Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Now	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
faith	πίστις pistis	G4102	persuasion · noun — nominative singular feminine
is	ἐστί estí	G2076	he (she or it) is
substance	ὑπόστασις, hupostasis	G5287	a setting under (support) · noun — nominative singular feminine
for	ἐλπιζομένων elpizomenōn	G1679	to expect or confide · verb — present passive participle, genitive plural neuter
evidence	ἔλεγχος elegchos	G1650	proof · noun — nominative singular masculine
things	πραγμάτων pragmatōn	G4229	a deed · noun — genitive plural neuter
not	οὐ ou	G3756	the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative
seen	βλεπομένων. blepomenōn	G991	to look at (literally or figuratively) · verb — present passive participle, genitive plural neuter

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the th…
Romans 8:24-25 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he c…
Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed wi…
1 Peter 1:7-8 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise…
Psalms 27:13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Hebrews 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Hebrews 11:1-3

Here we have, I. A definition or description of the grace of faith in two parts. 1. It is the substance of things hoped for. Faith and hope go together; and the same things that are the object of our hope are the object of our faith. It is a firm persuasion and expectation that God will perform all that he has promised to us in Christ; and this persuasion is so strong that it gives the soul a kind of possession and present fruition of those things, gives them a subsistence in the soul, by the first-fruits and foretastes of them: so that believers in the exercise of faith are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Christ dwells in the soul by faith, and the soul is filled with the ful…

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Adam Clarke on Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the substance of things hoped for - Εστι δε πιστις ελπιζομενων ὑποστασις· Faith is the Subsistence of things hoped for; πραγματων ελεγχος ου βλεπομενων· The Demonstration of things not seen. The word ὑποστασις, which we translate substance, signifies subsistence, that which becomes a foundation for another thing to stand on. And ελεγχος signifies such a conviction as is produced in the mind by the demonstration of a problem, after which demonstration no doubt can remain, because we see from it that the thing is; that it cannot but be; and that it cannot be otherwise than as it is, and is proved to be. Such is the faith by which the soul is justified; or rather, such are the effect…

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John Gill on Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,.... The "faith" here spoken of is not a mere moral virtue, which is a branch of the law; nor a bare assent to anything revealed, declared, and affirmed in the Gospel; nor a faith of doing miracles; nor an implicit one; nor a mere profession of faith, which sometimes is but temporary; nor the word or doctrine of faith; but that which is made mention of in the preceding chapter, by which the just man lives, and which has the salvation of the soul annexed to it: and it does not so much design any particular branch, or act of faith, but as that in general respects the various promises, and blessings of grace; and it chiefly regards the faith of Old…

The Church Fathers

Now our faith is not destroyed by despair because it was made firm by true hope.
— Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

First he teaches the very definition of faith: through it we see what is unseen, and it acts as an eye for discernment of what is hoped for. Faith depicts for us in advance the resurrection of those still lying dead in their tombs and causes the immortality of the dust of our bodies to become evident.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 11

But if, according to the words of Paul, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, we can no longer tell you to believe in the life to come, because behold, those who live in that life are visibly presented to human eyes. For what can be seen is better said to be known than believed. Therefore the Lord wished us to know the life to come rather than merely believe in it, since he visibly shows us that those whom he invisibly receives live with him.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 32

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Faith · 10:20;14:32;26:3;30:15;57:13; — 10:20;14:32;26:3;30:15;57:13;
Hope · 1:5,23,27; — 1:5,23,27;

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrews 11:1

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Hebrews 11:1-3

Adam Clarke on Hebrews 11:1

John Gill on Hebrews 11:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Hebrews 11:1

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Hebrews 11:1-3

Adam Clarke on Hebrews 11:1

John Gill on Hebrews 11:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Hebrews 11:1

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Hebrews 11:1-40