Take, for instance, the "sticky" question of predestination versus free will. Lots of Christians puzzle over that. Seems like it's tough to figure out. To me, I'm puzzled by their confusion. It is clear in my head. Simply put, limited options is not the same as either no options or coercion. So I don't see a problem. Obviously, others do.
One on the other side of the coin is Hebrews 11:1. Most Christians enjoy that verse, quite happy with its clear definition of faith:
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1).Mmm, good stuff ... except I've never understood that definition. That is, if I start with "What is biblical 'faith'?", I don't a clear explanation in this verse. I've never been clear on that at all, while most Christians see it quite plainly.
Then, the other day, I read the passage and saw something ... different. What if it's not a definition, but a description of the function of faith? We do this in English. We might say, "Time is money." Yeah ... everyone gets that. Except we're not defining time in that statement. We're explaining that if you get paid to do something, your time translates into income or cost. It's a function of time, not a definition. Or how about this example? "Money is the grease that lubricates the wheels of business." See? Money, then, is defined as some sort of petroleum-based lubricant that ... well, no, of course not. We're saying that a function of money is to make businesses work more smoothly. That's how I suddenly saw Hebrews 11:1 -- a description of the function of faith.
Two things are offered here in this verse: 1) Things hoped for and 2) things not seen. To what is the author referring? Well, the chapter break is unfortunate because he gave that in chapter 10 and, too often, we miss it. In chapter 10, the author of Hebrews speaks of how his readers endured hardship to visit their brethren in prison. The reason they were able to do that was "you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one" (Heb 10:34). In chapter 11 he goes on to explain that people of faith died without ever having seen the promise. Our "great reward" (Heb 10:35), then, is the thing that we hope for but don't see. The question is why hope for something you cannot see? The answer, in verse 1 of chapter 11, is faith. Faith gives us assurance when we hope for something we don't have and faith gives us confidence when we expect something we cannot see. That's not a definition of faith, but it is a good explanation of the function of faith.
Look, like I said, I don't fully understand all of Scripture. This passage, however, suddenly made a lot more sense to me when I saw it as a description of the role of faith rather than a definition of the word, "faith". And I thought that maybe -- just maybe -- someone else might benefit from this perspective.
3 comments:
Though I personally haven't wrestled with the defining of the word, I think your angle of the verse describing the function of faith rather than the definition makes sense.
One of the things that our Bible study group keeps noticing in our study of Hebrews is that there are often natural breaks in the passages that don't really correspond to the chapter breaks. Sometimes it makes more sense to take the verses at the natural breaks, and it's easier to see what the author is saying. That and looking for leading words such as "but" (setting up a contrast) and "for" (explaining what was just said). At least I'm finding it helpful to look at it that way. Good insight.
I wonder why the natural breaks weren't used to make the chapter breaks?
Hope you and yours are better.
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