Five-minute study · Day 320 · Hebrews 11
Hebrews 11:6
A word worth stopping on: faith πίστις pistis
'But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' The Greek word for faith is pistis. The adjective form is pistos: faithful, trustworthy, reliable. The verb form is pisteuo: to believe, to trust, to entrust. All three grow from the same root. Faith in Greek is not a feeling; it is a family of words describing an active relationship between the one who trusts and the one who is trusted. The verse makes two requirements for approaching God. First: believe that he exists. Second: believe that he rewards those who seek him. The first is intellectual. The second is relational. You must believe he is there, and you must believe he cares that you came looking.
Word study: faith
- Greek
- πίστις
- Pronounced
- pistis
- Strong's
- G4102
- Definition
- Faith, trust, belief, confidence, fidelity. From peitho (to persuade). The noun describes both the act of trusting and the quality of trustworthiness. Related forms: pisteuo (to believe, to trust), pistos (faithful, trustworthy).
Pistis appears 243 times in the New Testament. BDAG provides three main senses: (1) that which causes trust and faith, i.e., faithfulness, reliability; (2) trust, confidence, faith in the active sense; (3) that which is believed, body of faith or belief. The word's root in peitho (to persuade, G3982, the same word studied on Day 316) reveals the relational architecture of faith. Someone or something persuades; the person persuaded responds with pistis; the quality that makes the persuader worthy of trust is also pistis. The same word describes both sides of the relationship.
Lane's commentary on Hebrews 9-13 (WBC) places 11:6 within the broader argument of Hebrews 11, which surveys the history of Israel through the lens of pistis. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses: each acted on the basis of trust in God's character and promises. Lane observes that the two requirements in verse 6 are sequential. 'He that cometh to God must believe that he is' establishes the starting point: God exists and is accessible. 'And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him' establishes the character: God is not indifferent to the approach.
Lane notes that the Greek behind 'diligently seek' is ekzeteo (to seek out, to search for). The ek- prefix intensifies the verb. The seeking described is thorough, deliberate, persistent. Hebrews 11:6 does not describe casual interest. It describes the determined pursuit of a God who, the verse assures you, will respond. The word 'rewarder' (misthapodotes) appears only here in the New Testament. It is a compound: misthos (reward, wages) and apodidomi (to give back, to pay). God pays back the seeker. The seeking is labor; the reward is God's response. Faith, in this verse, is the conviction that the labor will be met.
Historical context · c. AD 60-70
Hebrews 11 and the Faith Hall
The letter to the Hebrews was written to a community of Jewish Christians under pressure to abandon their faith in Jesus and return to traditional Judaism. The exact date is debated; Lane argues for a date before the destruction of the temple in AD 70, since the letter discusses temple rituals in the present tense (Hebrews 8:4, 9:6-9, 10:1-3). The community had already suffered persecution (10:32-34: 'ye endured a great fight of afflictions'), including public abuse, imprisonment, and the confiscation of property. They had endured once. The question was whether they would endure again.
Hebrews 11 responds to that question with a catalogue of endurance. Lane calls it 'the great roll call of faith,' a survey of Israelite history that reframes every major figure as someone who acted on trust in things not yet seen (11:1). The chapter moves chronologically from creation (11:3) through Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, and the judges, ending with unnamed sufferers who 'were tortured, not accepting deliverance' (11:35) and 'wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth' (11:38).
Lane observes that verse 6 sits between Enoch (11:5) and Noah (11:7), two figures who acted before the Mosaic law, before the temple, before any institutional structure of faith existed. Enoch 'walked with God' and was translated. Noah 'moved with fear' and built an ark. Neither had a creed, a liturgy, or a community to support their faith. They had pistis, directed at a God they believed existed and believed would respond. The original audience of Hebrews, facing the possible loss of their own communal structures, was being told: faith predates every institution. It requires only these two convictions: God is, and God rewards the search.
For reflection
Hebrews 11:6 says God rewards those who 'diligently seek' him. The Greek carries the sense of thorough, determined searching. How would you describe your current posture toward God: casual, occasional, desperate, systematic, exhausted, hopeful? And what would 'diligent' look like in your actual week?
The verse says 'he that cometh to God.' The verb is present tense, continuous. Coming to God is an ongoing action, something you keep doing.
Sources: BDAG; Lane, "Hebrews 9-13" (WBC)