Context & Key Themes
This is the great hall of faith chapter, one of the best-known passages in all of Scripture. The author has just called his readers to faith and endurance at the close of chapter ten, and now he gives them a sustained portrait of what faith looks like across the long sweep of God’s people. Beginning with creation itself and walking through Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and his parents, Israel at the Red Sea, Jericho, Rahab, the judges, the prophets, and unnamed sufferers, the chapter demonstrates one consistent thing: every person commended by God lived by faith in promises they did not see fulfilled in their own lifetimes. The chapter ends with the astonishing declaration that none of them received what was promised, because God had provided something better for us — that apart from us they should not be made perfect. The whole community of faith across all ages reaches its fulfillment together in Christ.
Key Verses
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
— Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
— Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)
Summary
The chapter opens with the most famous definition of faith in Scripture. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. The author begins at creation itself, because the very fact that the world exists is something that requires faith to receive properly. The visible world has come from a Word that is not itself visible.
The roll call begins with Abel, who by faith offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. Through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. Then Enoch, who by faith was taken up so that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. The author pauses on this point. Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.
Then Noah, who by faith, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
The chapter then settles on Abraham at length. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. He was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
The author then steps back to make a profound observation. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. People who speak this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city.
The narrative returns to Abraham. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.
Then Moses. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
And then the pace accelerates. What more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets — who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection.
Then the chapter shifts in tone. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated — of whom the world was not worthy — wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
The chapter ends with one of the most striking verses in the New Testament. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. The community of faith stretches across every age. The Old Testament saints did not receive the fullness of the promise in their lifetimes; they were waiting for the One who would come, and the people who would come after Him. The full perfection of the people of God is communal and historical — it cannot be completed in one generation, because the gospel reaches all the way back to Abel and all the way forward to the last believer in the last age. All of them together, finally and fully, will be made perfect together.
Reflection
This chapter has been called the most encouraging chapter in the New Testament for those who feel that their faith has not produced the visible results they hoped for. Every person commended in this chapter walked by faith into circumstances that did not match the promise. Abraham received the land in title but lived in tents. Sarah received Isaac but never saw the great nation. Joseph rose to power but ended his days giving instructions about his bones. Moses led the people out but never entered the land. The prophets spoke, and many of them were killed for it. The unnamed sufferers at the close of the chapter wandered the deserts and caves and never saw the kingdom they hoped for. And the verdict on all of them is the same: they all died in faith, not having received what was promised.
That verdict, applied to so many great names, reframes how the believer measures faithfulness. Faith is not the certainty that promises will be fulfilled in our lifetime. Faith is the assurance that they will be fulfilled in God’s lifetime, and the willingness to live by them whether we see the outcome or not. Abraham looked forward to a city that has foundations — he never saw it. He died still looking. The same is true for every person on this list, and it has been true for nearly every faithful person since.
The line about being strangers and exiles on the earth is its own kind of comfort. Every person of faith has felt the dissonance — the sense that this world, however beautiful in places, is not finally where we belong. The author of Hebrews names this dissonance and validates it. The strangers were right to feel like strangers. The exiles were right to feel like exiles. They were not malcontents; they were people whose hearts had been set on a country that does not exist on any earthly map. God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city. The waiting is not in vain. The country is real. The city is being prepared.
And the closing verse — that none of them were made perfect apart from us — is one of the most communal statements in the whole Bible. The Old Testament saints were waiting for something. The New Testament believers receive what was promised. But even now, the full perfection of the people of God awaits the last act, when every believer across every age stands together before the Lord. Abel will be there. Enoch will be there. Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab, the judges, the prophets, the unnamed sufferers in the caves — all of them, together with everyone who has trusted Christ since, finally home, finally perfected, finally seeing what they all longed to see across so many ages of waiting. The chapter that began with the assurance of things hoped for ends with the promise that the things hoped for are coming, and they are coming for all of us together.