Hebrews 11 Unveiled
Faith Is Not What You Think It Is

A Fresh Hebraic Look at the Most Famous “Faith” Chapter in the Bible
By Jim Staley – Passion for Truth Ministries*

What if I told you that for 400 years we have been reading Hebrews 11:1 completely wrong?

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

We quote it. We sing it. We print it on coffee mugs. But when we go back to the original language and the first-century Jewish context, the verse explodes with a meaning most of us have never seen. It is not a mystical definition of some invisible feeling. It is a battle cry for covenant faithfulness under pressure.

Welcome to the broadcast that wrecked me more than any other while teaching through Hebrews. This is not theory. This is the Holy Spirit peeling back centuries of Gentile interpretation and showing us what the author actually meant when he wrote, “My righteous one shall live by faith” (Heb 10:38).

The Missing Hebrew Word You’ve Been Saying Your Whole Life

In English we say “faith.” In Hebrew the word is emunah (אֱמוּנָה). And emunah comes from the root aman — the exact same root we get “Amen” from. Every time you say “Amen,” you are literally declaring, “So be it — I support this, I stand firm on this, I will hold this up no matter what.” You cannot say “Amen” without emunah. And you cannot have biblical emunah without an “Amen” lifestyle. Emunah is not mental agreement. It is steadfast, covenant loyalty that stays rock-solid when everything is trying to knock you down.

Remember Exodus 17? Moses’ arms are getting tired on the mountain. Aaron and Hur come and hold them up. The Hebrew text says Moses’ hands remained emunah — “steady, firm, faithful” — until sunset. That is the picture. Faith is the arms that refuse to drop when the battle rages longest.

Hebrews 11:1 Re-translated the Way a First-Century Jew Would Have Heard It

“Now emunah is the substantive reality of the things God is hoping for from us, the courtroom evidence of the things that cannot be seen by other people.”

Read it again slowly.

Your faithfulness under pressure is the substance of the things God is hoping for. Your obedience in the dark, when no human is watching, is the evidence God will present on Judgment Day. That changes everything.

Two Perspectives — One Verse

1. God’s perspective

“Your faithfulness under pressure is the substance of the things I hope for in you. It is the evidence I will use when nobody else saw what was in your heart and mind.”

2. Our perspective

“Our trust in Messiah’s faithfulness becomes the substance of everything we are hoping for — eternal life, the coming Kingdom, the New Jerusalem — and it is the evidence that the unseen heavenly realm is real.”

Both are true at the same time. And the bridge that connects the two is a life of obedient emunah under pressure.

The Entire Chapter Is Proof That Faith = Action

The moment you realize emunah is behavioral, not just cognitive, the whole “Hall of Fame of Faith” makes sense:

– By faith Abel offered… (he physically brought a better sacrifice)

– By faith Noah… prepared an ark (120 years of hammering while being mocked)

– By faith Abraham obeyed… and went out (he actually left Ur)

– By faith Moses refused… chose… forsook Egypt… kept the Passover (every single example is an action under pressure)

There is not a single person in Hebrews 11 who is commended for what they believed in their head. Every single one is commended for what they did with their hands, their feet, and their choices when it cost them everything.

The Priesthood Upgrade Changes Everything

For 1,400 years Israel’s faith was funneled through one human high priest once a year on Yom Kippur. The average Israelite simply had to trust that the system worked. Then Yeshua (Jesus) came — the perfect High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.

The priesthood was upgraded, and suddenly every believer became a priest (1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6). Priests don’t just believe. Priests serve. Priests sacrifice. Priests intercede. Priests do.

Hebrews 11 is the legal brief proving that God’s people have always lived this way — and now, under the New Covenant, every single one of us is called to the same standard of emunah.

The Pressure Is On Purpose

Diamonds are just coal that handled pressure extremely well. If you are facing giants right now — financial, marital, health, spiritual — understand this: The pressure is not there to break you. The pressure is there to prove you.

Joshua and Caleb faced the same giants the other ten spies faced. Same report. Same giants. Same grasshoppers-in-their-own-eyes feeling. Only two came out with emunah.

The giants are your ordination test into the Melchizedek priesthood.

Final Charge

So here is the question the Holy Spirit will not let me escape, and I will not let you escape: Are you a priest of the Most High God?

Because priests don’t fold when the fire gets hot. Priests don’t shrink back when the giant shows up. Priests don’t trade the reproach of Messiah for the passing pleasures of Egypt. Your faithfulness under pressure is the substance of everything God is hoping for in you. It is the evidence nobody else needs to see. Let’s stop praising Him with our lips while our lives tell a different story. Let’s be the generation that says “Amen” with our whole lives — no matter how high the cost. Because on the other side of your greatest pressure is your promised land.

Watch the full teaching here:

WATCH FULL TEACHING HERE:
https://youtu.be/nCn0k8ys_Cg