HEBREWS: THE INFINITE SUPREMACY AND SUFFICIENCY OF JESUS CHRIST

XVII. The Life Of Faith That God Honors

(Hebrews 11:1, 3)

I. Introduction

A. We live in an era of great need for an encouraging word amid man's discouraging spiritual failure, so a word from God on the infinite supremacy and sufficiency of His Son Jesus Christ is both desirable and fitting.

B. The Epistle of Hebrews offers it, and Hebrews 11:1, 3 explains the life of faith in Christ that God honors, so we view it for our insight, application and edification (as follows):

II. The Life Of Faith That God Honors, Hebrews 11:1, 3.

A. Having introduced the subject of living by faith in the Christian life (Hebrews 10:39), the Author of the epistle greatly expanded on that idea to define, explain and illustrate it in Hebrews 11:1-40.

B. First, he defined faith and illustrated it in the experience of the readers of the Epistle in Hebrews 11:1, 3:

1. The Author defined the essence of faith itself as it pertains to a life of faith in Hebrews 11:1 (as follows):

a. Faith is the "confidence, assurance" (hupostasis, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 854-855) of what is "hoped for" (elpizomenon, pres. passive part. of elpizo, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 769; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 251-252; The Analyt. Grk. Lex. (Zon.), 1972, p. 133), v. 1a.

b. Faith is the "inner conviction" (elegcho, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 248) of "things" (pragma, Ibid., p. 703-704) not "seen (with the eyes)" (blepomenown, pre. passive part. of blepo, "see (with the eyes)," Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 71; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 142-143), Heb. 11:1b.

2. The Author then illustrated how we exercise faith by believing Scripture's revelation about creation, v. 3:

a. By means of faith, we "understand" (noeo, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 542) that the [literally] ages (aion, Ibid., p. 26-27) [figurative for the universe, cf. Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 807] were "prepared, made" (katertisthai, perfect passive infinitive of katartizo, "prepare, make;" Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 418-419; Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 225) by the "spoken word" (hrema, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Arndt & Gingrich, p. 742-743) of God so that what is "visibly seen" (blepo again, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; note "II, B, 2" above) did not "originate, come to be" (gegonenai, perfect infinitive of ginomai, "originate, come to be," Ibid.; Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 76; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 157-159) out of "things [that are] visible" (phainomenown, pres. middle part. of phaino, "appear, be visible," Ibid., p. 859-860; Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 421).

b. This verse thus teaches that by faith we adopt the literal view of Genesis 1:1-2:25, or Pure Creationism:

i. Just like Hebrews 11:3 asserts, Genesis 1:1-2:25 records that the entire universe came to exist by the spoken words of God wherein God repeatedly "said, Let there be . . .," and it was so!

ii. Accordingly, Adam and Eve did not evolve, for Genesis 2:20-25 claims Eve was made from Adam's rib, so they did not jointly evolve from lower life forms as male and female, but Adam existed before Eve by supernatural creation, and Eve was supernaturally created from his rib.

iii. Since Adam was created directly out of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7), so Genesis 2:19 declares that God created the birds and land animals directly out of the ground, implying that they did not evolve from lower life forms just like man did not evolve from lower life forms.

iv. Also, the creation of plant life before the solar system and stellar universe (Genesis 1:11-18), of birds before land animals (Genesis 1:20-25), of an atmosphere with water vapor along with liquid seas before the sun to create warmth on earth (Genesis 1:6-18) indicate pure creation!

v. The six "days" of creation in Genesis 1-2 are each said to be comprised of an evening and a morning, what elsewhere in the Pentateuch always refers to solar days, not long ages of evolution.

vi. Hebrews 11:3 thus directs us to believe the literal view of Genesis 1:1-2:25, that God miraculously created the universe by special creation without any evolutionary processes.

Lesson: To live a life of faith as a believer, we must be confident of what we hope for in God's Scripture promises, to be convinced of the reality of what we do not yet see with our eyes of what God has promised to provide. By way of illustration, we understand and believe that God supernaturally created the entire universe by His spoken word apart from any evolutionary processes whatsoever, achieving this feat within a solar week.

Application: May we assuredly be confident in the validity of God's promises, trusting them as we live this Christian life just as we assuredly rest in the truthfulness of the Genesis 1-2 record of Pure Creationism!