The discussion of faith is one that brings up a great deal of emotion for many people. Recently it came up on an episode of “Bones” where Dr. Brennan and Hodgins are trapped underground in a car. Hodgins is badly hurt and they are running out of air. At the point that they should have passed out, Brennan cuts a hole in a tire in the trunk of the car to give them a little more air and makes the comment that she knows that her partner, Agent Booth, will find them.

Here is a snippet of the conversation:

Brennan: Booth will find us.

Hodgins: You have a lot of faith in Booth.

Brennan: No, faith is an irrational belief in something that’s logically impossible. Overtime, I’ve seen what Booth can do. It’s not faith.

Hodgins: No offense. And I’m not saying this because you filleted me with a knife (to save his life), we are out of air. We don’t know if our message got out (a message sent through the cell phone), much less if anyone understood it. And we’re buried underground. What you have is faith baby (Brennan smiles) Sorry, the baby thing is a reflex.

Her argument is much like the arguments that I hear from people all of the time, “faith is irrational”, “faith doesn’t make sense”, “I can’t trust in something that I don’t see”. I think they are right. Hebrews 11 states that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The words that jump out to me from that verse are “substance” and “evidence”.

Let’s check these out individually:

The word used for substance is the Greek word hypostasis whose meaning is; setting or placing under, foundation, that which has actual existence, the steadfastness of mind, firmness, courage, resolution, and confidence. Faith is not simply placing hope in some arbitrary or imaginary object, faith is the act of placing my full confidence in something that is real and that has demonstrated that it can be trusted.

The word used for evidence is the Greek word pistis whose meaning is; conviction of the truth of anything, belief or fidelity, faithfulness - the character of one who can be relied on.  Here we see that faith is directly related to one’s character and person. In a sense, the writer is indicating that we can trust those individuals that have demonstrated that they are trustworthy.

The writer of Hebrews understands that the essence of faith can be summarized in the act of trust placed upon a person that has been found to be consistent and dependable. That being the case, then placing faith in God is not “trusting our fate to something mystical, imaginary, or invisible”; trusting God is recognizing that God has been dependable in the past and will continue to be dependable into the future.

According to this verse in Hebrews, Brennan is making an argument for faith; “Over time I’ve seen what Booth can do.” That is exactly what the writer of Hebrews is stating; “Over time we have seen what God can do and because of that we have the faith and trust that He will do it again.” When I am able to rely upon God, no matter the circumstances that are going on around me, and trust that He is good and has good for me (now to quote Hodgins) what you have is faith baby!”