Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for. (Hebrews 11:1-2)

Thus, begins chapter eleven in the book of Hebrews. The chapter’s burden is to cite those ancients for their faith, thereby making the point of the criticality of faith as the fundament to any human being’s relation to God.  And this to the apostate Jews who were slipping away from faith in Christ as the persecution of the early church quickened.

It was especially hard for the Jews to grasp faith was the basis of righteousness as previously they thought this only possible through strict adherence to the Law of Moses. But it is also a struggle for many Gentiles as it is human nature to think that it is only by our own effort comes the reward of salvation, the product of righteousness. The book of Romans unpicks this fallacy.

If…Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:1-2 quoting Genesis 15:6)

Of Abraham therefore, one of the ‘ancients’, the writer of Hebrews says:

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’  Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. (Hebrews 11:17-19)

Note Abraham reasoned what God could do. Here reason represents the decision to trust God and trust, after all, is enacted faith.  Another way of saying this is that faith is commitment before knowledge.

The literal translation of the head quotation is:

And faith is of things hoped for a confidence, of matters not seen, a conviction; for in this were the elders testified of. (YLT)

In other words, Abraham had to place in confidence in God, about whom he held conviction, although he had limited knowledge of him.  Biblical hope then is essentially about where and in whom one decides to place faith but it is always a decision never a feeling.

This then stresses the responsibility of men and women to make their mind about their beliefs. Again in Romans, Paul says this:

…if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

Much of Jesus’ teaching seems to stress the need for a response, take for the example when he confronted his disciples first asking ‘who do the people say that I am’ and then ‘who do you say that I am?’  It is possible to conjecture that Peter took a risk when answering and declaring Jesus to be the Messiah, but Jesus’ response is nuanced with both blessing and a cautionary to pride.

‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven…’ (Matthew 16:17)

Revelation leads to faith. Consider this from Paul:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God –  not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Faith then is a gift a God, granted by grace. But note also, the warning about boasting. It is in human nature to take pride in our achievements, but that assumes we believe we had a part in taking a step of faith. And if we examine this, it follows that all rests with God and grace.  He is under no obligation to save his creation from their rebellion, he obliges only Himself. Could we conceive how any creature might constrain its Creator to act? The answer is no.  God decided to not redeem the angels who rebelled (2 Peter 2:4), and yet through the Son makes provision for humankind. Why? Because God willed it.

This is a classically Calvinist reading of Scripture but it is unbalanced, because it also true that Jesus did expect a response; grace expresses that God is love, but God is also just.  Justice is as much a part of His character as Love.  And indeed, inasmuch as men and women are made in His likeness, it this very sense of justice that makes many balk that faith in Jesus as the Christ is in itself enough.  Can a serial child rapist and killer be forgiven through faith and attain the same salvation as kindly person who has been the pillar of the community?  In God’s economy, yes; but does that seem fair, no.  But God’s forgiveness does not require forgetfulness.  All are accountable in front of the judgment throne of Christ.  And this very much includes what we declare in faith.  Jesus says:

‘….but I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.  For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.’ (Matthew 12:36-37)

And for God to exercise such justice, to hold individuals any accountable for their decisions, they must have free will, including the decision to believe in him.

Here, then, we have the antinomy of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility.  This is the contradiction of two incompatible truths, yet critically for God to be both loving and just, both must be true; it is only the human mind that cannot reconcile this paradox; the best we can do is to hold them in either hand and let each stand alone, while accepting them on their own terms.  Any attempt to pull the two strands together results in nonsensicality, for example: God predestines those whom he knows will choose to declare faith in Jesus Christ!  We cannot reconcile the antinomy, nor we should try – but most of all we should not discard either strand to uphold one over the other.

Faith then is always an act of human determination and an act of God. It explains how Jesus would pose the following question:

‘…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’ (Luke 18:8)