Is hebrews 11:1, the definition for faith?

Question

come on your scholars.

Answer 1

Some say yes.
Some say no.
It certainly at least tells us something about faith.
I prefer the NASB, which renders this:

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

I prefer "assurance" to the word "substance", as in the KJV, because I think the latter is unnecessarily vague, and the word assurance agrees more with the second part of the statement (which more literally is "A being convinced of things unseen")
Also, When I think about it , that is exactly what faith is in my life.
I know I have saving faith through the Gospel,
but what is the saving faith?
It is a complete conviction and certainty; an assurance of things hoped for.
And what are the things hoped for?
Nothing less than the promises of Christ through the Gospel.
A promise of eternal life.
A promise of forgiveness of sins and escape from Hell.
A promise of righteousness - right standing with God through the merits of Christ.
As Peter states it:
"4For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."

II Peter 1:4

Answer 2

"Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld."

"The ASSURED expectation of things hoped for". True faith is conviction that something unseen is a reality.

"The evident demonstration of realities though not beheld". Some people feel that "faith is believing the unbelievable". This is not in harmony with what Hebrews 11:1 states, namely, that faith is based on an 'evident demonstration of reality'. For an example, the visible creative works testify to the existence of an invisible Creator (Romans 1:20). Thus the creative works of God provide an evident demonstration of the reality that a Creator exists, though we cannot see Him.

Faith, though, involves more than simply believing. Hebrews 11:4-38 speak of several persons who through faith were prompted to righteous action. Hence, James under inspiration writes:

"Of what benefit is it, my brothers, if a certain one says he has faith but he does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it? You believe there is one God, do you? You are doing quite well. And yet the demons believe and shudder. But do you care to know, O empty man, that faith apart from works is inactive? You see that a man is to be declared righteous by works, and not by faith alone. In the same manner was not also Ra′hab the harlot declared righteous by works, after she had received the messengers hospitably and sent them out by another way? Indeed, as the body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." -James 2:14, 19, 20, 24-26

So faith prompts a person to righteous works, and this is a part of godly devotion and loyalty to God. For example, consider a husband and wife. The husbands knows and believes that his wife is deserving of his loyalty. But if he commits adultery with another woman, could he really be called faithful? Likewise, though we may believe in God, true faithfulness greatly implies that we are loyal to him.

Answer 3

If you have the idea in your mind that the God of the Bible is the real McCoy, then the definition found in Hebrews 11 is absolutely the correct definition. Trying to understand the depth of the definition is part of what the true Christian or Nazarene experience of spirituality is all about.

Jesus taught that definition and everything else that the apostles taught their disciples. He also taught them how to be spiritual, use their minds, think deeply, be at peace, and love their fellow Nazarenes.

You cannot always go by Webster's to get your best definition, as many words and their meanings have changed or been diluted over the course of time. The best example of this is love. (See 1 Corinthians 13 for the ultimate definition of love, and then compare it to what you know or what you have seen in any dictionary) The Bible is a self-defining document, and all the words of significance, such as faith, love, salvation, grace, and many other complex words, are well defined through usage and context, and understood by the man who seeks God, and makes it a goal to try to understand the wisdom of God.

This God said, "Seek me, and I will give you wisdom and knowledge." The important thing to stress is that God told His creations to seek Him, which implies effort, study, and brain work (along with sacrifice, fasting and prayer). This is spirituality, and by developing it in oneself, through the model of Jesus Christ, one builds faith in the true God, and then the definition found in Hebrew 11 makes even more sense.

Answer 4

Yes, it is. Hebrews 11:1 is the Bible definition, followed by several examples, while Romans 10:17 tells how one obtains faith. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Anyone who thinks that they can obtain faith any other way is only fooling themselves.

Answer 5

read on the whole of Hebrews 11 especially where the word faith comes up, read the whole verses then do this...

For the word FAITH substitute it by these words..BY SEEING WHAT GOD SEES.....then look at how it works.

this is because our eyes cannot see the future...faith is all about things unseen ..by our own eyes..and things not possible by our own eyes...but by Seeing through \god's eyes which can see the future. E.g I may not see myself getting an IBM Job in five years but maybe God sees me as a CEO in five years.

Answer 6

Our senses of perception and of action, that is to say, our five perceptive senses of (1) hearing, (2) touch, (3) sight, (4) taste and (5) smell, as well as our five senses of action, namely (1) hands, (2) legs, (3) speech, (4) evacuation organs and (5) reproductive organs, and also our three subtle senses, namely (1) mind, (2) intelligence and (3) ego (thirteen senses in all), are supplied to us by various arrangements of gross or subtle forms of natural energy. And it is equally evident that our objects of perception are nothing but the products of the inexhaustible permutations and combinations of the forms taken by natural energy. As this conclusively proves that the ordinary living being has no independent power of perception or of motion, and as we undoubtedly feel our existence being conditioned by nature's energy, we conclude that he who sees is spirit, and that the senses as well as the objects of perception are material. The spiritual quality of the seer is manifest in our dissatisfaction with the limited state of materially conditioned existence. That is the difference between spirit and matter. There are some less intelligent arguments that matter develops the power of seeing and moving as a certain organic development, but such an argument cannot be accepted because there is no experimental evidence that matter has anywhere produced a living entity. Trust no future, however pleasant. Idle talks regarding future development of matter into spirit are actually foolish because no matter has ever developed the power of seeing or moving in any part of the world. Therefore it is definite that matter and spirit are two different identities, and this conclusion is arrived at by the use of intelligence. Now we come to the point that the things which are seen by a little use of intelligence cannot be animate unless we accept someone as the user of or director of the intelligence. Intelligence gives one direction like some higher authority, and the living being cannot see or move or eat or do anything without the use of intelligence. When one fails to take advantage of intelligence he becomes a deranged man, and so a living being is dependent on intelligence or the direction of a superior being. Such intelligence is all-pervading. Every living being has his intelligence, and this intelligence, being the direction of some higher authority, is just like a father giving direction to his son. The higher authority, who is present and residing within every individual living being, is the Superself.
At this point in our investigation, we may consider the following question: on the one hand we realize that all our perceptions and activities are conditioned by arrangements of material nature, yet we also ordinarily feel and say, "I am perceiving" or "I am doing." Therefore we can say that our material senses of perception and action are moving because we are identifying the self with the material body, and that the superior principle of Superself is guiding and supplying us according to our desire.
In conclution, the Lord is boyond of material sense perception, what is completely spiritual and can not be seen by material eyes, but by utilizing the intelligence by heaing from bona fide source, as everthing is based in hearing, one will accept by conviction, that is faith.

Answer 7

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Sure sounds like it to me.

Faith is...

Answer 8

Yes, that is the definition of faith.

Answer 9

Yes, I think it is a very good definition. It was the definition we used in my Religion in America class (which was taught by a Jewish professor).

Answer 10

I'm gonna try this without opening my bible:

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

Right? I hope I got that one because I love that verse.