The Hall of Fame of Faith
What’s Hebrews 11 about?
This is the Bible’s ultimate “faith hall of fame” – a parade of ordinary people who trusted God when it made absolutely no sense. From Abraham leaving home without GPS to Moses choosing slavery over palace life, this chapter shows us what real faith looks like when rubber meets road.
The Full Context
Picture this: You’re part of a Jewish Christian community around 60-65 AD, and life is getting harder by the day. Rome is tightening its grip, traditional Jews are rejecting you for following Jesus, and some of your friends are starting to wonder if this whole “Jesus thing” was worth it. The temptation to drift back to the familiar comfort of Judaism – or just give up entirely – is getting stronger every week.
That’s exactly who the author of Hebrews is writing to. We don’t know his name (though many guessed it was Paul, Apollos, or even Priscilla), but we know his heart: he’s watching people he loves slowly losing their grip on the revolutionary truth of Jesus. The entire letter is one long, passionate argument for why Jesus is worth everything – better than angels, better than Moses, better than the whole sacrificial system. And Hebrews 11 sits right at the climactic heart of this argument, offering a masterclass in what it looks like to keep trusting God when everything around you is falling apart. This isn’t just ancient history – it’s a blueprint for anyone who’s ever wondered if faith is worth the cost.
What the Ancient Words Tell Us
The chapter opens with one of the most famous definitions in Scripture: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). But here’s where it gets interesting – the Greek word for “substance” is hypostasis, which was actually a legal term. Think “title deed” or “property rights.” Faith isn’t wishful thinking; it’s holding the legal documents to God’s promises even when you can’t see the property yet.
Grammar Geeks
The word hypostasis appears elsewhere in Hebrews to describe Christ as the exact representation of God’s nature (Hebrews 1:3). So faith gives us the same kind of solid reality that Jesus gives us of the Father – not a shadow or copy, but the real deal.
Then the author does something brilliant. Instead of giving us abstract theology, he throws us into story after story of real people who lived this kind of faith. Abel’s sacrifice that “still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4). Enoch who “walked with God” so closely that death couldn’t touch him (Hebrews 11:5). Noah building an ark when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky (Hebrews 11:7).
What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?
When first-century Jewish Christians heard these names, they weren’t just hearing Bible stories – they were hearing their family history. These weren’t cartoon characters; they were great-great-great… grandfathers and grandmothers who had walked this same path of costly faith.
Abraham gets the longest treatment, and for good reason. When God told him to leave everything familiar (Hebrews 11:8), Abraham was essentially being asked to commit social suicide. In ancient Near Eastern culture, your identity, your security, your entire future was tied to your clan and your land. Leaving meant becoming a nobody – a wanderer with no rights, no protection, no guarantees.
Did You Know?
Archaeological evidence shows that in Abraham’s time, city-states offered incredible security and prosperity. Ur of the Chaldeans was like leaving modern-day New York to become a homeless wanderer. Abraham wasn’t leaving primitive conditions – he was leaving civilization itself.
But here’s what would have really hit home for these struggling believers: Abraham “looked forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). He wasn’t just wandering aimlessly – he was heading toward something better than anything this world could offer.
But Wait… Why Did They Choose This?
Here’s where the chapter gets really puzzling – and really powerful. Look at the choice Moses made: “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25).
Wait, what? Moses was literally Egyptian royalty. Pharaoh’s daughter had adopted him (Exodus 2:10). He had access to the greatest education, unlimited wealth, political power, and all the “fleeting pleasures” the ancient world had to offer. And he chose… slavery? Wandering in the desert? Leading a bunch of complaining refugees?
The answer is in Hebrews 11:26: “He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt.” Moses somehow saw through the temporary glitter to the eternal weight of glory that was coming.
Wait, That’s Strange…
How could Moses suffer “disgrace for the sake of Christ” when Jesus wouldn’t be born for another 1,400 years? The author is showing us that the Messiah’s story was woven through all of Scripture – Moses wasn’t just choosing his people over privilege; he was choosing the coming Christ over present comfort.
Wrestling with the Text
But then the chapter takes a darker turn that we often skip over in Sunday school. After celebrating all these faith heroes, the author suddenly shifts: “Others were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection” (Hebrews 11:35).
This isn’t the prosperity gospel version of faith where everyone gets healed and wealthy. These people were sawed in half, lived in caves, wandered in deserts wearing animal skins. The same faith that parted seas for some led others to prison cells. The same God who shut lions’ mouths for Daniel allowed others to be devoured by wild beasts.
What’s the author doing here? He’s being brutally honest about what faith sometimes costs. But notice what he says about them: “the world was not worthy of them” (Hebrews 11:38). These weren’t losers or failures – they were so valuable, so precious to God, that this broken world couldn’t contain their worth.
“Faith isn’t believing God will do what you want – it’s trusting that God’s plan is better than your plan, even when His plan includes suffering you don’t understand.”
How This Changes Everything
Here’s where Hebrews 11 flips everything upside down. We tend to think of faith as believing in things we can’t prove. But this chapter shows us something different: faith is seeing what’s actually real when everyone else is looking at illusions.
Abraham saw the invisible city and chose it over visible comfort. Moses saw eternal reward and chose it over temporary pleasure. The martyrs saw the better resurrection and chose it over present relief. They weren’t delusional – they were the only ones seeing clearly.
The chapter ends with a gut-punch that sets up everything that follows: “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:39-40).
Wait – none of them got what was promised? All that faith, all that suffering, all those miraculous victories, and they’re still waiting? Yes, because God’s plan is even bigger than individual stories. Every act of faith throughout history was building toward the moment when Jesus would make everything right – not just for individuals, but for the whole human story.
Key Takeaway
Faith isn’t a blind leap in the dark – it’s seeing God’s reality more clearly than the world’s illusions, and then living like what God says is true actually is true, no matter what it costs.
Further Reading
Internal Links:
External Scholarly Resources:
- Commentary on Hebrews by F.F. Bruce
- Hebrews: An Introduction and Commentary by Donald Guthrie
- The Letter to the Hebrews by Luke Timothy Johnson
- Hebrews: The Near and Distant Goal by Barnabas Lindars
Tags
Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 11:8, Hebrews 11:25, Hebrews 11:39-40, Faith, Trust, Perseverance, Suffering, Abraham, Moses, Hope, Endurance, Promises, Resurrection, Sacrifice, Obedience, Ancient Near East, Jewish Christianity, Persecution
