FAITH IS: Thomas Manton
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 quœ 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 speaketh of those acts which faith discovereth most in its use and exercise to baffle temptations, and to make us stand our ground under sore assaults, troubles, and persecutions.
The second explication is the substance. The word signifies substance 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. 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 doth 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 were an anticipation of our blessedness, and a pre-occupation of the joys of the world to come, faith causeth 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 8:56, '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 promised by God, and not yet enjoyed, that are simple matters of hope—as the general resurrection, the happiness of the glorified estate.
Now faith doth 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. 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.
Thomas Manton. By Faith: Sermons on Hebrews 11. Monergism Books. Kindle Edition.
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 speaketh of those acts which faith discovereth most in its use and exercise to baffle temptations, and to make us stand our ground under sore assaults, troubles, and persecutions.
The second explication is the substance. The word signifies substance 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. 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 doth 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 were an anticipation of our blessedness, and a pre-occupation of the joys of the world to come, faith causeth 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 8:56, '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 promised by God, and not yet enjoyed, that are simple matters of hope—as the general resurrection, the happiness of the glorified estate.
Now faith doth 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. 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.
Thomas Manton. By Faith: Sermons on Hebrews 11. Monergism Books. Kindle Edition.
