Faith

[God-free]

More often than not, when I ask someone to tell me what faith is, I’m given the following biblical definition.

Originally Posted by Hebrews 11:1 (King James Bible)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

I'm trying to understand exactly what this means. Unless there's some special biblical meaning for the words 'substance' and 'evidence', the best I can come up with is:
Now faith is the essential import or significance of things hoped for, the substantiation of things not seen.

Is that about right? Also, to what "things not seen" is the verse referring?

[disciple]

Originally Posted by God-free

More often than not, when I ask someone to tell me what faith is, I’m given the following biblical definition.


I'm trying to understand exactly what this means. Unless there's some special biblical meaning for the words 'substance' and 'evidence', the best I can come up with is:
Now faith is the essential import or significance of things hoped for, the substantiation of things not seen.

Is that about right? Also, to what "things not seen" is the verse referring?

The NLT puts it well,"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us ***urance about things we cannot see."

The Message says this,"The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see."

[Christodoulos]

Originally Posted by God-free

More often than not, when I ask someone to tell me what faith is, I’m given the following biblical definition.


I'm trying to understand exactly what this means. Unless there's some special biblical meaning for the words 'substance' and 'evidence', the best I can come up with is:
Now faith is the essential import or significance of things hoped for, the substantiation of things not seen.

Is that about right? Also, to what "things not seen" is the verse referring?

Throughout man's history ,there have always been in every society and culture those who believe in a divine being of one sort or another.

And it was always based on having faith on the unseen ,intangible. But not everyone.

Some are not capable of belief in the unseen. But for others ,the unseen has a way of becoming more significant than what is seen.

Faith is not for everyone. It's that simple.

[God-free]

Originally Posted by disciple

The NLT puts it well,"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us ***urance about things we cannot see."

The Message says this,"The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see."

Hello disciple. I don’t know if you remember me, but I remember that you and I had a very pleasant conversation a few years back in my “Gimme a nickel” thread. I hope life is treating you well.

Thank you for your reply.

[disciple]

Originally Posted by God-free

Hello disciple. I don’t know if you remember me, but I remember that you and I had a very pleasant conversation a few years back in my “Gimme a nickel” thread. I hope life is treating you well.

Thank you for your replying.

Greetings Barbara,

Of course I remember you, how could I forget such a polite and intelligent conversationalist. It is good to talk to you and I am well how about you?

[God-free]

Originally Posted by disciple

Greetings Barbara,

Of course I remember you, how could I forget such a polite and intelligent conversationalist. It is good to talk to you and I am well how about you?

You flatterer you.
I'm very well. Thank you. I've had some extra time lately so I thought I'd pay a visit to the forums. Perhaps we'll have a chance for another round of discussion sometime soon.

[disciple]

Originally Posted by God-free

You flatterer you.
I'm very well. Thank you. I've had some extra time lately so I thought I'd pay a visit to the forums. Perhaps we'll have a chance for another round of discussion sometime soon.

I look forward to speaking with you soon.

[alanmolstad]

Originally Posted by God-free

You flatterer you.
I'm very well. Thank you. I've had some extra time lately so I thought I'd pay a visit to the forums. Perhaps we'll have a chance for another round of discussion sometime soon.

I only have extra time to post on the weekends.



But none of you guys are around then (my theory is that most forum posters are actually posting on a computer at the place where they work, and that is why so many new posts appear during would is normally "working hours".)

[MacG]

Originally Posted by God-free

More often than not, when I ask someone to tell me what faith is, I’m given the following biblical definition.


I'm trying to understand exactly what this means. Unless there's some special biblical meaning for the words 'substance' and 'evidence', the best I can come up with is:
Now faith is the essential import or significance of things hoped for, the substantiation of things not seen.

Is that about right? Also, to what "things not seen" is the verse referring?

This seems like the cheap way out but the rest of the Chapter really helps and if you need more, the preceding chapter sets the stage pretty well. Context is key.

Macg

[tdidymas]

Originally Posted by God-free

More often than not, when I ask someone to tell me what faith is, I’m given the following biblical definition.


I'm trying to understand exactly what this means. Unless there's some special biblical meaning for the words 'substance' and 'evidence', the best I can come up with is:
Now faith is the essential import or significance of things hoped for, the substantiation of things not seen.

Is that about right? Also, to what "things not seen" is the verse referring?

Heb. 11 is a list of examples of people who had faith, so the writer of Heb. is telling us that faith is shown by what people do with it. That def. in v. 1 is simply saying that we live in obedience to God because we believe Him, since the "not seen" is God and eternal life, and the "seen" (our faith) is what people see in how we live. But Biblical faith is really much simpler than that, since the term "trust" is very often used in place of "belief", as in verses like "whoever trusts in Him will not be disappointed," and some translations say "whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed." If you read the NT enough times you will start to see that the terms faith, belief, and trust are very interchangeable and like terms as they are used by the NT writers. So to say "I believe in Christ" (from a NT viewpoint) is the same as saying "I trust in Christ." And of course, if we trust in Him, then we will trust His words and commands as being trustworthy to obey, as we understand He wants the best for us.
TD