At the end of “chapter 10” we read: .35Therefore let you not throw-away your boldness, the-one-which has a great compensation-payment, .36for you have need of patient-endurance in order that having done the intention of God you may bring-to-yourselves the promise, .37for yet “as-much-as a small-amount – the (one) coming will have-come and will not take-time; .38but My righteous-person from belief will live, and if-ever he may withdraw My soul does not consider-it-good in him.” .39But we are not of a withdrawal into destruction but of belief into an acquisition of soul.
Now we continue:
Hebrews 11:1 and 2:
11:1But belief is (the) substance of matters being hoped, (the) proof of (matters) not being observed. .2For in this – the elders were witnessed-of.
Belief (the information that God makes known to people to have confidence-in with assured certainty and surety) is…
The matters being hoped cannot be presently observed by us because these things have not occurred yet, even though God and the Lord Jesus Christ have revealed a certain amount of information about them to us. But, when our hope comes to pass then we will observe these matters.
As we read on, we should understand that the word “belief” is a noun (not a verb). Belief is the information that God makes known to people to have confidence-in, to believe, to have faith-in, to trust with assured certainty and surety. It is the Greek word pistis which can be translated as “belief” or “faith”. God gives people His belief when He tells people what they should believe. We can rely on what God tells us concerning a specific situation or circumstance. Once God communicates His belief to us, then we are given the opportunity to have the same belief regarding that specific situation or circumstance – by believing (having confidence-in, having faith-in, trusting) the contents of what God says, His words to us. We should accept His belief being true to and for ourselves. God’s belief is not dependant upon whether a person believes it or not.
God communicates His belief to people in many different ways, for example: audibly for people to hear His voice speaking words, or God writes it down as He did for Moses in stone so people could read what He wrote, or via one of His angels speaking God's words, or via the spirit that God gives to His people which communicates the information to their minds, or via His previously revealed Word passed along from generation to generation by word of mouth or by writing it down, etc. Once God reveals His belief to a person, then that person might tell others this belief so that they can hear it also.
Belief is the substance of matters being hoped, the proof of matters not being observed. Without God's belief, then we could not have the hope that He has promised to us referred to throughout this writing of Hebrews.
In truth, in this (in belief) – the elders were witnessed-of.
By placing the words “in this” first in the Greek sentence structure, Paul puts the emphasis on them, and he does this in a similar manner in many of the following sentences emphasizing “belief.” The “elders” in this context are referring to the people who had more knowledge, wisdom, dignity, etc, relative to God and the things of God from Genesis chapter 4 onwards until the old covenant times ended. They were elders in service to and for God (this is not referring to the literal meaning of their being older in age than other people). Also, a ‘witness’ is someone who has information or knowledge of that-which he is attesting to, and can therefore confirm it on the strength of his own authority.
The elders were borne witness to (attested to) that they were emphatically in belief (within the sphere of action of the belief that God gave them to believe; they were within the belief that they were to have faith in, to trust). They did what they did within the belief that God communicated to them. As we progress through this chapter, we will see that the One bearing witness is God.
[Reference: Matthew 4:4, 21:21; Mark 11:22; Romans 8:24 and 25; II Corinthians 4:16-18; Hebrews 3:14, 10:23-25, 12:1.]
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