What You Can't See Is What You Really Want

[HKHaugan]

Faith 1

What You Can't See Is What You Really Want

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

Faith, substance and evidence; this assemblage of words is well known and appears quite often in sermons and writings to touch the heart and challenge the mind to embrace God’s offer of an eternal relationship with Him. They are important words, words of salvation, words of life and words of invitation to share God's real presence, nature and essence.

The first word is faith. So how do we begin our walk in faith? We need to think about what faith means. The Greek word is pistis, which classically meant confidence, being persuaded, faith in the gods. Pisteuo was the verb meaning to trust, to rely on, to confide, to believe. It was a common word describing the ability to apprehend the invisible.

When faith is applied to being an image of God there are three things we begin with: the mind, the heart and the spirit.
For the mind, we believe in the invisible concepts that construct our thinking, reasoning capacity, the principles upon which we build our lives in every next moment. These unseen concepts guide us through the invisible processes of thought. Belief leads to trust.
For the heart trust is the subject. Trust is our invisible leap into invisible reality based on what our mind believes. Trust shapes our attitudes. It is moving from the deepest part of us. Trust leads to faith.
For our spirit faith is our motivation to act. Faith is our spirit working out what our mind and heart give it. Faith is our mind and spirit in action.

The second word is substance, the word used to translate the Greek word, hypostasis. The initial meaning was sediment, that which settles to the bottom, in our time, ‘the bottom line.’ It was used as a metaphor to describe the inner meaning, the groundwork of a matter, the life that really grounds us. When you brew coffee the substance you get a flavorable beverage from the 'grounds.' The 'life' of the coffee is in the grounds. So when the author wanted a word to get the reader to grasp the absolute truth of faith he was inspired to choose hypostasis as the best way to understand it was something God was giving from His very nature, His substance, that was substantial, substantive and substantiating.

Substance also meant that which supports. The substance of who we are is the image and likeness of God. The substance of God is the “I Am” who is love. The substance in us that responds to God and lets us love Him is faith because faith is the image substance of the One God who is faithful. In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount He refers to believers as being salt (Mt.5:13). He's describing substance there.

The third word is hope from the Greek word, elpizo. It has about it the flavor of expectation, desired outcome. When we hope we have sense of future reality. That’s why Paul says “But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has (Rom.8:24 NIV)?” Hope declares a spiritual reality that is yet to take place. It's a looking forward word. It is a concept all wrapped up in a future experience in which we place our faith, our trust and our belief. If it is as common as acquiring a car we work in the hope of earning enough to pay for it. We have faith that the source of our income will continue in order to make the necessary payments. We hope we will continue in health to work and support that for which we hope. But when we place it in the context of future existence, existence into eternity, hope is a spiritual capacity. As Christians our hope is centered in the fulfillment of a spiritual relationship, a ‘real’ationship, a fulfilled relationship in Jesus. This in turn brings us into the fulfillment of all our relationships.

The fourth word, elengkos, employs its secondary meaning in Scott’s Greek Lexicon, which we read as evidence. It is the secondary meaning that was used to define scrutiny, a means of testing and trial. For the writer of Hebrews, the word elengkos gave proof that it was through testing and trial that God’s spirituality rose above all else. It is wisdom through the experience of putting truth to the test by trial and error. Should we be putting truth, the Word, to the test? “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Rom.12:2 NIV).”

We want to be careful about testing. We are not to test God (1Cor.10:9 NIV) but to test the Word of God by being obedient to it. Our evidence then becomes our obedience to His will as contained in His Word. The evidence of faith is the action belief and trust produce. Again, in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount He says believers are the light. That light is what believer's do, their active life where they are with others. It's the invisible effect of a believer's action on the hearts and minds of those around them.

What makes these words so significant is that they were the words the Holy Spirit inspired the writer to use. The fact that they were secondary meanings in the Greek culture is not unlike the word agape translated as love in the New Testament. It was a rare Greek word the Holy Spirit inspired to separate the idea of God’s love from the romantic and emotional images of the time.

So what does this mean for us as Christians? I’m reminded of Paul’s debate with the philosophers on Mars Hill (Acts 17:23 NIV). There he wanted them to see that among the gods honored with statues, one was to an unknown god. He chose that one to show that there was only one God and He was revealed in Jesus Christ who, unlike the others, was raised from the dead and eternally alive. It was a brilliant and Holy Spirit inspired moment that illustrated faith in action. Here faith was put in a common context from which only one conclusion could be drawn, Jesus was God in the flesh, alive and active, and that all other gods are idols of man’s making. His Resurrection proved His faith.