11:1
We now come to possibly the most well-known chapter in Hebrews, the one on the heroes of faith. In reading this we must remember that it does not stand in isolation, it is not an addendum to the foregoing ten chapters. Rather it builds upon them. The writer has been urging his readers to trust in God, to believe that Christ's death, resurrection and priesthood provides all we need. Christ is the perfect sacrifice. Many, especially those in charismatic circles (and I am part of a charismatic church) are very prone to interpret this verse in terms of specific everyday items, i.e. Faith for healing, faith for a new job, or some other practical need. These things are not irrelevant, but the first thing to say is that this verse is aimed primarily at the reality of Christ's sacrifice. If we look at ourselves we find that we are still sinners. We are being sanctified but there is a long way to go, and the further we go the more aware we become of how far short of Christ we fall. So how do we know we are forgiven and accepted by God? Our faith is the evidence or the reality of the effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice. Some translations have "confidence", others "reality". Faith is both the substance and is our confidence. The way things work is that God speaks and His people believe, and every word that God speaks is true and wholly reliable. So it is by faith that we know that we are forgiven.
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