Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Sept/66

Contributor - J. van Oostveen

Title - Faith

Topic - Faith

HEBREWS 11

"NOW FAITH IS THE ASSURANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, THE CONVICTION OF THINGS NOT SEEN." - R.S.V.

This text is the only definition that can be found in the Bible. But this word faith is one of the most important words of the Bible if not the most important word, for faith is the underlying basis of our religion. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews has done for "faith" here what Paul has done for "love" in I Cor. 1'.. He has not only given us a beautiful hymn in honor of faith but has laid down for all times the essentials of the Christian faith. He has shown us the roots of it and the fruits of it, how it begins and where it ends. Faith the writer says: is that which gives body to the things hoped for, faith makes hope real and actual to us. Faith is not merely assurance as Luther taught: it is not only trust or moral assent nor is its intention to do so and so. These things are important in faith, but behind all these activities of the will, and Justifying it, there is the deep conviction, closed up in our heart the knowledge that the objects of our faith are real, more real than the world we live in; that Salvation is not -only a hope, for faith gives ,us the assurance and substance, it is not a dream, for faith gives reality to it, faith is not a hope or a dream but a very present fact.

Faith is the assurance of, faith is confidence in, things hoped for, faith is that principle, that exercise of mind and soul, which has for its object things not seen but hoped for, and which would cause us instead of sinking under them as too great to accept, whether it be from difficulties we face or from uncertainties which we have, yet faith stands firm under them, supports us in our pressures, in other words, faith is assured in us and we are supported by it.

But what is faith? If I were to say that it is the- absolute condition of all life, of all action, of all thought which goes beyond the limitations of our minds, then this is no exaggeration. Faith is in every age, under all circumstances, that, by which man lays hold on the realities which underlie the changeful appearances of things, and gives substance to hope, that by which he enters into an actual communion with the powers of the unseen world and brings their manifestation to a wonderful test.

When Christ asks us to be men of faith then He wants us to accept the reality of things beyond nature which have always been since the creation Faith is the proof or test of things not seen. "Faith tries the spirits," John says: that is to say, tests beliefs by living them and acting them, tries them until experiment becomes experience, proves them until faith wins its crown by passing into knowledge and into love.

By faith we are able to rest in the assurance of the hope of everlasting life and forgiveness through Christ. By faith we are able to experience proof in ourselves of an unseen God, an unseen Christ, an unseen Holy Spirit, an unseen world and an unseen life.

Faith can be seen as a supernatural gift of God to us, a power of the world to come, already enabling us now in this world to live in a higher world which cannot be seen, it enables us to come near to God, to touch God, to possess God - an ability given us whereby every relation to God is realized and made alive. Faith enables us to be lifted above the circumstances and to free us from the burdens of life. Faith brings a burdened man to his knees and the Holy Spirit works in that heart and mind and will a knowledge that lifts him from his own emptiness and folly and sadness.

Faith sets us apart from the world we live in. Faith sanctifies us and lifts our affections above. Faith strengthens us and makes us see the unseen things. Faith gives us the vision of unseen things which are a reality thus comforting us in the knowledge that sorrow and pain and sadness and strife and envy will soon be gone and eternal glory awaits us.

Our walk here on earth is not all smoothness and sunshine. There are so many things that throw their thick clouds over us. But we look in faith to the unseen thing in the knowledge that the Kingdom of God will make up for it all.

As years go on, and sadness of life comes home to us, we feel that we obtain comfort and strength nowhere else but in the reality of God and in simple trust in the life hereafter. Faith is like a strong hand in the darkness, to believe that God our Father loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. The only way to make peace secure, and to save our work from futility and our lives from vanity, is the way of faith. Without faith in God and God's love and God's future for us, there cannot be any true comfort. Without faith we are open at every turn to any shock of chance and to every alarm of fate. With faith we can lift up our burdens and perform our tasks with peace, and find joy in our work, looking upon it simply as service to our Lord and Master who has given us faith by his grace.

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