Chapter 11

Hello everyone! Johno’s Commentary returns!

Thanks for those who emailed encouragement during reports. I really appreciate it!

Anyway, time to get back into it. I’m hoping to go back to updating daily from now for the next little while.

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Hebrews 11 is one of those chapters that we all remember bits of. You may know it better by a nickname rather than its actual chapter title – it’s the “By Faith” chapter, or even more grandiosely, the “Hall of Faith”.

Despite its familiarity, though (or perhaps because of it!), we often miss out on some of its gems.

This is part of the reason why I do these devotions in The Message translation – it sometimes kicks me out of my familiar groove. And this is one of those times. The Message translation of this chapter, though reminiscent enough that I am able to figure out which bits are which, is very different in feel to other translations.

Let’s take a look.

Firstly, Mick links the entire visible universe to faith. He points out that we understand – by faith! – that what is seen was made from what cannot be seen.

That’s a big ask right there. And people sometimes smugly suggest that it was easier for people back when this was written because, well, “We have science now.”

Oh really.

So people hadn’t figured out ways to get away from God’s existence? Please. As soon as people had even a smattering of sophistication, the attempts began. Atheists existed in ancient Greece; and I’m suspecting they’d crop up earlier than that, only we don’t have actual text evidence for that at this stage.

But Mick continues. He mentions a bunch of Old Testament characters, and points out how faith can be seen in them.

And really, the faith they displayed WAS remarkable.

The earlier you get, the more remarkable it is. After all, if it’s hard to show faith when you have hundreds of years of God’s history recorded in the Bible (plus goodness only knows how many years since then), imagine how hard it must be if you’ve never seen a Bible! This makes the faith of Abraham all the more amazing. And as for Noah . . .

The pattern is established. Over and over again, throughout the ages, God asks people to believe something that doesn’t make sense from what is seen. And then when it looks like He cannot come through, God brings it through.

We don’t have time to go through the list; and indeed, neither did Mick! He mentions a whole lot of them just in passing. I wish we had time for further discussion, but we don’t. Suffice it to say that it is very clear from this passage that God has always been able to do more than even His people imagine.

So let’s wrap up here. Faith allows you to do amazing stuff; More than that, though, we have the examples of those who have gone before us, just in case we are struggling.

What else could we need?