Faith: Seeing the Unseen

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). You might not find these words if you looked up “faith” in a dictionary, but there is no better description of what faith is.

Faith is a key word in the New Testament and a key concept in the Bible. It means conviction of the truth of something and, by extension, trust or confidence in what is believed. Faith provides “assurance” and “conviction.” “Assurance” (“substance” in some versions) denotes what is real. “Conviction” (or “evidence”) signifies a proof or demonstration. These words normally call to mind things we can see and touch. But this verse applies them to spiritual realities that are not discerned with physical senses. Faith makes real and certain what would otherwise be unknowable. The NIV reads, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Verse 3 gives an example of this principle of faith: “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” We cannot go back in time and observe the origin of the universe, but we have a confident conviction that God created it. (Incidentally, the evolutionist also exercises “faith”; he cannot witness the beginning of the world, either. Thus the creation-evolution debate is not between faith and science, but between two different “faiths.”)

Faith is not wishful thinking. It is based on testimony. For instance, our belief that God created the material universe out of nothing is based on the Bible’s statements that He did so (Genesis 1; Psalm 33:6,9). The same should hold true for all of our beliefs about spiritual things. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (verse 6). Faith believes in the existence of the invisible God (“He is”). But it doesn’t stop there (see James 2:19); faith also acknowledges God’s moral government (“He is a rewarder of those who seek Him”). It recognizes His authority and submits to Him in obedience. Without action, faith is dead (James 2:17).

In a way, Hebrews 11 does for faith what 1 Corinthians 13 does for love. Just as Paul described to the Corinthians what love does, the writer of Hebrews shows, through the examples of Old Testament heroes, what faith does. “For by it [faith] the men of old gained approval” (verse 2). These great men and women of the past did what they did because they trusted even though they could not see. The same trust on our part will produce the same fruits.