A Catalogue of Fellow Believers

Faith is one of those words Christians often use without definition. Since faith is a biblical word, it has the connotation of being a good thing, and therefore is something everyone should possess. But this understanding is very wide of the biblical mark. The word “faith” has a very technical meaning in the New Testament. Faith is not a generic term for whatever subjective opinion people may or may not have about God. Faith is used either as a verb (“to believe”) or as a noun (“faith”), and is always directed to its object (that which is believed). The author of Hebrews carefully defines the term “faith” and then illustrates that definition by describing how a number of great figures from the Old Testament (Noah, Moses, Abraham, etc.) believed in God’s promise–the same promise which the author of Hebrews has argued in chapters 1-10 was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Old Testament saints mentioned in Hebrews 11 serve primarily as witnesses to God’s faithfulness in keeping his covenant promises, and only secondarily as examples to us of people who have faith in God’s promise even during difficult times.

We now move into a new (and perhaps the best known) section of The Book of Hebrews, chapter 11. Often described as the “hall of faith” because so many Old Testament luminaries are mentioned here, all of those who make the author’s list are included here because they believed the gracious covenant promise which God made to his redeemed people– “I will be your God and you will be my people.” There is much here in this chapter–the nature and character of faith, as well as a discussion of how the New Testament writers (such as the author of Hebrews) read the Old Testament. So, we will take our time going through it.

Believers In God’s Covenant Promises or Examples to Follow? Or Both?

Many of those who preach through this particular section of Hebrews emphasize the exemplary character of the faith of those who make the list. In taking this approach, the focus falls upon the example these people set for us, and which we should follow. This approach emphasizes that these were great men, they had faith in YHWH during the most difficult of times, so we should imitate them by striving to have the same kind of faith they had. But the obvious problem with this approach is that one of those mentioned, Rahab, was a prostitute. In fact, all those mentioned were sinful individuals, and those who lived during the time of the Judges (Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah) were all men whose behavior was less then exemplary. Nevertheless, these people are numbered among those who had faith in the promise.

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