We’re often told that faith is blind—but Scripture tells a different story. From the beauty of creation to the order woven into the universe, God has made Himself visible. Romans 1:20 declares, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” In other words, God has made Himself known—not only through personal experiences or passed-down testimony, but through the very world He created. His fingerprints are visible in nature, in order, in beauty, in design. Faith, then, is not a leap into the dark, but a response to what has already been revealed.
So let’s break it down even further, referencing Hebrews 11:1, which defines faith. Faith in this passage is translated as pístis, which in Greek means a conviction of the truth of something, a definitive belief. So, pístis, faith, defined in Hebrews 11:1, is the “substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen”.
What does that mean? We can see it’s broken down into two sections. First, “faith is the substance of things hoped for…” What does this mean? If we look at “substance” used here, it is translated as “that which has a firm foundation.” So, if we combine that with what is being said in the first part of the definition, we can define faith as having a “firm foundation” in what we hope for or believe will come to pass. There’s a “substance” behind what we place our hope in. We’re not basing our beliefs on something flimsy; we think one thing today, and then tomorrow we are easily swayed to believe in something else. Have you seen someone who claimed to be a Christian and had faith later say they no longer believe whatever their reasons? Those would be the ones James calls “double-minded men” in Scripture (Isaiah 1:8) and never had true faith to begin with (1 John 2:19).
Most would say they have faith but do not know why they believe, and when their faith is tested, it’s easily swayed. That’s not the kind of faith God calls us to have as Christians, which without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). James 1:6-8 further says, ‘But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways”. This means that when you come to God, believe and trust that, if it be His will, He will do whatever is asked of Him, because He is more than able and capable of doing so. And if you do not honestly believe, because often it is hard to trust, ask God to help your unbelief as the father did in Mark 9:24 when faced with such a difficult moment in his pleading with Jesus to heal his deathly sick daughter.
So, let’s break down the second part of the definition of faith in Scripture: “the evidence of things not seen.” The evidence here means “proof, that by which a thing is proved or tested”. Putting that together after defining it separately, what Hebrews 11:1 is ultimately saying is that faith is described in Scripture as having a strong, firm foundation in your conviction of what you hope for because of the evidence/proof of what has been done in the past. God has been tested and proven trustworthy by many before. God has already proven Himself to us in so many ways, whether through our personal experiences with Him, what we’ve seen Him do in others’ lives, or even through Scripture, which reveals His character and actions throughout history.
So, when someone says they have faith in God, ask them what that faith is based on. And if they say, “Well, I have blind faith,” you can confidently turn to them and say, “I have faith based on what I know because God has given me ample ‘evidence’ in proving Himself to be real and true to me. I don’t trust blindly, but rather I have faith that has been tested, tried, and maintained based on what I have seen to be true by God, time and time again.”