Faith

 Faith

January 22, 2025

Our men’s Bible study has been studying the book of Romans and reading “The Normal Christian Life”, by Watchman Nee. Now there is way too much substance to this study to cover in this blog, but there was one interesting passage that I came across that included Watchman Nee’s commentary on Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV(

1 Nowfaith is the substance ^g5287 of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 (NASB)

1Now faith is the assurance ^g5287 of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

g5287. ὑπόστασις hupostasis ; from 5259 and 2476; a support, substance, steadiness, hence assurance:--

The Greek word translated “substance” in the KJV and “assurance” in the NASB is hupostasis, which literally means “to stand under”, as in a foundation.  Watchman Nee’s comment on this is that “substance” is not a very good translation, but that “substantiating” is better.

He explains this as follows: If you show a red book to a blind man, he has no way of knowing whether the cover is in fact red. He can only take your word for it . But if he is suddenly healed and in now able to see, he can then see for himself that the book is indeed red. He substantiates the fact that the book is red. The color red becomes real to him when he sees it. The book was always red, but the color was not real to the blind man until he could see it. Thus it is that there are things in the spirit world that are true, but are only hoped for until we have the faith to believe them to be true. They were always true, but it is through faith that these truths become substantiated to us.

Wuest Word Studies adds to this understanding by saying that hupostasis was a Greek legal term that referred to the body of documentation that proved that a property was yours. Along with the, the word translated “evidence” or “conviction” is the Greek word for a title deed, which would be included in the hupostasis. This says that faith is the legal proof that we own the thing that we have faith in. So when we believe that we have salvation, justification, sanctification etc., our faith is the title deed for us to own these truths in our own life.

This in only one element of a “Normal Christian LIfe”, so I would recommend that you read the book by Watchman Née and study the book of Romans. There are many aspects of a “Normal Christian Life” that are by no means normal, or common among most Christians today. But learning to have a faith that substantiates our hope is a good place to start to grow into such a Christian walk.