IN the close of the former chapter the apostle had spoken of living by faith, and thereupon takes occasion to show what faith is. He that would live by faith had need search out the nature of it; an unknown instrument is of little use. It is true, a man may act faith that can-not describe it artificially, as an infant may live, that does not know what life is; but however, it is more comfortable when our thoughts are distinct, explicit, and clear, concerning the nature of those graces that are so necessary for us, and the christian life is much more orderly, and less at random and peradventure. And therefore the apostle, to teach them this holy art of exercising faith, and living by faith to more advantage, he gives them here an excellent description of it, 'Now faith is the substance,' &c.
In the words there is the thing described, and the description itself. The thing described is Faith; the description is this, 'It is the substance of things hoped for,' &c. The description is proper, according to the rules of art, Habitus distinguuntur per actus, et actus per propria objecta, habits are described by their formal acts, and acts restrained to their proper objects; so faith is here described by its primary and formal acts, which are referred to their distinct objects. The acts of faith are two; it is the substance, it is the evidence. Think it not strange that I call them acts, for that is it the apostle intends, there-fore Beza says, in rendering this place, he had rather paraphrase the text, than obscure the scope; and he interpretes it thus - Faith substantiates or gives a subsistence to our hopes, and demonstrates things not seen. There is a great deal of difference between the acts of faith, and the effects of faith. The effects of faith are reckoned up throughout t his chapter; the formal acts of faith are in this verse. These acts are suited with their objects. As the matters of belief are yet to come, faith gives them a substance, a being, as they are hidden from the eyes of sense and carnal reason; so faith gives them an evidence, and does convince men of the worth of them; so that one of these acts belongs to the understanding, the other to the will. By the one faith is a convincing demonstration, and by the other a practical application. By the one act it turns hope into some kind of present fruition and by the other things altogether invisible are represented to the soul with clear-ness and certainty. In short, by faith things hoped for have a being; things not seen have an evidence.
I shall discuss the parts of the text as they lie in order.
First, I begin with the first act and object, 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for.'
1. Let me open the phrases. Faith is sometimes taken for the doctrine of faith, and sometimes for the grace of faith. Some take liberty to expound it of the former, the doctrine of faith, that is, the substance of things hoped for. I confess the words agree well, but not the scope; the doctrine of faith, Fides quae creditur, is the substance of things hoped for; the word and faith do come under one description. But the apostle's drift here is to show, not what we do believe, but how we live by faith; therefore the grace is here understood, not the doctrine. Now the grace of faith is considered here, not as it justifies but rather as it sanctifies, as it is an instrument in the spiritual life. He speaks of those acts which faith discovers most in its use and exercise to baffle temptations, and to make us stand our ground under sore assaults, troubles, and persecutions.
Now this faith is the 'substance,' hupostasis that, is, the word. Some difference there is about the rendering of it; the most usual significations of it are confidence and substance. Sometimes it is put for confidence, and for a firm and resolved expectation; as Heb. iii. 14, 'We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm, or steadfast unto the end,' archen tes hupostaseoos; it is the same word; but there we render it confidence; and it seems to be parallel with ver. 6, 'If we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end.' So 2 Cor. ix. 4, 'In this confident boasting,' hupostasei tautei tes kauchseoos; it is the same word. And thus the Septuagint translates the Hebrew word, which they render sometimes by spes, sometimes by hypostasis; and so in profane authors, Plutarch calls those that stand out after the field is won, hupsistamenous; because of their great confidence. Polybius calleth the valorous resistance of Horati us Cocles, hupostasin; which use of the word is proper to the original of it, upsistasthai, firmiter stare.
2. The second explication is the substance. The word signifies sub-stance or subsistence; because confident expectation gives our hopes a kind of present or actual being, and apprehends things to come as present and subsisting, and causes them to work, as if they were already enjoyed; therefore our translators, fitly I conceive, render it here substance, saith the Greek scholist, ta. hen elpisin &c. Though things in hope are absent and to come, yet in the certain firm expectation and persuasion of the believer, they are present and real; so that the meaning is, faith does not only look out with cold thoughts about things to come, but causes them to work as if they had already a being, and the believer were in the possession and enjoyment of them. And in this sense it is the substance of things hoped for; it gives them a being, while it beholds them in their original fountain, which is the word of promise; and while it unites and joins the soul to them by earnest hope, which is as it w ere an anticipation of our blessedness, and a pre-occupation of the joys of the world to come, faith causes such a subsistence and fiducial presence of the things hoped for in the mind of a believer, as that he concludes not only that they may be, or shall be, but that they already are. Faith is the substance, and that 'of things hoped for;' so he calls all the blessings of the covenant which are not yet enjoyed. Many things indeed were hoped for by the patriarchs, and believers of the old testament, which are now past, which are matters of mere belief, and not of hope to us, and so come under the latter description of faith, the evidence of things not seen, as the incarnation of Christ: yet their faith made those things present to them: John viii. 56, 'Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.' Abraham saw that day, and had a distinct view of it, though they were to them things hoped for; yet we believe them, though we do not see them. But there are other things which are only prom ised by God, and not yet enjoyed, that are simple matters of hope - as the general resurrection, the happiness of the glorified estate. Now faith does as it were give a real being to them as if they were present. But then there are other things that may be enjoyed in this world, though not for the present, yet in some season; as the gracious presence of God, and his favourable returns after absence, and some estrangement, and deep affliction; these things may also be comprised in this expression, being things we hope for according to promise, and though they be absent, faith gives them a being and presence. You will find faith to be a kind of prophetic grace; for to faith, when God is absent, yet then he is present; when he hides his face, faith can look behind the veil, and there see fatherly love, and a God of mercy. And in scripture upon this account the children of God answer themselves, and antedate their praises. When they ask anything of God in prayer, faith asks and answers it self; it makes the help and mercy present which we ask according to God's will: Ps. vi. 4, 'Return, O Lord, deliver my soul;' then he answers himself, ver. 8, 9, 'The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping; the Lord hath heard my supplication.' But chiefly the expression reflects upon and is meant of those blessings which are only in expectation, and never in actual and complete enjoyment in this world, as heaven and the glory of the everlasting state; faith gives a being and real subsistence in the soul to the glory that is yet to be revealed.
Obj. I have done with the exposition, only here is a doubt; does not this confound faith and hope, to make things hoped for to be the object of faith, for graces differ in their objects?
Sol. I answer, There is a link between the graces, but no confusion; they are akin, but not confounded one with another. Blessedness to come is an object of faith, and an object of hope; it is an object of faith as it is present in the promises, or present in our hearts; and an object of hope in regard of its futurity, as it is yet to come. Faith is the ground of hope. Faith believes, and hope expects. Faith first closes with verbum Dei, the word of God, that assures us of such a blessedness; then hope is carried out towards rem verbi, the thing promised. Faith makes all things certain, and in a sort already pre-sent; but hope looks out for a full accomplishment. Faith gives us a right, and persuades us of the truth of things promised, and hope looks after the manifestation of them in possession. Faith is the hand, and hope is the eye of the soul. Faith lays hold upon the promise, and hope looks out after the things promised. Faith awakens hope, and hope cherishes faith, bringing in c onstant support to it.
Out of this first clause let me observe -
Doct. That a lively faith does give such a reality, certainty, and present being to things hoped for and yet to come, as if they were already actually enjoyed.
And thus it is said of Abraham, John viii. 56, that 'he saw Christ's day.' Though there were many successions of ages between Christ and Abraham, yet faith made it present, represented it as if it were before his eyes; 'he saw my day,' not by a naked supposition but by real prospect, such as wrought upon his heart, and 'he was glad,' and leaped for joy. And so in this sense a believer is said to have eternal life, John iii. 36. He is not only sure of it when he dies, but has it here in some sense: Heb. xi. 13, 'These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.' Without faith we can-not see things at a distance. Here I shall show -
1. How faith does this.
2. The benefit and advantage of this property of faith in the whole business of the spiritual life, how this is the great ground of our living by faith.
First. How does faith give a subsistence or present being to things hoped for? How can we be said to have that happiness which we do but expect?
I answer: Faith takes possession four ways - (1.) Spe, by hope. (2.) Promissis, in the promises. (3.) Capite, in our head. (4.) Primitiis, in the first-fruits.
1. Spe. By a lively hope it does as it were sip of the cup of blessing, and preoccupy and foretaste those eternal and excellent delights which God hath prepared for us, and affects the heart with the certain expec-tation of them, as if they were enjoyed. It appears by the effect of this hope, which is rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory, 1 Peter i. 8. Joy is proper to fruition and enjoyment. We delight in a thing when we have it, and we delight in a thing when we hope for it; for a christian's hope being built upon certain and unerring grounds it causes the same effect also. Natural hope is the flower of pleasure and foretaste of happiness; so spiritual hope is the harbinger and forerunner of those eternal and unmixed delights which the Lord hath prepared for us. Hope must needs make things present; for mark, it is more than supposition and conceit. Heaven in the thoughts differs very much from heaven in our hope, as much as taste does from sight, or longing from looking.
Hope causes rejoicing - an affection proper to present possession. Where it is anything strong, it diverts the mind from present wants and miseries and comforts us, and does us good with the evidence of a future blessed estate reserved for us in the heavens. Hope is not a presumptuous conceit, like the supposition of a beggar imagining himself to be a king, and how much power and glory it will bring to him when he is arrived to it; but like the expec-tation of a prince who is the undoubted heir of a crown, and knows that one day he shall possess it. There is not only a naked supposal, but a real certainty and expectation; therefore it must needs cause some present joy. Bare contemplation works a kind of union. There is a union between the thoughts and the object, as there is between the star and the eye; it is present in my eye, though the star be a thousand miles distant: so there is a kind of union between the thought and the thing thought of; but much more a union between hope and
the thing hoped for, for the soul does as it were sally out by desire, and the effect of hope is far more real than the effects of naked and fond imagination. It fills the soul with lively comfort: 'Rejoice in hope,' saith the apostle, Rom. xii. 12. Joy or delight is the effect of fruition or present enjoyment, yet delight is given to hope; for delighting is the complacency of the soul in a thing obtained; now hope, where it is strong, gives us a sweet contentment and joy from the evidence of a future blessed estate: Heb. iii. 6, 'Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of hope firm unto the end;' and Rom. v. 2, 'We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.' Hope, by a mystery, and spiritual kind of magic, fetches heaven from heaven, and makes it exist in the heart of a believer. It does not only, like the spies, bring us tidings, and a glorious report of that heaven, but makes heaven to stoop and earth to ascend, and brings the believer into the company of the bl
essed, and brings down the joys of the Spirit into the heart of a believer. We cannot hope for anything, but we must in part possess the thing hoped for; much more in spiritual things. Faith does not only unite you to Christ, but puts Christ and heaven into the soul by hope. There is the Lamb, the white throne, the glorified spirits, the upper paradise, and the tree of life in the soul, made really present to us by faith through a lively and watchful hope.
2. Faith takes possession, and gives a being to the things hoped for - promissis, in the promises. There is not only the union of hope, but a clear right and title; God has passed over all those things to us in the covenant of grace. When we take hold of the promises, we take hold of the blessing promised by the root of it, until it flows up to full satisfaction. Hence those expressions, believers are said 'to lay hold of eternal life,' 1 Tim. vi. 12-19, by which their right is secured to them; 'And he that hears my words, and believes in me, has eternal life,' John v. 24. Christ does not only say, he shall have eternal life, but, jus habet, he has a clear right and title to it, which is as sure as sense, though not as sweet. Faith gives us heaven, because in the promise it gives us a title to heaven; we are sure to have that to which we have a title; a right is enough, though there be not always an actual feeling; he has a grant, God's word to assure him of it. He is said to have an estate that has the conveyance of it, but it is not necessary he should carry his land upon his back. The fee of heaven is made over to us in law though not in deed; it is ours before we possess it, because God hath passed his word that we shall have it. And we held it by covenant right, though we have it not by actual possession. It is not only prepared for us in the designment of God, but given in respect of the indefeasableness of our right and property: Luke xxii. 29, 'I appoint unto you a kingdom.' Now faith receives the kingdom. We take hold of the thing promised by the root of it and then we are sure of it; the promise is not a dry root, and the hand of faith is not a barren soil; but when once the hand of faith takes hold of the promise, your interest will grow up into stalk and bud, and flower, and bring forth the fruit of full contentment. Now this contents a believer for the present, because faith considers what the promises are, and whose they are.
[1.] What are the promises?
(1.) Partly thus: They are the eruptions and overflows of God's grace and love. God's heart is so big with love to the saints that he cannot stay till the accomplishment of things, but he must acquaint us beforehand what he means to do for us: 'Before they spring forth,' saith God, 'I tell you of them,' Isa. xlii. 9. God's purposes of grace are like a sealed fountain, but his promises like a fountain broken open before his purposes be brought to pass, he will tell us of them. The Lord might have done us good, and given us never a promise; but love concealed would not have been so much for our comfort. Now faith, seeing the testimony of God's love, counts itself bound to rest on the promise, and doth in effect say to the soul, as Naomi to Ruth, 'Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall; for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing,' Ruth iii. 18. So faith saith to the soul, Sit still, until thou know how the matter will be; for God will not
be at rest till he hath accomplished all that he hath spoken to thee. God accounts our purposes to be obedience, because they are the first issues of our love: Ps. xxxii. 5, 'I said I will confess my sin unto the Lord, and thou forgavest mine iniquity;' and Heb. xi. 17, 'By faith Abraham offered Isaac,' because he did it in vow and purpose; much more should we accept promises which are the declarations of God's purposes as performances: it will in time come to pass.
(2) Faith looks upon them as the rule and warrant of our certainty. They show how far God is to be trusted, even so far as he is engaged; promittendo se facit debitore, God hath entered into bonds, and made himself a debtor to his creatures by his promises. The purposes of God are unchangeable; but now when his purposes are declared in his promises, you have a further holdfast upon him. God will try our faith, and see what credit He hath with men, whether they will depend upon him when there is security put into our hands. Well then, faith takes hold of the blessing, the promise; why? God hath passed his word, the word is gone out of his lips, and he cannot in honour recall it, Ps. lxxxix. 24; we may challenge him by his promise. Saith Austin of his mother, 'Lord, she was wont to throw thee in thy handwriting;' she was wont to plead promises. God hath entered into bonds, and you may come and plead, and put those bonds in suit: Ps. cxix. 49, 'Remember the word unto thy servant, upon wh ich thou hast caused me to hope.' An usurer thinks himself rich, though he hath little money in the house, because he hath bonds and good security. He that hath a thousand pounds in good security is in a better case than he that hath only a hundred pounds in ready money. A christian accounts God's promises to be his estate and patrimony, to be his sub-stance and inheritance.
(3.) The promise is a pawn of the thing promised, and must be kept till performance comes. God's truth and holiness are left at pledge with the creature, and he will set them free; his honour lies at stake, and you may tell him of it: 'Lord, for thy mercy and truth's sake,' Ps. cxv. 1. God is interested to vindicate his name from calumny and reproach. Well then, faith, looking upon the promises as the eruptions of God's love, flowing from God's eternal love, as so many bonds and holdfasts upon God, and looking upon them as a pawn left us till the blessing come, upon all these advantages it serves instead of fruition; it entertains things to come with like certainty as if they were accomplished.
[2.] Faith considers whose the promises are; they are God's, who is faithful and able. The faithful and almighty God, he cannot say and unsay. We have it under assurance enough if we have it under his word. There is both Sarah's and Abraham's faith commended to us in scripture; Sarah's, 'because she judged him faithful who had promised,' Heb. xi. 11. That God who cannot lie, that God who hath been ever tender of his word, that God who will destroy heaven and earth rather than one jota of his word shall pass away, he hath left us promises, and is not this as good as payment? Then faith looks upon God's almightiness. This was Abraham's faith: Rom. iv. 21, 'Being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was also able to perform.' It is a difficult thing to see how we shall be secured from so many temporal dangers, and brought safe to eternal happiness. Aye, but God is able, and we have his word; his saying is doing; 'God spake the word, and it was done,' Ps. xxxiii. 9. What can let t he all-sufficient God? His promises are performances.
3. We have it in capite, in our head. That is a christian's tenure; he holds all in his head by Christ. Though he be not glorified in his own person, he is glorified in his head, in Jesus Christ. When Christ was glorified, we were glorified; he seized upon heaven in our right: John xiv. 2, 'I go to prepare a place for you.' Christ is gone to heav-en in our name, to possess it in our stead; therefore a believer is assured he shall share therein. Therefore as Christ's glorification is past, so in a sense a believer's glorification is past; the head cannot rise, and ascend, and be glorified without the members: Eph. ii. 6, And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.' The apostle speaks of it as a thing past. He doth not say, We shall rise, shall sit down with him; but we are risen, and are ascended, and are sat down with Him in heavenly places. In the right, and by virtue of the head, all of us are already glorified - an expression which i mplies greater certainty than a single prediction and promise; and all this that our comfort might be more abounding, and our courage more strong against dangers, death, difficulties, and all that may befal us in the way to heaven. Look, as we say of an old decrepit man, such an one hath one foot in the grave, a believer hath more than one foot in heaven; his head is there; we have taken possession of it in Christ, or rather he hath taken possession of it in our name; and as soon as we are united to Christ we are interested in this comfort, even whilst we lie groaning under pres-sures and miseries. Nothing but faith can unriddle this mystery, that a believer should be on earth, and yet in heaven; converse with sinners, and yet be in the company of glorified saints; or humbled with the pressures and inconveniences of the present state, yet be ascended and sit down with Christ in heavenly places. Faith gives you an actual right and investiture in regard of your head. As soon as we are s anctified we are in a manner glorified also, and have not only a title and right in ourselves, but an actual possession in our head. As the head is crowned to reflect a glory and honour upon the whole body, so Jesus Christ is crowned, and we are glorified with him; and this makes the right more strong; for nothing on earth can take that happiness from me which Christ keeps for me in heaven.
4. Faith gives being in primitiis, in the first-fruits. The Israelites had not only a right to Canaan given them by God, but had livery and seizin of Canaan, where the spies did not only make report of the goodness of the land, but brought the clusters of grapes with them, not only to encourage them to conquer, but actually to instate them in the possession of the land; so doth God deal with a believing soul, not only give it a right, but give it some first-fruits; there is not only a report and promise, but God hath as it were given us livery and seizin of heaven. A believing soul hath the beginnings of that estate which it hopes for; some clusters of Eschol by way of foretaste in the midst of present miseries and difficulties. This is the great love of God to us, that he would give us something of heaven here upon earth, that he will make us enter upon our happiness by degrees. Saith the apostle, 1 Cor. xiii. 13, 'Now abideth faith, hope, charity.' Belief in this life is instead of intuition: by faith we begin our glory, and here-after it is perfected, and made up in sight and vision. We have some-thing by way of advance and foretaste, in our wants and present dangers. In nature things do not arrive at once to their last perfection; so it is in grace, God carrieth us on by degrees to heaven's glory and happiness. We have something by way of essay and prelibation, before we possess and enjoy the sovereign good, and those riches and treasures, and that fulness of eternal glory which God hath provided for us. But what are these first-fruits? They are three - union with Christ, the joys of the Spirit, and grace.
[1.] Union with Christ. There is some enjoyment of God in Christ here, this is the chiefest part of eternal life. What is heaven but the eternal enjoyment of God in Christ? And it is in a sort begun here. Union makes way for presence; though we are not present with Christ, yet we are united to Christ; and faith makes way for fruition. Then it will be 'God all in all,' 1 Cor. xv. 28; now it is 'Christ in us the hope of glory,' Col. i. 27. Now he comes to dwell in our hearts by way of pledge, that once the soul shall come to be filled up with God; this is an earnest and beginning of our full enjoyment of him. And when once this is done, then we may be certain of glory. I say, eter-nal life is begun when we are united to Christ. It is the same in substance, though not in degree, with the life of heaven. When once we are united to Christ, we can never be separated. Christ is still a head, he can never leave his old mansion and dwelling-place. Saith Luther, 'You can as soon separate the le aven from the dough, when one is wrought into the other, as you may separate Christ and a soul that is once united to him: ' 1 John v. 12, 'He that hath the Son hath life.' You have the fairest part of eternal life already when you have Christ in you.
[2.] The joys of the Holy Ghost. When a man hath received the consolations of the Spirit, he is in the skirts and suburbs of heaven, he begins to enter upon his country and inheritance. Heaven begins in us, when the Holy Ghost comes with peace, confidence, and joy, and doth leave a sweet sense and relish upon the soul. Fulness of joy, that is the portion of the life to come, and is reserved for God's right hand; but here is the beginning of heaven; and peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost is but the pledge of that joy which the blessed spirits have. And therefore the comforts of the Holy Ghost which we have here in this world are called 'joy unspeakable and full of glory,' 1 Peter i. 8, because it tends and works that way towards our glorious and happy estate in heaven. As the odours and sweet smells of Arabia are carried by the winds and air into the neighbouring provinces, so that before travellers come thither they have the scent of that aromatic country; so the joys of he aven are by the sweet breathings and gales of the Holy Ghost blown into the hearts of believers, and the sweet smells of the upper paradise are conveyed into the gardens of the churches; those joys which are stirred up in us by the Spirit before we get to heaven are a pledge of what we may expect hereafter. God would not weary our lippes by expecting too much, therefore he hath not only given us his word, but he gives a taste and earnest here as part of the sum which shall be paid us in heaven; by these sweet refreshments of the Spirit we may conceive of the glory of the ever-lasting state. Look, as before the sun ariseth, there are some forerun-ning beams and streaks of light that usher it in; so the joys of the Holy Ghost are but the morning glances of the daylight of glory, and of the sun of happiness that shall arise upon us in another world.
[3.] There is grace also which is the earnest of glory; it is the livery and seizin, the turf that puts us into possession of the whole field. Grace is the beginning of glory, and glory is but grace perfected. Grace is glory in the bud, and moulding, and making; for when the apostle would express our whole conformity to Christ, he only expresseth it thus, 'We are changed into his image from glory to glory,' 2 Cor iii. 18, that is: from one degree of grace to another. It is called glory, because the progress of holiness never ceaseth till it comes to the perfection of glory and life eternal. The first degree of grace is glory begun, and the final consummation is glory perfected. All the degrees of our conformity to Christ are so called. It is a bud of that sinless, pure, immaculate estate which shall be without spot and wrinkle; the seed of that perfect holiness which shall be bestowed upon us hereafter. Thus the spiritual life is described in its whole flux; it begins in grace, and en ds in glory. See the golden chain: Rom. viii. 30, 'Whom he hath called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.' There is no mention of sanctification, for that is included in glory. Grace is but young glory, and differs from glory as an infant doth from a man; therefore by degrees the Lord will have you enter upon your everlasting inheritance. As the heir receives his estate by parcels, so do we; first God gives us a seed, and an initial fruition, then we are drawn on further and further to a full enjoyment. The new creature, like metal in the forge, it is heaven in the moulding and framing; and God gives us the draught here below, which glory will at length finish above. Upon all these grounds faith works as if the thing were enjoyed; while we hope and have a certain expectation, it doth as it were taste the bless-ing; and whilst it looks upon them in the sure promises of God, and in our head; or that which Christ hath done for us in the first-fruits; so our hopes are made to work upon us as if they were already accom-plished and enjoyed.
Hebrews
contents
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