Study Desk

For good news came to us just as to them; but the message which they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers.

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and keep their souls.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking.

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God.

And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go.

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

These all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son,

By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.

By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.

By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his burial.