`acquire it'. Now it is evident that if these believers were really to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods, they

must have had very vividly before them `the better and more lasting possessions' that awaited them in glory.

As we examine the testimony of this chapter to the faith of Abel, Abraham, Moses and others, we shall see how

much and how readily they gave up life, home, and wealth for the Lord's sake, and of them all it could be said that

they were sustained by that faith which is the substance of things hoped for. Moses `endured, as seeing Him Who is

invisible'. What therefore are we to understand by the words `substance' and `evidence'?

In preparation for this, we covered a fairly wide circle in the examination of this word `substance' and its usage,

but nothing revealed the intention of the apostle so well as the way in which it is used in the LXX or Greek version

of the Old Testament. Hupostasis, the word translated `substance', is found in a number of passages in the Old

Testament, a few of them being given hereafter as illuminating Hebrews 11:1, `And now, Lord, what wait I for? my

(ground of) hope is in Thee' (Psa. 39:7). Where the Hebrew had the simple word `hope', the LXX had `My

hupostasis (or ground of hope) is in Thee'. `I sink in deep mire where there is no standing' (Psa. 69:2). In the next

reference it is difficult to avoid a lengthy explanation if a literal rendering, together with the LXX parallels, is

demanded. It so happens that in the A.V. the two adjoining verses contain the word `substance' as a rendering of

other words. We think, however, that sufficient for our purpose will be provided by ignoring the surrounding

difficulties, and lifting out the word translated by hupostasis. Spurrell's translation avoids some of the pitfalls.

`My own person was not concealed from Thee, when I was formed in a secret manner; curiously wrought in the lower

bowels of the earth. Thine eyes beheld me in embryo; and my members, each one of them was recorded in the

book' (Psa. 139:15,16 - Spurrell's Version).

`My bones which Thou hast made in secret were not hidden from Thee, nor my SUBSTANCE, in the lowest parts of the

earth. Thine eyes saw my unwrought (substance)' (LXX translation).

There is much in the passage for meditation. Faith is to the things hoped for as the unborn embryo is to the fully

formed and living child. There is much that is secret, dark and mysterious, but the whole presses forward to fulness

of life. Such is the underlying thought of Hebrews 11:1. The things hoped for were at the moment `not seen', they

were as yet `unborn' yet very real to faith. As we watch the expectant mother lovingly and quietly preparing the

little garments for the life that is not yet manifest, we have God's own illustration of that faith which is the substance

of things hoped for. Let us now examine the second statement:

`Faith is ... the evidence of things not seen'.

Elengchos occurs but twice in the New Testament, Hebrews 11:1 and 2 Timothy 3:16. The A.V. translates it

once `evidence' and once `reproof'. When we turn to the verb elengcho we have a wider field for investigation.

The following are the renderings in the A.V., convict, convince, rebuke, reprove, tell one's fault. In no one place is

it ever translated `prove' or `demonstrate', or by any such word that is parallel to `evidence'. We find the word in

Hebrews 12:5 where it is translated `to be rebuked'. Now structurally this passage balances Hebrews 11:1 thus:

A Heb. 11:1

Substance and elengchos.

A.V. `evidence'.

B Heb. 11:2-40.

The cloud of witnesses.

B Heb. 12:1,2.

The cloud of witnesses.

A Heb. 12:3-5. Faith

The elengchos.

A.V. `rebuked'.

Now if the last passage is rightly rendered `rebuke', how can the only other occurrence of the word in Hebrews,

bound as it is by all the ties of structure and consistent argument, be rightly translated `evidence'? The reader may

by this time be ready to consult the LXX again, and the first passage we note will be Habakkuk 2:1, `I will stand

upon my watch ... what I shall answer upon my reproof', which is in the immediate context of the quotation, `the

just shall live by his faith'. Instead of `proof' we find `reproof'. Let us search this matter further. Now elengchos

occurs some 21 times, and elengcho some 53 times. It is manifestly impossible to provide a concordance of the

occurrences here. We will give a few, but would here assure the reader that every one of these 74 occurrences has