Confident Assurance before Melanchthon
For You are my hope; Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth. Psalm 71:5 NASB
My confidence – The NASB translation of Hebrew 11:1 is “ Now faith is the certainty of things [a]hoped for, a [b]proof of things not seen” (online version), but in the 1995 edition, the verse reads “ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” You will notice that the online version has two footnotes, the second which reads “or conviction about.” But there’s a big difference between “proof” and “conviction.” The issue in Hebrews is the Greek word, elénchos, a word that normally means “proof,” “refutation,” or “investigation.”
In Heb. 11:1, however, the sense of elénchos is “persuasion,” but not in a subjective sense. Normal usage suggests that “things not seen” is an objective, not a subjective genitive. And elénchos is present as the basis of resting on what is hoped for. Faith does not do the convincing, but God, for the whole point in Hebrews is that faith stands on the revelation, word, and promise of God. Faith is the divinely given conviction of things unseen and is thus the assurance of what is hoped for.[1]
What does this have to do with Psalm 71:5? The author of the letters to the Hebrews clearly understood and used Hebrew ideas. His choice of elénchos is not from a Greek perspective but rather from a Hebrew point of view. The same idea is found in Psalm 71. The text of Psalm 71:5 uses the Hebrew mibṭaḥ (translated “confidence”) from the root bāṭaḥ. We know this word. It is the root for “trust.”
bāṭaḥ expresses that sense of well-being and security which results from having something or someone in whom to place confidence. It is significant that the LXX never translates this word with πιστευω “believe in” but with ελπιζω “to hope,” in the positive sense “to rely on God” or πειφομαι “to be persuaded,”[2]
When the poet speaks of “confidence,” he isn’t writing about some inner conviction or persuasion. That would imply that the grounds for our faith is found within us. Faith becomes how we feel (a very modern idea). Nor is he writing about proof in the Western sense of conclusive evidence. That would imply faith is determined by conformity with the “facts.” The poet’s view is neither psychological nor evidential. It is experiential, that is, his reliance upon God is grounded in his experience and the experience of those who have come before him. For him, “confidence” is an historical matter. God does what He says He will do. He has done so over and over in the past. Confidence is remembering.
Topical Index: confidence, elénchos, mibṭaḥ, bāṭaḥ, Hebrews 11:1, Psalm 71:5
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 222). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
[2] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 233 בָּטַח. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 101). Chicago: Moody Press.
