into their inheritance if they follow our example of faithful perseverance.
