Faith Is Evince

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Faith is a substance, a material fact. Faith is rarely thought of as something in a real and tangible sense, but it is.

Substance is transliterated from the compound word “hypostasis”. “Hypo” meaning under and “Stasis” (from “stao”) means to “stand” or “set”.

Examples of stasis:

“Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and “setteth” him on a pinnacle of the temple” (Matthew 4:5)

“And Jesus called a little child unto him, and “set” him in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:2).

“And Jesus “stood still”, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?” (Matthew 20:32).

Faith is the support that upholds our hope. Hope in of itself is an unsubstantiated wish or desire. What gives our hope substances is our faith that supports it.

Faith is a steadfast conviction, a trust in God and of His promises to come. In true faith there is no difference in what is and what will be. “Is” and “will be” are all the same. This fits into the timeline and realm of God where everything simply, “is”. There is no past or future with God. There is only now.

“Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.” (Psalm 43:13).

Maybe it would help to understand the concept of now if we stopped thinking of it as a horizontal timeline, but rather stacked up in a vertical fashion. Think of time in terms of everything that ever was or ever will be stacked up on top of the period at the end of this sentence.

“Everything that begins to be or ceases to be does so through motion or change. Since, however, we have shown that God is absolutely immutable, He is eternal, lacking all beginning or end. Again. Those beings alone are measured by time that are moved. For time, as is made clear in Physics IV , is “the number of motion.” But God, as has been proved, is absolutely without motion, and is consequently not measured by time. There is, therefore, no before and after in Him; He does not have being after non-being, nor non-being after being, nor can any succession be found in His being. For none of these characteristics can be understood without time. God, therefore, is without beginning and end, having His whole being at once. In this consists the nature of eternity.” (Thomas Aquinas/Summa Contra Gentiles, Book One, Chapter 15)

Our faith in things hoped for is made manifest in our daily lives by how, “we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). This brings substance to our spiritual condition. This is the evidence of things yet seen.

It is interesting to note that of the 247 times faith is mentioned in the Bible, the Old Testament only mentions it twice. Why do you think that is? Anyone can live by and adhere to a law. But only the just will live by faith. Yes, many in the Old Testament did live by faith as Hebrews 11 mentions. But the New Testament makes clear that our entire religion, so therefore our life, is founded on it and is the way to please God!

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3:11)

“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” (Hebrews 10:38).

Faith is real and tangible. Faith evinces the existence of God.

I’ll leave you with this about faith, the next verse in Hebrews 11.

“For by it the elders obtained a good report.” (Hebrews 11:2).

Then, as it is today, our religion hangs on our elders. Youth knows not the faith and hope in God. They see no evidence of it, which puts the onus back on us. For faith to be the substance of things hoped for in Christ, we must not only believe (See James 2:19-20), but we most of all must, “be” that faith and hope, which will manifest the substance of that faith and hope.

Bill Hitchcock