Continuing my examination of John Chrysostom's commentary on Hebrews, I decided to read through his thoughts on Hebrews 11, the chapter which discusses faith extensively. His thoughts, while not necessarily revolutionary to me, are very interesting.

For instance, of the very opening verse of Hebrews 11 ("Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report"), Chrysostom notes that faith is not simply belief in the unseen. He does confirm that it certainly entails this, but remarks that true faith is actually for "a man [to] be more fully assured with respect to things invisible, than he is with respect to things that are most clearly seen." That is, true faith is more certain that Christ is Risen in Israel than that the sun is risen outside.

Perhaps even more fascinating is his interpretation of what it means when the author of Hebrews calls faith, "the evidence of things not seen." Chrysostom explains that faith is the substance of the objects of hope. That is, the things we hope for seem unsubstantial (ethereal, or imaginary), but he interprets the verse to mean that faith is in fact the substance of Christ's Return, which has not happened yet, and does not have substance in the outside world, but is substantial in our souls because of our faith.

However, he does not appear to limit the meaning of "evidence of things unseen" to one layer of interpretation. Beyond the above interpretation, he also says that faith is a sort of proof of God's existence, insofar as it is the logical conclusion one must make from the truth of God's prophecies. That is, Christ foretold many things, many of which have come to pass. Chrysostom says that therefore, we may reasonably believe, by virtue of these fulfilled prophecies, in the hope of the fulfillment of all Christ's prophecies. This faith is all the evidence we need of things unseen, because the things seen have inspired this faith in us.