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The Evidence of Things Not Seen
In the King James Version, Hebrews 11:1 calls “faith,” “the evidence of things not seen.” How is faith itself evidence? Does the English word “evidence” in the King James Version mean the same thing as what we think it means today? It is close, but I believe there is evidence (pun intended) to say that “evidence” in Hebrews 11:1 means something a little different than what we think it means.Faith itself doesn’t seem to be evidence as we understand the meaning of evidence. It is based on evidence, but not itself evidence. Evidence itself is proof. The slight difference in understanding would be that faith is the “proving to yourself” things unseen. The Greek word elegchos is found only here in the New Testament. However, the verb form, elegcho, is used 17 times in the New Testament, it would have the same root meaning as the noun, and it’s classic and first usage in the New Testament is found in John 16:8, used by Jesus:
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
“Reprove” translates elegcho. According to Jesus, this is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and He “reproves the world of sin.” The meaning of “reprove” in John 16:8 is “convicts,” which is a legal or judicial term. It is translated “convinced” in 1 Cointhians 14:24, as in an unbeliever is convinced through preaching, we should assume, scripture that is itself proof. It is to prove someone to be guilty. Someone is proven to be guilty by presenting evidence. The noun form would be “conviction.” That is the word that should be our understanding of “evidence” in Hebrews 11:1, “conviction” in the legal or judicial sense of the word.The English word “reprove” has the term “prove” in it. That is often how elegcho is translated: “reprove.” It is used in 2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the word. . . . reprove.” Use the Word of God to prove the guilt of someone. Present evidence from scripture that someone is wrong or needs to change. Elegcho is also used in Titus 1:9:
Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
It is translated “convince.” Use the Word of God to convince those not convinced. Hebrews 11:1 could be understood as “the convincing of things not seen.” We know that God wants us to be convinced, because faith pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6). We can’t please God if we are not convinced about Him, which would mean that we’re convinced about the reality of Him, the truth of Him, and the will of Him.Matthew Henry wrote about the second half of Hebrews 11:1:
Faith demonstrates to the eye of the mind the reality of those things that cannot be discerned by the eye of the body. Faith is the firm assent of the soul to the divine revelation and every part of it, and sets to its seal that God is true. It is a full approbation of all that God has revealed as holy, just, and good; it helps the soul to make application of all to itself with suitable affections and endeavours; and so it is designed to serve the believer instead of sight, and to be to the soul all that the senses are to the body. That faith is but opinion or fancy which does not realize invisible things to the soul, and excite the soul to act agreeably to the nature and importance of them.
I agree with what he wrote.Someone might ask, how is faith evidence if faith is not by sight? Isn’t evidence sight? I agree that those two concepts can’t contradict one another if they are both true, and they are both true. Therefore, the proving or convincing doesn’t come from something you can see out there in the world, but from the means by which God chose to prove Himself, His Word. Like Paul wrote in Romans 10:17, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Hearing isn’t seeing.What’s out in the world does agree with the Bible. God originated both creation and scripture. People’s problem with what they see out in the world is not what is to be seen, but the interpretation of what they see and for two reasons. One, their sight is flawed because of sin. Two, what they see isn’t neutral. They are looking at evidence that has been trampled upon. It’s not a closed environment. They aren’t looking at something pristine. They don’t know enough to make an accurate interpretation of what they are seeing. Only God knows enough and He also doesn’t have lying eyes like we do, so we’ve got to trust what He says. If we trust what He says, then we honor Him, glorify Him (1 Corinthians 1-3).People very often do not like the idea of being convinced by scripture. They want “evidence,” which means to them scripture doesn’t prove anything. You’ve got to go outside of scripture to “prove” something. Scripture is sufficient for convincing, for proving, for faith. It is superior to evidence, even as Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:19.Scripture is superior to experiences, even genuine experiences. Just because you don’t think Jesus is coming back, based on your impression or feeling or what you think you see through history and all around you, it’s not true. Scripture says He’s coming back. The second coming of Jesus is the particular doctrine that apostates reject and scorn according to 2 Peter. They attack scripture, because that’s the basis for believing in the second coming. They go further in rejecting divine intervention, so they live like God doesn’t exist.You are not a dummy if you live based upon scripture. You are not one if you use scripture to convince people. Very often professing believers stop using scripture to persuade someone because they are embarrassed by it. Paul wrote that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16). The gospel as a method of persuasion is what God wants. That makes it the smartest method ever used by people who are more than genius in relying on it.
My Conversations with Numerous Exvangelicals
Exvangelical sounds like either a misspelling or a bit too much cleverness, I would agree, but for the sake of this post, I’m sticking with a word of which I’m reading its contemporary usage. Of all the words in the title, it gets your attention because it doesn’t sound like a word. Perhaps I’ll help you in future Scrabble endeavors.I regularly knock on doors of young, ex evangelicals, who grew up in church or a Christian home. Now they aren’t going to church and a large majority of the time, they don’t have the faith any longer. It is occurring and even as many of you readers know at an epidemic level. Churches are hemorrhaging their young people. Social media spreads the idea like a virus, and all the new forms of communication instantly create an interconnectedness in these exvangelicals that strengthens them against repentance or a return. They bind together and encourage one another in their apostasy. For those related, this is very, very sad, as sad an occurrence as they experience in their lives, putting new wrinkles on their faces and more grey in their hair.I’ve had many long conversations with some of these young exvangelicals. I haven’t gone out of my way to talk with them. It’s just happened. Even though they may come from varied backgrounds and situations and different types of evangelical churches, they are all very similar. For two reasons, I’m writing on this subject: the long talks with young exvangelicals in person and an article that was written by a Grayson Gilbert at Patheos, entitled, “I’m Not All That Impressed With Exvangelical Deconstruction Stories.” Gilbert is the polar opposite in that he started where exvangelicals have ended, so he was where they presently are, except seeing it from a unique perspective.I don’t write this post to critique Gilbert’s piece, although I may refer to it, but to write mainly what I have found myself, and then discuss my approach to these exvangelicals. When I meet one of them, I don’t know they’re there. I haven’t targeted them. They just appear without notice and the conversation starts like all the other ones I have. In the midst of it, they start telling me some of their backstory usually to explain why it is that they might not need to listen to what I have to say. They say they’ve already heard and thought about it a lot, and they turned away from it for various reasons. Almost always part of their narrative is some kind of injustice in the group they left, that justifies their having left it. In other words, something also happened that they didn’t like, so they can’t go back to it for personal reasons, which also serves to validate their decision. If they were to return, they now contend would support the evil of the former group.What I have to say to them doesn’t bring back exvangelicals, but it has resulted in longer conversations, where it seems to me that they’re giving my preaching at least a consideration. Like what we read in scripture, the real reason for their defection is why they are very difficult to persuade, so I see myself as just planting seed, giving them the best possible opportunity to come to the truth. That’s all we can do anyway.Why would exvangelicals eject from Christianity or biblical Christianity at least, if biblical Christianity is the truth?Assume that not every exvangelical will want to talk with you. They might be hostile. Many times they will talk though. I’ll ask, what happened that you left your group? Or, why aren’t you in the church any more? Many times they’ll give an answer. I sympathize with them. A lot of churches and groups have real problems. One of the reasons that we can say they’re wrong though is because we can know the truth about what’s wrong, which also means we can know the truth about what’s right. It would bother me though if the wrong thing was just normally or regularly allowed. I understand why someone would want to leave, it’s like you’re paddling out to an island that has little to do with the mainland. Why should you keep putting in that effort?However, just because your church or group went off or way off the rails, that doesn’t mean that the Bible or Christianity itself are not true. I am here to say that Jesus Christ is the best, really the only valid explanation for why we’re here and what we’re supposed to be doing.From here, I treat exvangelicals a bit like people who say they’re atheists. I ask, “So do you think all of this, all of this around us, got here by accident?” It is very, very rare that I have anyone answer, yes, to that question. I remind them that everything getting here by accident is the view taught in the state schools and it still can’t even be challenged there. The viewpoint that represents, naturalism, the more we know from science, the more it’s proven to be false. Darwin looked at a cell and it was just a blob. Now we can see it under a microscope, and even the cell is irreducibly complex, let alone the human eye or any of our bodily systems.Science now agrees everything must have a beginning. There can be no eternal regression of causes. Since the explanation for everything is supernatural, what is the true story? What is the first cause? When we look at what is caused, because we know it’s caused, it matches with the Bible.I talk to many, many religions, and I believe that every time I talk to one, I’m open to it being the truth. Nothing comes close to comparing to biblical Christianity. Christianity is different than everything else, because it is objective truth. It has proof. The Bible is historical, scholars agree with that. Then there is prophecy and fulfilled prophecy.Greater than every other evidence of Christianity is Jesus Christ Himself. How do you explain Him? More has been written about Him than about all other historical figures combined. There is more historical attestation of Jesus than Julius Caesar. We date our calendars based upon Him. In His writings, He speaks with absolute authority. Who could say, Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven? What He said could not have been said by someone who was just a man. Then He rose from the dead just like He said He would, and after walking around for forty days so thousands of people could see Him, who were alive when the New Testament was written, He ascended into heaven before over 500 of witnesses.Everything in the Bible fits together. It fits what we know to have happened. When people have based their lives upon the Bible, they have thrived. Its principles bring the success of a nation.You’ve finally got to bite down on something. You’ve got to make a choice and Christianity blows away the other choices. You could say that you don’t like the kind of proof of Christianity. I like to say that the knowledge of the existence of God and the truth of the Bible is not like the knowledge of the existence of your right foot. You don’t need to seek after your right foot. God wants you to seek after Him. You won’t find Him if you don’t want Him, and that’s how He’s designed it. But the proof is there.Faith according to the Bible is not a leap in the dark. It’s based on evidence. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:6). God does want you to know Him. The Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ day wanted an astronomical sign, and Jesus said He wasn’t providing any more (Matthew 16:1-4). He was saying, there’s enough. I like to say, for anyone who cares, there is enough.If the proof isn’t the reason for rejection, then what is the reason? Romans 1 says men have enough proof to justify God’s wrath. They are holding fast or suppressing the truth in their unrighteousness. 2 Peter 3 says it’s because of their lust. They want what they want to do more than what God wants them to do. They want to be in charge of their own lives.So exvangelical, just because you had a bad experience, you think, as a child or young adult, doesn’t mean Christianity is false. For there to be hypocrisy, there needs to be a belief in something. If there is no belief, no one can be a hypocrite. Don’t be upset at hypocrisy when you can’t even be a hypocrite.So why not bite down? You’re not open minded unless you are willing to believe something. If not, then you’re just closing your mind to everything. You can always say that you don’t have enough evidence, but you’re just rejecting what is by far the best explanation. Really, it’s the only explanation.Why take God’s free air, food, your circulatory system, your brain, all the good things, and be unthankful? Use them all up for yourself without any kind of gratefulness to God? That’s just rebellious. You’re not going to get away with it. You’ll get to the end and you’ll be separated from God and His goodness forever. It won’t be over for you. You’ll regret for all eternity.
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