The Substance of Things not Seen

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1, KJV

I reviewed Sam Harris' book at http://readwit.blogspot.ca/2014/10/the-end-of-faith-sam-harris.html. I would encourage reading the review and the commentary by Hugh Savage that follows.(Cut and paste the URL.)

Do I have faith? Do I know what people mean when they say they’ve lost faith?

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.” The interpretation of this verse seems to have been a struggle among translators and theologians forever. For a long list of a variety of understandings, click HERE.

Hebrews 11:1 sounds like Paul’s attempt to define faith as if he were writing a dictionary entry:

Faith (n.) \fāth\ the substance of things hoped for; evidence of things not seen.

In other words, If you are hoping that there will be peace on earth, for instance, and although there isn’t presently peace on earth, but you maintain the assurance that there will be peace on earth, you have faith, a firm expectation that peace is on its way. It’s not yet, but you are waiting in anticipation for it. You can’t see it, but you know it’s coming. You see evidence of its approach. You have faith.

Did I get that right?

Conversely—I guess—if you’ve given up on that hope, faith has been lost.

But maybe defining a word is always a buckshot operation. Especially if it’s the approximate translation of another word in another language.

Merriam-Webster tells me that the English word, faith, derives from . . . well, let M-W tell it:

“[From] Middle English feith, from Anglo-French feid, fei, from Latin fides; akin to Latin fidere to trust.” So it has meant—historically—to trust. So it’s more than believing, it’s having unshakeable confidence in.

I’m reminded of a team building exercise. A person is blindfolded and asked to fall backwards, that his colleagues will catch him before he hits the floor. It’s meant to develop confidence that fellow employees “always have your back.” It’s meant to build trust, cooperation, confidence . . . faith.

The distinction between belief and faith is critical, seems to me. I can lose belief in the possibility of a literal virgin birth, for instance, and maintain the faith that Jesus was special in a way for which “virgin birth,” at the time of the writing of the gospels, would have been a fitting, appropriate metaphor. My faith in Christ remains unshaken; my belief in the possibility, or impossibility, of a virgin giving birth is, when all is said and done, irrelevant.

Similarly, it’s in the confusion regarding belief and faith that the creationists have lost their way. Flogging a dogmatic belief as the foundation of faith is both illogical and, in the end, actually, faith destroying. Faith doesn’t live in the house of fact vs. non-fact; faith lives in an apartment with trust, confidence and love.

Are we confident that the creator won’t let his creation go to rack and ruin? Are we confident that the Kingdom of God, the realization of Christ’s dream for all people, is on its way? Are we so assured of these things that we work joyfully to help them along?

If so, we always were and will always remain, people of faith, who embrace “the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not [yet] seen.