"Faith is.....the evidence of things not seen - Hebrews 11.1.
The Revised Standard Version has 'faith is....the conviction....' and rightly so. Faith is the evidence (conviction)....
Now this word is found only here in the New Testament. In secular literature it means conviction or reproof, as it would mean when a man in the 'dock' stands convicted.
Faith is therefore the test or ordeal which exposes the false and establishes the true. Faith adjudicates. Faith is not blind credulity. Fath does not accept an idea or a thing just because it is invisible, so that I say 'I believe it'
To build a world of fantasy and to let the imagination run riot is not faith. In 1 John 4: 1. we read, "Believe not every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God." That is the adjudicating of Faith.
Faith brings every idea about the unseen world to the test of scripture; it rejects the worthless, ratifies the true, and gives judgement on the issue before it. It is the office of faith to test and discriminate things unseen. It has but one authority, that is the spoken or written word of God. Faith is not an authority in itself; a thing is not true because I say I believe it. The devils believe. Faith is not an authority in itself. It is a judge applying the authority of the Divine Word.
So faith is an assurance of things yet future, and also a conviction after examination of things not seen; and the authority brought to play during the examination is the Word of God.
The Revised Standard Version has 'faith is....the conviction....' and rightly so. Faith is the evidence (conviction)....
Now this word is found only here in the New Testament. In secular literature it means conviction or reproof, as it would mean when a man in the 'dock' stands convicted.
Faith is therefore the test or ordeal which exposes the false and establishes the true. Faith adjudicates. Faith is not blind credulity. Fath does not accept an idea or a thing just because it is invisible, so that I say 'I believe it'
To build a world of fantasy and to let the imagination run riot is not faith. In 1 John 4: 1. we read, "Believe not every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God." That is the adjudicating of Faith.
Faith brings every idea about the unseen world to the test of scripture; it rejects the worthless, ratifies the true, and gives judgement on the issue before it. It is the office of faith to test and discriminate things unseen. It has but one authority, that is the spoken or written word of God. Faith is not an authority in itself; a thing is not true because I say I believe it. The devils believe. Faith is not an authority in itself. It is a judge applying the authority of the Divine Word.
So faith is an assurance of things yet future, and also a conviction after examination of things not seen; and the authority brought to play during the examination is the Word of God.
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