"And Abraham REPROVED Abimelech because of the well of water" (Gen. xxi. 25).

"Thou shalt in any wise REBUKE thy neighbour" (Lev. xix. 17).

"The Lord had REBUKED him" (II Chron. xxvi. 20).

"Behold, happy is the man whom God CORRECTETH" (Job v. 17).

"My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of His

CORRECTION, for whom the Lord loveth He CORRECTETH" (Prov. iii. 11, 12).

The apostle has quoted this passage of Prov. iii. 11, 12 in Heb. xii. 5, 6, and there,

instead of giving the word "correction" twice as does the LXX, he uses the word

"chasteneth". For confirmation of this synonym we may turn to Rev. iii. 19, "As many

as I love, I rebuke and chasten". Those desirous of searching out this matter more fully

will doubtless find opportunity. Sufficient has been here noted to show that the primary

idea of Heb. xi. 1 is "faith is a substance of things hoped for, a reproof of things not

seen". This, however, does not convey sense to English ears, so we must consider the

matter further. As the verse stands in the A.V. we have a repetition. Faith is a substance

and an evidence. When we look at the actual thing in progress and in fact we find that

faith has a twofold association: (1) It looks forward to future glory; (2) It endures

present suffering.

The Hebrew believers would readily believe that faith was the substance of things

hoped for. They would rejoice in Enoch's translation; but would they so readily rejoice

in Abel's death? They would rejoice in Noah's preservation and inheritance, but would

they so readily rejoice Abraham's surrender? Were they ready for the fact to be applied

to themselves that these examples of faith "All died NOT HAVING RECEIVED the

promise"? Were they ready to follow Moses not only for the future reward, but in the

reproach and suffering of the present? What is this "reproof" then? It is the Lord's

discipline meted out in love to every son, to every one of the "many sons" who by this

very selfsame "Author", "Captain", and "Perfecter" of faith are being led as He was

Himself through suffering to glory (Heb. ii. 10). It is the Gethsemane experience of

Heb. v. 7-9, for there in the garden the Lord sweat as it were great drops of blood, and in

Heb. xii. 4 is the application to "every son": "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood."

Here then is the twofold character of perfected faith. A hand that reaches out on either

side to join together suffering and glory. No one can fail to see the tremendous value of

such a word to those who were passing through the experiences of the Hebrews at the

time of writing the epistle. Here then, in this present time, faith is hope in embryo, with

its accompanying sorrows; it is both substance and reproof, both crown and cross.

(To be continued).