Heb 11 Commendation

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. — Hebrews 11:1-2. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised. — Hebrews 11:39

 

Rahab's faith was rewarded when she received the promise of her family being spared and welcomed into the people of Israel. Her act of faith ended up providing for the welfare of her family. From the letter, we can see that this was not what the Hebrews were experiencing in their lives. We know from chapter 10 that these people have faced hardship and struggle since they became believers in Jesus Christ. It is not clear what level of hardship and struggle they are still facing, but it is clear that the writer of this letter is concerned that their struggle will cause people to give up and stray off the path of faithful discipleship. "do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance." (10:35-6). They need to continue to endure hardship because their reward is still in the future, and probably not in their lifetime.

So Hebrews 11 continues to list heroes of the faith and significantly shifts from those who triumph in faith in ways that bless their earthly lives to those who suffer in faith that leads to impoverished lives. Heb 11:37-38 concludes with an account that is the opposite of providing for the welfare of one's family: destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

This strikes me as a clear message that the motivation for living by faith, and especially continuing to live by faith through hardship, cannot be the improvement of your life here on earth. The motivation provided in Hebrews 11 is in the beginning and the end of the chapter, it is about commendation.

What is this commendation? The Greek word martyreo appears 79 times in the New Testament and is most often translated bear witness or testify. I do not know why ESV translates this as a noun because it is a verb, and this is important. A noun is something that we can possess or produce like a testimony, but a verb is an action, like testifying. So who is doing the testifying? If you look at where martyreo is used elsewhere in Hebrews 11, and throughout the letter, God is the one who is doing the testifying. In 11:4, God testifies that Abel was righteous and in 11:5 God testifies that Enoch was pleasing to Him. Commendation is all about how God views a person and what God says about that person and their faith.

The motivation for living by faith is most clearly seen in 11:6 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. We live by faith because that is what is pleasing to God. So even though we must believe that he rewards those who seek him, we do not live by faith in order to experience those rewards in our lives here on earth. We live by faith because it pleases God. And as I have said before, living by faith when we are not yet receiving the promised rewards may well be the faith that is the most pleasing to God. If that is our motivation, and we are able to realize that God is pleased with our faith, then setbacks and discouraging outcomes will not be able to take away our desire to live by faith.

I find this to be a convicting truth, convicting in the realization that the motivation of pleasing God is not as strong as the motivation to be rewarded for trusting God. And the realization that I can have a sense of entitlement, that somehow God owes me when I have been faithful, or God is not holding up his part of the deal when life brings hardships. I can hear God asking, "Is it not enough that you have pleased me?" I pray that I would be able to be aware of that pleasure and that it would deeply feed my soul.