Defining faith

Defining faith is an issue of translation of the Bible and fully understanding Christianity. Faith is a concept central to Christianity and yet a precise definition can be a bit elusive. "Faith" is used 296 times in the New Testament (ESV translation), most often in the Letter to the Romans (40) and a close second in the Epistle to the Hebrews (38). A proper definition of faith would recognize that Satan does not have it, as he is not saved.

Different translations of Hebrews 11:1 articulate the definition there in varying ways:

• Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (ESV)
• Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen. (NASB)
• Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. (HCSB)
• Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (NIV)
• Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV)

The full Greek for Hebrews 11:1 is:

Έστιν δέ πίστις έλπιζομένων ύπόστασις, πραγμάτων έλεγχος ού βλεπομένων.

the second clause above

The term "evidence", "proof", and "conviction" are awkward, failing to convey the power of faith. The Greek term is ἔλεγχος (elenchos), appearing nowhere else in this sense in the entire Bible. It is used at 2Timothy 3:16 in the sense of reproof for correction.

A better translation here would be as "recognize" or "realize", rather than the legal or mathematical term "proof".

Meanwhile, "οὐ βλεπομένων" is typically translated narrowly as "unseen" or "not seen," but it should be given a more powerful translation in this context to capture the full meaning: "the infinite."

The term "unseen" is simply too physical, and too narrow to capture the full meaning here. Unseen is merely one biological sense, when the true meaning is unlimited as infinity embodies. Many blind people existed throughout human history, and "unseen" does not negate their awareness. The respected ESV translation uses the word "unseen" only three times in the entire Bible (nowhere in the Gospels, and only twice in the entire New Testament).

The full meaning of the second clause in Hebrews 11:1 is therefore this: "realizing the infinite."

There is no punctuation or English-style word ordering in the original Greek, and the second clause should be placed at the beginning: "Realizing the infinite, ...."

the first clause above

English translations of the first clause above have a bit of a selfish connotation to it, which runs counter to Christianity. The flaw in most English translations is how it renders ἐλπιζομένων (elpizomenōn) as hope rather than imputing a concept of good.

Rather than the imprecise "things" or "what" for what is merely in implied in the Greek, the implication there should be translated as "good", as in "good hoped for," or simply "hoped-for good."

The enigma is the Greek term ὑπόστασις (hypostasis), sometimes translated as assurance but is more precisely understood as a term for reality rather than personal conviction. "Confident achievement" is a modern rendition of that concept.

Scholar Robert G. Hoerber writes in reference to ὑπόστασις, while mentioning Hebrews 1:3:

The sense of "confidence" or "assurance" must be eliminated, since examples of this meaning cannot be found. Therefore this translation must be ruled out in Hebrews 11:1, although it has enjoyed much favor since Luther. According to Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker (p. 847) Hebrews 11:1 should be rendered: "In faith things hoped for become realized" or "In faith things hoped for become reality." So the renderings of Hebrews 11:1 by NRSV, NASB, NIV, Phillips, Moffatt, and Goodspeed miss the point, while NKJV and NEB come closer to the meaning of ύπόστασις in this verse.

Quoting Kittel, Hoerber continues:

If one follows the meaning of ύπόστασις in Hb. 1:3, then ύπόστασις έλπιζομένων bears a similar sense: it is the reality of the goods hoped for, which have by nature a transcendent quality. Primarily, then, έλεγχος and ύπόστασις do not describe faith but define the character of the transcendent future things, and do so in the same sense as Philo...and other representatives of Middle Platonism...speak of the reality and actuality of God and the world of Ideas.

Combining the clauses

The original Greek does not have punctuation, and often the better translation is in a different order from the wording in Greek. Such is the case here in order to precisely capture the full power of the definition as set forth in Hebrews 11:1:

Realizing the infinite, faith is confident achievement of hoped-for good.

This definition is properly exclusive of Satan, as he does not achieve any hoped-for good.

Dictionaries

Dictionaries today dilute the real meaning of "faith". For example, Merriam-Webster defines "faith" as "something that is believed especially with strong conviction." It is far more than that.

See also

• Conservative Bible Project