What would it take for one of us to get into the "Faith" Hall of Fame depicted by Hebrews 11? Perhaps we should all be in it, for do we not all have faith in God?

Perhaps it depends on what the faith of Hebrews 11 really is. Is it head-nodding assent to God’s existence? If so, the demonic forces should be added to the list (James 2:19)! They, too, have faith (the Greek word for faith encompasses "belief," "trust," and "faith") in God’s existence and their faith terrifies them. Is faith a passive kind of submission to God, in which one meekly bows the head and says in all occasions and at all times, "Whatever You want, Lord"?

The giants of faith listed in Hebrews 11 hardly give us an example of flaccid faith. Noah’s faith led him to build a boat despite the people’s unwillingness to believe him that there would be a flood. Abraham’s faith led him to leave home and go into a strange country, completely changing his lifestyle from that of an up-and-coming, civilized city dweller to that of a nomad. It also did not stop him from reverent disagreement with God in his plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:17–33). Whether one is talking about Abraham’s offering up of Isaac or Moses’ parents hiding him in faith, the people honored for their faith are noted for their actions. Their faith is revealed in walking with God (Enoch), worshiping while dying (Isaac), suffering with a group of slaves and forsaking honor, celebrating the Passover, walking through the Red Sea, or marching around a walled city. Perhaps "trust" or "having faith" or "believing" in terms of divine value is an active verb.

On the other hand, it is amazing that some of the people commended for their faith exhibit a great deal of doubt. For example, Abraham’s faith leads him to become the father of Isaac—but look how hard he laughed first, doubled over with his face to the ground, his shoulders shaking in convulsions of mirth! And Moses’ faith leads him to leave Egypt because he was afraid of Pharaoh’s wrath. What kind of faith is that? And, then, one cannot but wonder if the Israelites crossed the Red Sea because they really trusted God or because they virtually had no choice?

The faith of Rahab really sticks out like a sore thumb. One expects to find Abel, Enoch, Noah, and the three great patriarchal progenitors of the Israelites in the chapter, but Rahab? To the readers of this document, the notation must have raised an immediate question: Why would the author include someone who was a prostitute, a dweller of the fated Jericho, right near the end? Just because she was kind and hospitable to the Israelite spies? Did he not know that this had to do with her livelihood and that as an innkeeper she would likely show hospitality to anyone (and then hand them over to the town assembly)? Of course, we know the rest of the story—that she did more than give them a welcome, but also saved their lives—and probably the author has this in mind. Nevertheless, she is strategically placed there to show that faith is not something limited to the perfect or to those called specifically by God to perform a special mission. Anyone, anywhere may put their trust in God. As they treat his messengers with kindness, he considers this equivalent to trust in himself.

What does one do with the rest of the heroes?—Gideon who had to ask for signs because he lacked faith; Barak, the whimp, who needed the prophet to go along with him into battle for divine insurance; Jephthah, whose faith led him to bargain with God by means of a vow and then offer up his daughter as a child sacrifice; David (well, he did have faith, but look what he did to Uriah and Bathsheba!), Samuel (that’s getting better). Next are listed the prophets—and aren’t they admirable in their trust in God!

So there we have it—those with a lot of faith and those with the barest scrap of it, those whose lives are exemplary and those who—well, do not quite live up to anyone’s ideals—and yet God honors each one of them for having any faith at all. Perhaps, if our faith in God leads us to do anything for him (even something not so ideal), we do belong in the group after all!

At the beginning and the end of this chapter, the author encapsulates it all with this perception: Those who trusted in God really believed that what he said he would do he did. Their faith led them to hope, and their hope led them to await the fulfillment of his promise—including the one about a better country. And the God they knew well enough to trust, even when it cost them their lives, is the same God we can know and thus trust as well. Such a faith is not sleepy or tired, but active and awake. It’s the faith we need today.

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