“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 It would appear that this verse is the definition of faith. If you ask, “What is faith?”, you would expect the answer to begin with: “Faith is…” If you are familiar with the Bible, and someone would ask you that question, this verse would logically come to mind. However, this verse is not so much answering the question: “What is your faith to you?” or ”to God?”, as it is answering the question: “What is your faith to others?” This is illustrated by what the verse says faith is. “Faith is the substance…the evidence.” As you look at the whole chapter, you see a lot of faith, but you really see a lot more works. In fact the only way you see the faith is by you seeing the works. That is because you cannot see faith at all. Only God can do that (I Samuel 16:7) That is what God is saying in James 2:18. “A man may say, ‘Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.’” The point is: you cannot show a person your faith by your faith. You can only show a person your faith by your works. So, as the Scofield Bible notes in the margin: “Substantiating” might be a better translation than “substance,” and “Conviction” might be a better word than “evidence.” The point is that your actions should substantiate the fact that you have faith, and your life should bring conviction on the lost. It is the only thing they can see of the unseen spirit world. In the next verse we read: “By it the elders obtained a good report.” We know that to gain a good report before God we must have faith. That is all that is needed if our faith is in a good enough object of faith. Of course , the object of our faith is the person and work of Jesus Christ-in short -having faith in His name (That He is God, and His completed work is enough to save and keep us). However, the good report here is not so much talking about that report before God, but rather the report of our justification (being declared or reported as righteous) before men. So you can have the perfect righteousness to get to heaven by faith alone in Christ alone without any works whatever (Ephesians 2:8-9), but you must have works to show your faith to the lost. Pastor Jerry I you want more thoughts, go to journeybible and click on devotions.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 18:25:48 +0000
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