This is a sample chapter from my Systematic Theology project "Theology for Thriving". 📎MORE TO THE STORY notes are not part of the main text of the book, but additional resources, charts, or other materials from Biblical Theology class resources.
Hebrews 11.1-3, 6-10 [1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. [2] Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. [3] By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible... [6] And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. [7] By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith. [8] By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. [9] By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. [10] For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
🗝️ Key Concept: Faith(fulness)
If Theosis is the ultimate destination on our spiritual map— the journey of participating in God’s own life— then how do we take the first step? How do we actively receive the grace that makes this journey possible? The answer is found in our key concept: Faith(fulness).
In our modern world, "faith" has often been reduced to a purely intellectual exercise. For many, it simply means believing a list of correct ideas about God, an assent to a set of facts. While what we believe certainly matters, this definition is a pale shadow of the rich, dynamic, and life-altering reality the Bible describes. To grasp the biblical concept, we have to see faith not just as a noun, but as a verb; not just as a belief, but as a way of being.
The Old Testament builds its understanding of faith on God’s own character. The Hebrew words for faith, emet and emunah, are rooted in the idea of firmness, reliability, and trustworthiness. Before the people of Israel are ever asked to have faith in God, the story first demonstrates that God is faithful to them. The LORD is the one who keeps promises, who shows steadfast love to a stubborn and unfaithful people. The prophets’ primary job was to call Israel back to a life of faithfulness that mirrored God’s own. The great hero Abraham is the prime example. His “faith” was counted as righteousness not because he passed a theology exam, but because his inner trust in God issued forth in the outward action of leaving his home and journeying into an unknown future, guided only by God’s promise.
The New Testament builds on this foundation. The Greek word for faith, pistis, carries this same dual meaning of trust and loyalty. Following the work of scholars like N.T. Wright, we can see that the gospel is not primarily about our faith in Jesus, but about the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s own covenant faithfulness, the perfectly loyal Israelite who succeeds where all others failed. It is His faithfulness that saves us and restores our broken relationship with God. Our response, then, is to participate in His faithfulness with our own.
This is why the key concept for this chapter is the dual word "faith(fulness)": Because Jesus' faithfulness calls us to not only have faith in him, but practice faithfulness to him. This rich, biblical faith(fulness) has at least three interconnected dimensions:
Cognitive: It includes our beliefs, the "what" of our faith. It is the intellectual assent to the good news that God, in Christ, has acted to save the world.
Affective: It involves our hearts, the "who" of our faith. It is a radical trust in God’s goodness, a confident reliance on His presence and providential care in our lives.
Volitional: It engages our will, the "how" of our faith. It is active loyalty, an obedient journeying with God as we seek to co-write our chapter of His redemptive story.
📖 Scriptural Reflection: Hebrews 11:1-3, 6-10
The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is the Bible’s great meditation on the nature of faith, a “Hall of Fame” celebrating the heroes who lived by it. The author begins with a definition that is anything but static: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is not about certainty in what we can prove, but confidence in a future that God has promised. It’s the spiritual muscle that allows us to see the invisible reality behind the visible world and to live our lives according to that deeper truth.
The chapter then parades a series of Old Testament figures who exemplify this active, forward moving faith. We see Noah, who, warned of a future he could not see, acted on that warning and built an ark. We see Abraham, the ultimate model, who “obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.” His was not a faith of comfortable certainty, but of radical, trust-full obedience. He lived as a nomad in the very land he was promised, looking forward to a future, heavenly city “whose architect and builder is God.”
For all these heroes, faith was not a passive belief system. It was the engine of their lives, the compass that guided their journey. They were all co-writers with God, stepping into an unwritten future based on their trust in the Author of the story. They show us that to have faith is to embark on an adventure, to live a life oriented not by what is, but by what, in God’s grace, is yet to come.
🔎 How do faith and repentance work together to open us to grace?
The very first words Jesus speaks in Mark’s Gospel are a command and an invitation: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and have faith in the good news” (Mark 1). Jesus links these two actions— repenting and having faith— as the two essential first steps on our spiritual journey. They are two sides of the same coin, the hinge upon which our lives turn toward God.
Repentance is another word that carries heavy baggage. For many, it means feeling guilty and beating ourselves up for our mistakes. But its biblical meaning is far more constructive. The New Testament uses two main Greek words for it. The first, metanoia, means “to think beyond” or “to change your mind.” It’s about getting out of our old mental boxes, seeing a bigger picture, and reorienting our entire worldview around God’s reality. The second word, epistrepho, means “to turn around.” It’s the active choice to stop heading in a destructive direction and to turn back toward our source of life.
Repentance, then, is the necessary “negative” response to grace: it is the decision to STOP doing what pulls us away from God, others, and a thriving life. Faith is the corresponding “positive” response: it is the decision to START on the path of Jesus. Repentance is the hard work of turning from the old story; faith is the joyful work of stepping into the new one.
This practical, two-step process has long been understood in the Jewish tradition, which outlines a clear path for making things right with God and others. “Teshuvah", as it is called in Hebrew, is the practice of repentance outlined in distinct steps:
Recognition: You must first recognize your wrongdoing.
Remorse: Feel genuine remorse for what you have done.
Confession: Verbally confess to God and those you hurt.
Amendment: Make restitution for the harm you have caused, resolving to live differently in the future.
🔎 How does faith relate to grace and good works?
Grace is the foundational energy of the cosmos. As we’ve seen, without the sustaining grace of God, we wouldn’t even exist. The very fact that we are here, breathing and thinking, is a testament to God’s grace already at work in us. Grace is the power that enables any response to God at all.
As we have discussed before, faith and good works are the two intertwined human responses to the divine initiative of grace. Faith is the inner, subjective response to grace. It is our heart’s trust, our mind’s assent, and our will’s alignment with God. This inner reality then naturally overflows into good works, which are the outer, objective expression of our faith.
A helpful analogy is to think of God’s grace as a great River of Life, flowing ceaselessly toward the ocean of God’s own heart. Faith is our decision to get in the boat and allow the current of grace to carry us. Good works are the things we do in the boat— paddling to cooperate with the current, bailing out water, and helping the others who are on the journey with us. We aren’t saved by our works— the river is doing all the work of carrying us— but our works are the clear evidence that we are truly in the boat and participating in the journey.
Again, this is why the apostle James can declare so forcefully that “faith without works is dead” (James 2). A living faith is a responsive faith. A genuine encounter with the grace of God will inevitably energize us and issue forth in actions of love. If our professed faith does not move us to active faithfulness, it is a sign that we have not yet truly opened ourselves to the transformative power of the river.
A final facet of this active faith response is total commitment. Søren Kierkegaard called this commitment a "leap of faith": To leave behind our old story and jump fully into the story of Christ. Jesus spoke of this leap of total commitment when he said things like: "Whoever does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14.26-27). He wasn’t calling for literal hatred, but for a decisive break from the dysfunctional ways of life we inherit, even from those we love. It is only by leaving behind these broken patterns that we can be healed and learn to love our families, and ourselves, more fully.
🔎 How do Mary, Peter, and Paul show us what faith looks like?
The New Testament doesn’t give us just one model for the life of faith; it gives us many. We can find our own story reflected in the journeys of its central characters.
Mary provides the model of receptive faith. When the angel announces that she will bear the Son of God, her response is a simple, powerful, and courageous “yes.” Her faithful assent, her fiat, allows her to become the "Theotokos", translated as "the God-bearer" or even "Mother of God". She shows us that faith is sometimes about a quiet, trusting openness that makes space for God’s own life to be born in and through us. Following Mary's pattern: When we say "yes" in faith, we can be the bearer of God to others, and allow God's life of love to be born in and through us!
Paul offers a model of radical, repentant faith. He begins as an enemy of the Ekklesia, a man so convinced of his own righteousness that he actively persecutes those who follow Jesus. It is only when he is knocked to the ground, blinded, and brought to rock bottom that he can finally see the light. His journey shows us that faith is often born out of crisis, a dramatic turning from a life that is not working to a new life of absolute surrender to Christ.
Finally, Peter gives us perhaps the most relatable model: a messy, up-and-down faith. He is the first to declare that Jesus is the Messiah, and moments later he is rebuking Jesus. He walks on water in a moment of incredible trust, and then sinks in a moment of fear. He vows he will never desert Jesus, and then denies him three times. Yet through it all, Jesus never gives up on him. Peter’s journey of following, failing, and being lovingly restored shows us that faith is not about perfection, but about perseverance. It is the journey of falling down and, by grace, getting back up, again and again, as we learn to follow our patient and forgiving Lord.
Whether in Mary’s quiet yes, Paul’s dramatic turn, or Peter’s stumbling walk, we can find our own faith journey. Each shows us that faith is not a static state to be achieved, but a dynamic, lifelong relationship with the God who is always faithful to us.
📚 Topical Scriptures
Here are some Scripture passages which explore and elaborate on the themes of this chapter. As you look them up and study them, think about how they relate to the Key Concept and Guiding Questions.
Genesis 15:1-6
This passage contains the foundational moment of Abraham's faith. Look for how his trust in God's promise, in the face of impossible circumstances, is "reckoned to him as righteousness," establishing the pattern for a faith that issues forth in faithfulness.
Mark 5:25-34
This is the story of the woman healed from a long-term hemorrhage. Notice how her desperate, active faith— simply reaching out to touch Jesus's cloak— is what Jesus identifies as the very thing that "has made you well."
Mark 9:20-27
A father brings his possessed son to Jesus for healing, crying out the rawest of prayers: "I believe; help my unbelief!" This passage shows that faith is not the absence of doubt, but a desperate clinging to Christ even in our uncertainty.
Luke 1:26-38
This is the story of the Annunciation to Mary, providing the ultimate model of receptive faith. Notice her courageous and trusting response to the angel's incredible message: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."
Matthew 14:25-33
This passage captures the messy, up-and-down nature of Peter's faith journey as he walks on water toward Jesus. It shows that faith is not the absence of fear, but the act of trusting Christ even in the midst of doubt and faltering.
Acts 9:1-9
This is the dramatic account of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, a powerful model of repentant faith. Observe how a moment of crisis and being brought to rock bottom becomes the catalyst for turning from a life of violent certainty to one of complete surrender to Christ.
Romans 1:16-17
Paul declares that the gospel is God's power for salvation, revealing a righteousness that is received from beginning to end by faith. This text powerfully links faith not just to belief, but to the very power of God at work in our lives.
Romans 4:1-5, 18-25
Paul uses Abraham as his primary example to explain that righteousness comes through faith, not works. He highlights how Abraham "did not weaken in faith" but grew strong, giving glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
Ephesians 2:1-10
This is a core text on the relationship between grace, faith, and works. Look for how Paul insists that we are saved by grace through faith as a gift from God, which then results in the "good works" that God has prepared for us to do.
James 2:14-26
This is the classic text on the relationship between faith and works. Notice how James argues that genuine, saving faith will inevitably produce the fruit of good works, declaring that "faith without works is dead."
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