Today I’d like to talk about Faith. As I usually do, I’ll explore the etymology of the verse in question and maybe a few others. As a disclaimer, these are my own words, inspired by my own studies; these are the wanderings of my own mind. I have no apostolic succession, and I bear no real authority besides that required to teach my children. But if you are interested by what I find interesting, then you may find this article amusing, if nothing else.
Enjoy! (Or don’t; it’s a free country)
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1
Hypóstasis
When describing the hypostatic union1 (the unity within Christ of his full divinity and full humanity) we are describing the mystical union of two natures. That of God and that of man. In Jesus’s unity, His godhead is whole; not half-god or half-man, but whole and complete. So a hypostasis includes wholeness. The word (literally) means “under (beneath)-standing (position)”.
So what is understanding? What is “hypostasis”? It involves the scaffolding, framing or structuring of a thing. The position or standing of a thing is like a house, which outwardly is a single object, while really being composed of many individual objects. The foundation, the footing, the framing, the gable, the trusses, the sub-flooring, the wiring, the ventilation, the piping and plumbing, and the plywood roof. None of which you see when the house is completed. All of which is discoverable only by a careful study, and the knowledge of where to look.
The human person, in union with the divine personhood of God, retains understanding. God is plurality within singularity, diversity within unity; made up of beauty and depth and complexity yet retaining perfect simplicity. This is the mystery and profundity of the highest truths of our faith. The human physical and psychological form is similarly complex, yet simple. Both God and man ultimately have a framework (hypóstasis) undergirding their outward and material structure. The body and the spirit are one - the invisible actualized as a visible body.
And yet the idea which undergirds a house cannot just be the house plan - the substance is not limited to the invisible concept that inspired its building. Its substance extends to the framework, which is invisible within the finished home. Though invisible, that framework is nevertheless physical. Much like the invisible atoms which are material and yet nevertheless invisible to the naked eye. Meaning understanding is not necessarily the same as immateriality.
When God became man, two natures were unified as one. Immaterial and material bonded. When this occurred the material was made perfect by its union with the immaterial. By the union of the unseen with the seen, the perfection of matter was attained.
Substance
Now to faith - faith is the substance (hypóstasis) of things hoped for. Hypóstasis meaning understanding, it is perhaps surprising that the word chosen by translators would be substance. We often think of understanding as a mental posture, and substance as a material posture. So what does the word “substance” mean etymologically? It means sub(under)-stance(standing). The two words mean the same thing!
So why do we moderns think of substance in such a different way? Here’s a note on the subject:
“Latin substantia translates Greek ousia [that which is one's own, one's substance or property; the being, essence, or nature of anything].”2
There have been many greater writers than I who have engaged on the topic of ousia and I will not pretend to have some new interpretive insight into its meaning. Indeed, the modern craving for newness is precisely what so vexes the traditionalists, and precisely what leads one down the road to dangerous heresies. That ousia involves “nature” and “substance”, however, is not a matter of debate. “Property”, on the other hand, is itself a mental exercise.
Property
We use the word in a myriad of ways. Sometimes we use it to describe a characteristic, element or part of a greater whole. We often think of property as related to ownership. Property as possessed or purchased goods is not the real meaning of it; but it does help us in our expansion on the topic.
Ownership is attributed. The idea involves dominion, possession, control and boundary. To own is to guard; violation of ownership is universally considered a crime. A ritual of some sort must be performed in order to acquire ownership of a property. Regarding the ritual, a thing must be seen as valuable, and claimed by force or presumption. To purchase it, a thing must be valued, a price paid, a title transferred, and a ritual-bonding conducted. This bonding may be a handshake, a signature, an oath, or something else. The idea of ritual is tied to ownership, just as the idea of nature is tied to property.
Ownership is not inherent to a thing, but *happens* to a thing. Property involves the actual nature of a thing, and is not identical to the status of ownership. This is why we qualify the word property with “my”, when we possess a thing (“This land is my property”, so we say). So property suggests its characteristic and quality, its real, attributed-by-God and unattributed-by-man nature. The idea of that nature, that substance, is invisible, but is intrinsically connected to the thing itself.
Substance (partially) describes the invisible nature of a thing, and it (partially) describes its observable and undeniable existence. Undeniable because of its objectivity. Observable because it is visible or obvious in some way. The substance of a thing involves both its invisible (material and immaterial) nature as well as its actual observable existence.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
[Hebrews 11:1]
Substance and Materiality
Faith is the substance -the understanding, the hypostasis, the nature- of things hoped for. So we should attempt to understand the meaning of faith3. Faith is sometimes correlated with “belief”; which itself is often associated with “accepted opinion” by modern people. If faith is only “accepted opinion”, however, then it is not a substance. It is not tangible, dynamic or observable, but a lifeless idea. An idea must be actualized if it is to be a “substance”. Bringing an idea into the real world gives it life.
This is why Saint James can rightly say:
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone…
…For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
[James 2:17, 26]
Indeed - the body and spirit are one. And the invisible and visible parts of a body are also one. You might go your whole life and never see your bones - but you know they are there. Your awareness of that invisible reality undergirds your assumptions surrounding the visible parts of your body. And without the heart, liver and brain that you may never see, you would most certainly be dead. Your life is “the evidence of things not seen”.
“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
[Hebrews 11:3]
“Through faith” here does not mean “through a mental exercise” - it means we participate in understanding using the same process. The invisible undergirds the visible - the mental posture undergirds the material posture. They are one.
Faith and action-less belief cannot be synonymous. Without the actualized reality of a thing, the thing itself is lifeless! The life of the body is the evidence of its physical and ideological (invisible) framework. The existence of the house is the evidence of its idealogical and physical (invisible) framework.
The soteriological debate in Protestant circles consistently nitpicks on the question of faith and works. Are we saved by faith alone, or by works? And the tongue-in-cheek answer, obviously, is “YES”. Faith and works are not two sides warring for a divided kingdom. They are the King and Queen bravely leading together.
If we think of faith as a merely mental posture, then it is not enough to save us. How can it be? Even the devil believes in God4; even demons recognized His divinity5. Faith acts as a bridge between the known and the unknown. An unknown which is not purely immaterial, but which touches both the physical world and the non-physical (which involves both the spiritual and conceptual world). The spiritual and the physical are not different, but coexistent structures which uphold the same reality.
There is more to be said on this verse, but this is a decent start. Thanks for sticking around!
https://www.britannica.com/topic/two-natures-of-Christ
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=substance
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith
James 2:19
Mark 1:34