“Faith is the realization (
hypostatis, ὑπόστασις) of what is hoped for and evidence (
elenchos) ἔλεγχος) of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 NABRE2nd).
“Now faith is the assurance (
hypostatis, ὑπόστασις) of things hoped for, the conviction (
elenchos) ἔλεγχος) of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 RSVCE).
On the surface, this verse contrasts ‘realization’ (‘assurance’
RSVCE) from opinion, suspicion, and doubt. It also refers to ‘things not seen,’
which distinguishes it from those truths known through Science or the first
principles of reason. The verse does not explicitly point to God as the object
of divine faith, and to hope in him, but this is clearly implied. Attridge and Koester note that we see the
hoped-for goals of reward, salvation and divine life in the verses, which
follow. [i]
Attridge and Koester observe,
Faith, in other words, involves both
affective-volitional and cognitive elements; it is obedient fidelity and
trusting belief at the same time and both components are essential. The
perception of reality that faith provides gives the basic motivation34
to endure trials and tribulations. [ii]
Craig R. Koester notes the translation “assurance” captures this
more completely as both “a pledge or guarantee and subjectively it is a
personal state of certainty”[iii]
While not denying the subjective element of faith, the objective
nature of hypostasis is much more
prominent in this verse. Yet Mitchell
suggests, “It is not out of the question that the author may intend both
senses.”[iv]
The “assurance of what is hoped for” finds its reality in the
object of our hope, which is God and his promises. Hypostasis (“assurance”) in ancient philosophical literature
pointed to the “reality” behind appearances [v] this is also suggested by suggested by “the
parallel between hypostasis
(“assurance”) and elenchos, which was
the “proof” of something’s existence or truth.” [vi] Elenchos never has the subjective
sense of “conviction.” The RSVCE is incorrect on this point.
Many modern commentators have distanced themselves from Luther’s
purely subjective interpretation of hypostasis
as “sure confidence.” The primary
sense of the word seems to be objective but we need not deny a subjective
element. The paradigmatic act of faith later in Hebrew 12:1-3 may point in this
direction.
Pope Benedict XVI is willing to concede that faith has a
subjective element, but does not think we see this in Hebrew 11:1. He notes,
“Faith is not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are
still totally absent: it gives us something. It gives us even now something of
the reality we are waiting for, and this present reality constitutes for us a
“proof” of the things that are still unseen.” [vii]
The writings of St. Paul echo similar notions. The apostle writes,
“For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who
hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait
with endurance” (Romans 8:24–25). In a
similar manner, St. Paul writes, “For this momentary light affliction is producing
for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to
what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is
unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17–18). And a few verse later, “So we are
always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we
are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians
5:6).
Religious faith is directed at what is unseen, and what is unseen
is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17–18). We walk by faith, not by sight (2
Corinthians 5:6).
Thinking More Deeply About Faith
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Faith in General
Today the word ‘faith’ is for the most part is a religious word. Although we might say we have faith in a
friend or spouse. The word faith in the Bible, however, is a general category
for the activity of knowing or believing. It means, “to believe to the extent
of complete trust and reliance—‘to believe in, to have confidence in”. [viii]
This not generally how we use the word ‘faith’ today in English. We
might say to someone, “I believe
there is a gallon jug of milk in the fridge,” but unless we are joking, we
would not say, “I have faith there is
a gallon jug of milk in the fridge.”
The act of coming to know something can be of two types. [ix] The first would be a scientific demonstration or a logical idea that our mind
see as self-evident. We assent to this type of truth because we simply see that
it is true with our senses or with our mind. We assent or agree to the truth of
the idea, because we are the moved by the intrinsic evidence of truths. The
evidence in this case is something concrete.
| Scientific Demonstration |
Assents to things seen by the senses either: 1) empirically observed 2) or seen when the mind grasps that something is true by the first principles of reason as well as those truths logically deduced or inferred from evident principles.
Assent by intrinsic reason which is moved by the intrinsic evidence of truths. |
The second type of knowing
works in a parallel fashion but instead of what we see ourselves we assent
based on things that are unseen. Our
will assents to things unseen but it
does not directly see the intrinsic reason for the truth of a given proposition
In order to believe something in this category we must have some
motive, and the motive is not concrete evidence. If the motive is strong and the assent is firm, we call this faith. If the motive for assent is weak or uncertain, then
the resulting act is opinion.
Therefore, in a certain sense, faith stands between scientific or
logical demonstration and opinion. It is an act of both the intellect and the
will. When we make an act of faith,
the intellect assents to a given truth (or falsehood) because the will chooses to do so motivated by
the credibility afforded to the witness. The credible witness substitutes for
the undeniable evidence of the first category. Yet this is not “blind faith” as
some would characterize it. It is assent
with thinking and the character of the witness weighed by our intellect.
Although we do not call this ‘faith’ in common speech, we
frequently make acts of faith in everyday life. If my dog is sick, and I take
him to the veterinarian and she tells me that feeding Fluffy grapes is the
cause of his sickness, I am not going to spend eight years studying to receive
my own DVM credentials, I instead make an act of faith and assent to the truth
the veterinarian has shared with me. I believe in something, which to me is
unseen, based on the credibility of the witness. If my neighbor or friend
shares some other reason for Fluffy’s illness, which I consider doubtful, and I
question his credibility, but I give weak assent to this idea, then it is
opinion.
Religious Faith
Three Classes of Witnesses
The Act of Faith
In the realm of grace, and moved interiorly by the Spirit, God
calls for a specific human response to his witness. St. Paul writes to the
Romans,
“Through him we have received the
grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of
his name, among all the Gentiles” (Romans 1:5).
“Now to him who can strengthen you,
according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the
revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested
through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal
God, made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith” (Romans
16:25–26).
The proper response of man to God’s revelation, aided by the
interior movement of the Sprit, is obedience of faith (cf. Acts 6:7, Romans 6:17).
The fathers of Second Vatican Council describe this obedience as
involving two aspects. First, it is a commitment
by which we offer the whole self freely to God, and by which we offer the full
submission of intellect and will to God who reveals. Secondly, we must
acknowledge the work of the Spirit of God, whose interior help must precede and
assist our will, moving the heart and turning it to God, and opening the eyes
of the mind.
"The obedience of faith"
(Rom. 16:26; see 1:5; 2 Cor 10:5-6) "is to be given to God who reveals, an
obedience by which man commits his whole self freely to God, offering the full
submission of intellect and will to God who reveals," (4) [xii] and
freely assenting to the truth revealed by Him. To make this act of faith, the
grace of God and the interior help of the Holy Spirit must precede and assist,
moving the heart and turning it to God, opening the eyes of the mind and giving
"joy and ease to everyone in assenting to the truth and believing
it." (5)[xiii] To bring about an ever deeper understanding of revelation the same Holy Spirit
constantly brings faith to completion by His gifts. (Dei Verbum, 5)
Augustine Cardinal Bea comments on this passage and the notion of
obedience of faith. He notes that while
this obedience is an act of the intellect and will,
“ …we must not reduce it to a mere act
of the intellect, or even to an act of the will. With faith ‘man entrusts his
whole self to God’. It is not just a question of accepting doctrine as true,
nor yet of simply accepting this or that religious practice. The purpose of
God’s revelation is to make a man a son by adoption, and to admit him to
fellowship with himself …To believe means to accept God’s plan, to allow one’s
own life to be transformed and given a definite significance and direction.[xiv]
Cardinal Ratzinger in his earlier writings notes,
In other words, belief signifies the
decision that at the very core of human existence there is a point that cannot
be nourished and supported on the visible and tangible, that encounters and
comes into contact with what cannot be seen and finds that it is a necessity
for its own existence.
Such an attitude is certainly to be
attained only by what the language of the Bible calls “turning back,” “con-version.”
Man’s natural inclination draws him to the visible, to what he can take in his
hand and hold as his own. He has to turn around inwardly in order to see how
badly he is neglecting his own interests by letting himself be drawn along in
this way by his natural inclination. He must turn around to recognize how blind
he is if he trusts only what he sees with his eyes. Without this change of
direction, without this resistance to the natural inclination, there can be no
belief. Indeed belief is the conversion in which man discovers that he is
following an illusion if he devotes himself only to the tangible. This is at
the same time the fundamental reason why belief is not demonstrable: it is an
about-turn; only he who turns about is receptive to it; and because our
inclination does not cease to point us in another direction, it remains a turn
that is new every day; only in a lifelong conversion can we become aware of
what it means to say “I believe.”[xv]
While faith itself is an objective reality, the notion of the
obedience of faith involves the movement of the heart, and a decisive change to
our being as we cooperate with the graces of the Holy Spirit. Since faith involves both the intellect and the will it necessarily connect to our cooperation and subjective response, even though founded on an objective reality.
[i] Harold W. Attridge and Helmut Koester, The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on
the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary
on the Bible (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989), 308, n 31. ”Enoch (vs. 5)
attains immortality; Noah (vs. 7) salvation; Abraham (vss. 8–9) a place of
inheritance; Sarah (vss. 11, 12) promised offspring; Abraham (vs. 19) his son,
offered to God; Joseph (vs. 22) burial in Israel; Moses (vs. 26) a reward. In
the concluding passage (vss. 32–35) there is a lengthy list of the goods
attained through faith.”
[ii] Ibid., note 34 “Note the motivations ascribed to the various biblical
characters in vss. 11, 14–15, 19, 26.”
[iii] Craig R. Koester, Hebrews: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, vol. 36, Anchor
Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 472.
[iv]Alan
C. Mitchell, Hebrews, ed. Daniel J.
Harrington, vol. 13, Sacra Pagina Series (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press,
2007), 228.
[vii] Benedict
XVI, Spe Salvi (Vatican City:
Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2007).
[viii] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament:
Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996),
375–376.
[ix] St. Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, q. 1, a. 4. resp.
[x]The
Letter to the Hebrews, The Navarre Bible
(Dublin; New York: Four Courts Press; Scepter Publishers, 2005), 114.
[xi] Lawrence Feingold, Faith Comes from What Is Heard: An Introduction to Fundamental Theology
(Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2016), 31.
[xii] First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Catholic Faith, Chap. 3, "On Faith:" Denzinger 1789 (3008).
[xiii] Second Council of Orange, Canon 7: Denzinger 180
(377); First Vatican Council, loc. cit.: Denzinger 1791 (3010).
[xiv] Augustine Cardinal Bea, The Word of God and Mankind, (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press,
1967) 105.
[xv] Joseph Ratzinger, Introduction
to Christianity (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990), 50–52.
