Letters to the Modern Church

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1 New International Version

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1 English Standard Version

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1 King James Version

Personally, I often prefer to read the NIV translation of scripture, however, I have always preferred the KJV for this verse. You might ask ‘why’, and I would tell you that the choice of the word ‘substance’ appears to be closer to the author’s intended meaning. A person can have confidence or assurance in something false, but something that has evidence and substance is pretty hard to argue with. There is so much depth and so many nuances that are lost in translation, because we do not have the linguistic or cultural understanding of what we are reading (and by cultural I don’t just mean country or people group, but ancient in contrast with modern cultures as well).
In English, we have a tendency to think of the word “faith” as something that happens in our minds. Something internal and insubstantial.
The Greek word translated as ‘substance’ in this verse is: ὑπόστασις (pronounced: hoop-os’-tas-is), which means:

1. a setting or placing under; thing put under, substructure, foundation
2. that which has foundation, is firm; hence,
   a. that which has actual existence; a substance, real being.

This is the word that is often used when talking about a title or deed. Something substantial that would back up a claim of ownership.

I often see the words “faith” and “believe” go hand in hand, however, I also frequently hear them used interchangeably. While they may be synonyms, they are not always interchangeable and, I think, that is where a lot of confusion rests when we discuss faith. Belief is based on information, what you know and think about things. Faith is based on application, what you do and how you behave based on that knowledge. I earnestly believe that the English language (as we understand and use it today) misses the mark with these concepts and the real meaning that is trying to be expressed here.
There is a temptation to fall into an apathetic approach with so many different things in life when we use these words interchangeably and without understanding what faith really is. We begin to say “I have faith” or, I believe”, then go about life as we always have, not being proactive, and living life without intention. While it is possible to have belief without faith, it is not possible to have faith without belief. I could believe that God exists but choose to not do anything about that belief.

“The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”
Isaiah 29:13 NIV

We tend to think of faith as passive, when the reality is that it is substantial and active. It is not simply a feeling tied to thoughts or emotions, but a tangible gift we possess that makes itself evident in how we choose to live life and interact with the people and situations around us.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe (internal knowledge and understanding) that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (active application of belief).”
Hebrews 11:6 NIV

I would not be showing my faith if I just sat back and said to myself “well, I guess God knows what’s He’s doing” and continuing to go about life without purpose and intention, as though I really believed He would meet me in my needs. God expects us to actively display the existence of our belief by our words and deeds. There will be times that God does want us to wait on him, and the more time you spend actively getting to know him (through prayer and in his word), the more you will be able to discern when those times are.

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength”
Isaiah 40:31a ESV

The Hebrew word for wait is; קָוָה (pronounced: qâvâh), which means: “to expect:—gather (together), look eagerly for, patiently, tarry, wait (for, on, upon)”.

Almost every one of the words in the above definition are action verbs, so even our waiting is an act of faith. If we are waiting for something or someone, we need to be attentive, watching. I like to picture it like this: you’re leaving to go on a trip somewhere and are sitting by the door with your bags packed, watching out the window, ready to leave when your transportation arrives. You may not know exactly when they will get there, but you need to be ready to go when they do. This waiting on God does not mean apathetically sitting back and twiddling your thumbs, but waiting with eager anticipation, attentive and ready to act on or seize whatever God places in front of us, fully believing and anticipating that he will show up.

It is through faith, that our salvation and genuine relationship with Christ is made evident: how we choose to live life, and the things we do. We believe in salvation by grace and not by works. There is nothing we can do on our own power or effort that will earn us a place in Heaven with God.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV

The statement of “I/you/we just need to have faith” advocates for blind and apathetic faith. It does not take into account the substantial nature of faith. It also does not take into account that it is a spiritual gift, given by the Spirit.
Blind faith is for children, who rely on their parents to carry them as they learn about God and develop their relationship with him.

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
1 Corinthians 13:11 NIV

Actively deepen your faith. Spend time in his word and in prayer. Ask God questions, but take time to also be still and give him an opportunity to speak, waiting for the answer with eager anticipation.

“As a result, (of gaining unity and maturity) we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming”
Ephesians 4:14 NASB

In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul talks about spiritual gifts. I think it’s incredibly important for people to have an understanding of what their spiritual gifts are because it gives us a better understanding of how we are equipped to serve in our best capacity, and even Paul stated that we need to be informed of our gifts.

“Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.”
1 Corinthians 12:1 NIV

(Side note: some of your spiritual gifts can also change with new life experience and events. I had some different spiritual gifts as a young adult than I do now, because of things I’ve learned and experienced through the years, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they changed later in life. As you grow and change in Christ, so also can your gifts, and they very often do.)

I’m sure we all understand that our spiritual gifts are not just for our own benefit, and in 1 Corinthians 12 (among other places) faith is listed among the spiritual gifts.

“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit”
1 Corinthians 12:7-9 NIV

And as faith is a spiritual gift, I would also like to note that the Spirit also gives it in different measure to different people.

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has distributed to each of you.”
Romans 12:3 NIV

I think that this is something which is often forgotten, especially by people who are strong in their faith. Telling someone who is young or struggling in their faith and relationship with Christ to “just have faith” can be very discouraging to hear. You begin to wonder what is wrong with you, that you struggle so much trusting God, and some even begin to question their salvation because of a lack of understanding of the true nature of faith. It is something that different people have in different degrees, but that does not mean it should or will stay that way. If faith is active, it must also have the ability to grow. As we grow in knowledge of, and relationship with God, so does our faith.

“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.”
2 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV

“The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!””
Luke 17:5 NIV

(Even the apostles recognized that they needed God’s help to increase their faith.)

“Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand”
2 Corinthians 10:15b NIV

Though Paul is saying this, I think we will find that as our faith grows, so does God’s activity in our lives and affecting the lives of those surrounding us. And where does this faith come from?

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:17 ESV

The more time you spend reading God’s word and talking with him, the more you you will know God and the more your faith will grow, and with that growing faith, a greater capacity to trust. Where we once had childlike faith, relying on others to hold us up (and even mature believers still need that at different times and in different seasons), we are to develop our relationship with God so that we grow to have a more mature faith, learning to stand on our own two feet on what we believe.
Mature faith says “I don’t know why, where this is going, or what is going to happen, but I have seen His goodness, Love, and faithfulness consistently in the past and I’m choosing to trust that he’s got me now”, and then, continuing to live life showing the Love of Christ anyway, and acting in anticipation of him showing up.

In the difficult seasons, a mature and active faith can often require us to be intentional. We humans are forgetful creatures, aren’t we? So often, we lose sight of or forget the ways God has met us and our needs in the past. Here are just a few things that we can do to actively grow our faith: spend time meditating (or pondering) on areas you have seen His hand rescuing or at work in some way, put visual reminders around yourself, write down scripture and prayers and leave them throughout the house and your workspace, and seeking conversation with other people who have been through similar things. (This is a big one! The Enemy tries to make us feel like we are alone or the only one who struggles so that we won’t seek encouragement and prayer from fellow Christ followers or even from God because we feel ashamed. Not so!)

Be intentional. One prayer that I noticed in a friend’s workspace said this: “Lord, clarify what my needs are, so that I can see how you meet them.”
Something that I pray when I’m struggling with an un-christ-like attitude or with something else is this: “God, please give me a correct understanding and a correct perspective of this situation.”

In light of all of this, I would like to draw your attention to another passage that will show us, in greater depth, what this substance called ‘faith’ looks like.
Keeping in mind that we receive salvation by grace, through the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and not by works: the substance of our faith is action and the things we do.
They are the evidence of a life transformed by genuine belief in Christ. The choices we make, the way we behave, and the things we do are all to be heavily influenced by our decision to believe in and follow Christ. If all of these things are not changed and we do not show with our choices, actions, interactions, and deeds that Christ is in us, then our faith is dead.

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
James 2:14-17 NIV

Your deeds do not save you, but your deeds are evidence of your salvation. I have known people who claim to have faith in Christ, but their actions and lifestyle is in complete contrast with that claim.

“But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
James 2:18-22, 26 NIV

That is not to say that God expects perfection from us, but He does expect us to behave in line with His teachings and repent when we fall short.

“There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
Mark 7:15 ESV

What are your works? What kind of a reputation do you have? Do you have a reputation for being irate, complaining, judging based on appearances, speaking unkindly to or about others, easily angered, etc? Or are you better known for pouring out the fruit of the spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?
It needs to be evident in the way that you go about life, that you are a follower of Christ. One big sign of this can be if a stranger or acquaintance has asked if you are a Christ follower, without you having brought it up. We need to be showing the substance of our faith so well, that we don’t even have to bring the name of Jesus up in conversation for someone to notice that there is something different.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10 ESV

Why? Is it solely for our relationship with Christ? I believe that is the primary reason, but I do not believe it is the only reason. It is so that our faith will display substance and we will be better able to point others to Christ.

“Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.”
Psalm 51:13 ESV

One of my favorite definitions of Love was written by CS Lewis in his book The Problem of Pain. “Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained”
In scripture, God does not tell us to like our neighbor, but He does tell us to love them. I think we tend to forget that difference because like and love very often do go hand in hand.
When my daughter was about three years old, she used to say: “I love you and I like you.” Comprehending that difference is more simple than we realize, if a three year old can understand it without being told.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40 NIV

In light of the two greatest commandments listed in Matthew 22 above, I would go a little deeper and say that the substance of faith is an active love for God and our neighbor.
1 Corinthians 13 describes what love looks like, and I would encourage you to read it, and really spend time meditating on what that looks like for you and the different relationships in your life. What traits love is to be valued above and how it is to be displayed. Then, read it in conjunction with the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:16-25, and spend time meditating on that passage as well, considering how they relate to each other and the necessity of working them together to make our faith and relationship with Christ so visible that it cannot be ignored.

And finally:

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:2 NIV

“[My] hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, [God’s] sphere of activity among you will greatly expand”
2 Corinthians 10:15b NIV