사귐의 소리 2025

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Hebrews 11:1–3 “Turning Conviction into Evidence!”

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4–7 minutes

Hebrews 11:1-3 NIV

Suggested Praise Songs:

Resources for Family Worship (with Children):

Explanation:

Hebrews 11 is famously known as the “Faith Chapter.” In chapter 10, the author exhorts readers to endure all persecution, trials, and temptations, and to hold on to faith until the end. With confidence, boldness, and perseverance, they are to keep their faith and become “those who are saved” (10:39). Following this, the author presents examples of people who kept their faith in such a way, offering them as models.

The author first defines what faith is: “Faith is the confidence in what we hope for” (v.1). The Greek word hypostasis, translated here as “confidence,” can be misunderstood as merely subjective or psychological. It is better translated as “substance” or “reality,” as in the Revised Korean Version, which renders it “substance.” “What we hope for” refers to what we long for with hope. Faith is accepting what we hope for in God—His covenant and promises—as present and real.

The phrase “evidence of things not seen” expresses the same idea in a different way. The Greek word elenchos, translated as “evidence,” refers to legal and objective proof. The object of our faith consists of “things not seen”—such as God, the Kingdom of God, and eternal life. These invisible things have no tangible or physical proof. And yet, because we believe they exist, our faith becomes evidence.

The “ancients” (v.2) refer to Israel’s ancestors who lived by faith. Starting from verse 4, the author plans to introduce specific individuals as examples. The subject of the phrase “were commended” is God. God acknowledged and affirmed the fact that they lived according to faith.

Faith not only allows us to see the future from God’s perspective, but also enables us to view the past in the same way. The word “world” is a translation of tous aionas. But it should be more accurately translated as “the worlds” or “the ages.” Here, the author refers not only to the physical world (the earth) but also to the visible heavens. In today’s language, verse 3 could be translated: “By faith, we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command.” The terms “what is seen” and “what was made” are used synonymously. For something to exist, it must have come from nothing, meaning that the visible and manifested reality came from the invisible and unmanifested.

This is where the concept of “creation out of nothing” (creatio ex nihilo) originates. Both Genesis 1 and John 1 affirm that all things came into being by the Word of God, from absolute nothingness.

Meditation:

Earlier, the author emphasized that we need confidence and perseverance to keep our faith until the end. This is because of the very nature of faith. The object of our faith is One who transcends time and space. While we are confined within linear time, God exists in eternity. While we live within a three-dimensional space, God operates from a divine dimension.

To believe means to live within time while hoping for eternity, to live in the flesh while living as a spiritual being, and to stand grounded in reality while seeing beyond it. Therefore, a person of faith views the world completely differently from someone without faith. Those who do not believe often regard the material and physical world as all there is (a materialistic worldview), but believers trust that there is a greater and eternal reality beyond this one (a theistic worldview).

Those with a materialistic worldview often ask us to present physical evidence for what we believe. But they are not merely “unable to believe”; rather, they are people who have chosen not to believe. They say they cannot believe unless there is undeniable proof. However, as the Apostle Paul says, if their hearts were open, they would see that “what may be known about God is plain to them” (Romans 1:19). This means that while there may be no material proof, there is abundant internal conviction—enough to know and believe in Him. Yet, they refuse to accept this inner conviction because “their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21).

To believe means to treat conviction as if it were evidence. When we are assured that God will fulfill what He has promised, we begin to live as if we already hold it in our hands. For those who accept the internal conviction of God’s existence, that conviction becomes their evidence. That’s why they can persevere and run the race of faith to the end even in the face of insults, trials, and persecution.

Prayer:

Lord, you have opened our hearts, which were trapped in the material, so that we can long for your Kingdom. You have set us free from the bounds of time, so that we may embrace eternity. Strengthen our confidence, boldness, and perseverance, so that we may finish the race of life with these steps of faith. We pray in your name. Amen.

Discussion Questions for Children & Youth:

Key Point: Faith means believing in what we can’t see, because we trust that God is real, keeps His promises, and is always with us—even if we don’t have physical proof.

  • For Preschool-Elementary
    • Faith means believing in what we can’t see, because we trust that God is real, keeps His promises, and is always with us—even if we don’t have physical proof.
    • Has there ever been a time you trusted someone (like a parent or teacher) even though you didn’t know what would happen?
  • For Youth
    • What does it mean to believe in God even when you can’t see Him?
    • What’s the difference between “knowing” something and “believing” something?
    • When life gets hard or confusing, what helps you keep believing in God?

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