Table of Contents  >>  What is Faith?

Hebrews 11:1 says,

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."

The underlying Hebrew concept of faith (emunah) includes belief, and trust, and also implies an eventual response on our part (just as "Shema" doesn't mean "hear" only, but rather "hear and act accordingly").

The first part of this verse tells us that our belief, and the ability to act on it, is tangible - it really exists. We can experience it, and know we have it. Our faithfulness is an already manifest part of Spiritual Reality, that is here in the physical, on earth, in us, right now! The idea is similar to Ephesians 1:13-14, where the Holy Spirit is said to be like a down-payment or "earnest money." I can know that all the promises of God - the things hoped for - will be fulfilled, because I've already received a small but significant part of them, this very real thing called faith.

Looking at the 2nd half of the verse, how can our faith be evidence of the things we can't see yet? For instance, we can't see the risen Yeshua, or heaven, or the angels. Well, Ephesians 2:8-9 says that faith "is the gift of God, not of works, so no one can boast." In other words, I only have faith because God gave it to me. It isn't something I can make on my own. Hebrews 11:1 is telling us that the gift is evidence of the Gift Giver. One of the ways we can know that God is real is by His having given us the gift of faith in Him, something we could not manufacture on our own.

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