Faith as Substance and Evidence
Biblical faith is confident trust in God's promises and unseen spiritual realities.
Hebrews defines faith as 'confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.' This is not blind belief but reasoned trust based on God's character and past faithfulness. Faith enables us to see reality more truly than sight alone—recognizing the spiritual dimension underlying physical existence. The heroes of faith acted on what they believed rather than what they saw. Hebrews 11 then argues by cases, not definitions — Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab. Faith is shown by what it made people do. Faith is both gift and action, given by God and exercised by believers.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
C.S. Lewis defined faith as 'the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.'
Epistle to the Hebrews