Hebrews 11 - Introduction

Chapter 11 My Righteous Ones Shall Live By Faith.

The writer now takes up and expands on the word, ‘But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrink back, my soul has no pleasure in him,' by outlining from Scripture the lives of those who have proved their righteousness by their faith. They were justified in God's eyes by faith (Genesis 15:6) and they were then justified in men's eyes by their works. They are intended to be a spur and encouragement to his readers as they consider the faith of those who have gone before, and see how it resulted in godly living.

He begins by analysing what the result of faith is, and the chapter then divides up into sections in general chronological order, giving examples of faith. These begin with creation, belief in which is foundational, and proceeds through two examples which illustrate both types of Christian, those who because of their faith will be martyred, and those who will not die but will be taken up to God (1 Thessalonians 4:17; 1 Corinthians 15:52). It then continues section by section, with each section having a different emphasis, although it must be stressed that each section glides into the next, and all emphasise faith in the promises of God. The division is partly made on the basis of the summaries that end sections 2 & 3, indicating a break, and partly on content and emphasis.

We may divide it as follows;

1) How true faith in God's revelation of Himself reveals itself (Hebrews 11:1).

2) Faith as revealed in the Antedeluvian world from the very beginning. The foundations of faith in creation, and the certainty of the future for those who by faith die in God as illustrated by Abel (compare 1 Thessalonians 4:16), and for those who by faith will be translated without dying as illustrated by Enoch (compare 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:17). And these are then made the illustration of what faith is in the conclusion that follows (Hebrews 11:3).

3) This is then followed by examples of those who received the promises of God and specifically acted on them because they believed and because of the future that they were confident would spring from their actions, which is then summarised in the explanation that follows (Hebrews 11:7). These included Noah, Abraham and Sarah. The emphasis here is on those who because of a revelation from God immediately took up a course of action, the one against a background of judgment (as with Abel), the other in view of the prospect of a future hope (like Enoch). This is then summarised in terms of the future inheritance.

4) This is then followed by examples of those whose faith was in that future as promised by God, to which they looked in expectancy (Hebrews 11:17). These dwell not on present blessing but on future hope. The emphasis here is on their looking forward to God's activity as He works out His purposes in the future. It includes the hopes of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

5) This is then followed by the supreme example of Moses life and all that it revealed about faith (Hebrews 11:23), resulting in the foundation of a people, Israel, made up of peoples of many nations (Exodus 12:38) but with its core made up of Abraham's descendants.

6) This is then followed by examples of how this people received miraculous deliverances because of their faith, in the course of the fulfilment of God's promises to give them a land (Hebrews 11:29). As a result they were delivered from bondage by the activity of God and were brought safely into the promised land, and we are given an example how others could join with them in their deliverance, as especially epitomised by Rahab (compare Exodus 12:48).

7) This is then followed by individual examples of faith which produced every variety of activity and endurance by those who were of that people, those who believed the promises of God, as they moved forward to the Messianic hope (Hebrews 11:32).

8) The Conclusion. That the promises of future hope to which these all looked had awaited the fulfilment now being enjoyed by his readers who must therefore have the same faith and willingness to face persecution, as those men of faith had right from the beginning (Hebrews 11:39).