The epistle to the Hebrews looks at righteousness by faith from a different angle from that of Romans. In

Hebrews we see faith at work. `By faith Noah ... prepared an ark'. Such is the simple statement. We must,

however, not omit the moving causes that assisted Noah's faith to prepare, against all reason, an ark on dry land.

Noah's act is the result of (1) a divine warning, and (2) a pious fear.

We are not allowed to forget the important truth that `faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God'.

Noah was doubtless wise in consequence of his 600 years of experience, his fellowship with God, and his purity of

life, which would all be in favour of enabling him to foresee the goal toward which the ungodliness of his day was

fast heading, but this wisdom would never have evolved `an ark'. Chrematizo, to warn, is used in the New

Testament to indicate a warning given by means of a dream (Matt. 2:12,22); by the Holy Spirit (Luke 2:26); or by an

angel (Acts 10:22). Its direct connection with the body of the epistle to the Hebrews will be seen by looking at

Hebrews 8:5 and 12:25. Moses was `warned' by God in connection with the Tabernacle which he `prepared' (see

Heb. 9:2). Hebrews 12:25 applies this `warning':

`See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him who WARNED them on earth, much

more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that WARNS us from heaven' (not AV JP).

The verse following reveals that the two warnings, the one so much greater than the other, were the voices of

Sinai and Calvary. Hebrews 2:1-4 is here repeated with solemn emphasis and with the same sequence. The warning

of Hebrews 2:1-4 is followed by a reference to the `world to come' and its dominion. The warning of Hebrews

12:25 is followed by a reference to a kingdom that abides the terrific `shaking' of the last days. So, to come back to

Noah, we have the warning, the Flood (parallel with the shaking), and the world to come, the dominion restored

after the Flood, called in Hebrews 11:7 `the inheritance of the righteousness which is by faith'. Though we may

have passed these close parallels lightly by, the originally exercised readers of this epistle would have found them

very pointed.

Both Noah and Abraham received a message from God that put a great test upon faith, for Noah was warned of

things `not seen as yet', and Abraham went out `not knowing' whither he went. What they did know was the

faithfulness of Him Who spake. So these Hebrews, taught from infancy to believe the law of Sinai to be eternal and

unalterable, to believe their ritual to be not only of divine appointing, but to be as lasting as God's throne, found an

almost insuperable difficulty in the teaching of the apostle that such things were waxing old and vanishing away,

that God Himself found fault with the first Covenant and had set it aside for the aionian Covenant sealed by the

blood of Christ Himself.

The second motive that is revealed is that Noah was `moved with fear'. The English word `fear' has to stand for

(1) phobos, a `fear that flees', from phebomai to flee; for (2) deilos, a `fear that shrinks'; and for (3) eulabeia, a `fear

that worships'. This last is the word used of Noah in Hebrews 11:7. He certainly did not have the fear that flees,

nor the fear that `draws back unto perdition', but the fear that reverently acquiesces in the will of God. We find the

word, or its cognates, translated `devout' in Luke 2:25; Acts 2:5 and 8:2. The true translation of Hebrews 5:7 is `He

was heard for His piety' (or godly fear), and so it is translated in Hebrews 12:28, adding one more link to the record

of Noah that we have already seen exists. Phobos and eulabeia are definitely contrasted in Hebrews 11, so that we

need make no mistake. Moses was NOT moved with phobos (Heb. 11:23-27); Noah WAS moved with eulabeia

(Heb. 11:7), and both acted `by faith'.

The apostle makes no reference to `the sons of God', `the daughters of men' or `the giants' of Genesis 6, not

because the subject was unimportant, but because, out of a wealth of material (like John 20:30,31), he selected his

examples with a specific object: to help these Hebrews `to leave ... and go on.

`Noah ... prepared an ark to the saving of his house' (Heb. 11:7).

We have already seen that the chapter of UNBELIEF (Heb. 3), is in structural correspondence with the chapter of

FAITH (Heb. 11), but it may not be fully realized how many items in these two chapters link them together. For