The word \u2018substance\u2019 in the Middle Ages meant almost exactly the opposite of its meaning for us today. When we use the word \u2018substance\u2019 we mean something is physical. It is substantial. We can perceive it with our senses. In the Middle Ages, however, it was a philosophical term referring to the inner essence of a thing. That invisible quality, the \u2018being-ness\u2019 of anything was its substance. Now when I read the verse again and realized it was coming to us from Elizabethan English I got more interested. So faith, is the \u2018substance of things hoped for.\u2019 That is to say that faith gives us access to the inner reality of things and therefore of the inner reality of what we are hoping for.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a practical example: Let\u2019s say I am hoping that I will be healed from cancer. What is the inner substance of my hope? That I will be healed\u2013really and truly and completely healed. But the cancer is merely the \u2018accident\u2019 or the outer reality. What if my hope for healing means that through the suffering that comes with cancer I reach an inner peace, an inner reconciliation and an inner quality of wholeness that I could not have reached any other way? Then I have experienced the \u2018substance\u2019 of my hope, and it was my faith which got me there.<\/p>\n
Holy Deacon Ballard\u2013who is a much better Geek, whoops I mean Greek scholar, than I am points out:\u00a0I think that the best translation of the Greek word \u1f51\u03c0\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 is not\u00a0\u201csubstance,\u201d but \u201cfoundation.\u201d He asks, \u201chow might that make a difference?\u00a0 One thing that\u00a0comes to mind is that you build on a foundation.\u00a0 You don\u2019t see the house that\u00a0is yet to be, but you can detect the outline \u2013 the promise, if you will \u2013 in the\u00a0foundation, upon which the house is to be built, and you can \u201csee\u201d it\u00a0proleptically. The foundation allows you to cooperate with the Master Builder in\u00a0order to complete the house according to the plan. \u201d<\/p>\n
I like it.<\/p>\n
So far so good. The next phrase also got me thinking: Faith is the \u201cevidence of things not seen.\u201d In the combox over the last few weeks there have been a fair number of atheists insisting that the believers provide \u2018evidence\u2019 of the truth of Christianity or the miraculous or the existence of God. The problem is, they never really said what sort of evidence they were looking for. I think perhaps they hadn\u2019t considered fully the different kinds of evidence and what sort of evidence might be admissible in such an argument. It was a tough question.<\/p>\n
This verse in Hebrews, however, seems to point a way forward. If faith is the substance of things hoped for, then it is also the evidence of things not seen. But what kind of evidence is this? It is the sort of evidence which the believer is sure of, but which the non believer dislikes. It is the evidence of faith itself. Faith is the final leap which provides the evidence necessary for the articles of belief.<\/p>\n
Here is an example: Let us say that a young man is in love with a young woman and wants to marry her. However he has doubts. He has commitment problems. He is nervous. He is cynical about love and worried about his own ability to marry and he worries that she does not love him. He is standing on the edge of the cliff. He does not have the courage and the commitment. Nevertheless, he thinks things through. He takes advice. He listens to the wise people in his life. He sees others who have taken the step. He then takes the step and risks a life in a moment of surrender. That is when it all clicks. Once he takes the step the Love is there. The step itself has provided the final evidence he needs. He is transformed by taking the step into that commitment and this step by its very nature provides the final proof of what he had doubted for so long.<\/p>\n