Prayer and Faith (Part 5): Faith, The Title Deed

I’ve been talking about how the Greek word “assurance” in Hebrews 11:1 conveys the idea of a title deed:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen... (Heb 11:1 ESV)

In 2005, we moved from California to Ohio. Now, escrow closed on our old house on the Friday that we left town to head for Ohio. But escrow on our new house didn’t close until Monday. So from that Friday to the following Monday, we were officially homeless. Yet we didn’t fret and agonize whether we were going to have a home to live in or not. Even though we couldn’t see the new house and we didn’t possess it yet, we had “the assurance (i.e., title deed) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1)

But here’s the other thing: we never would have taken complete ownership of the house had we not showed up to sign the final papers at the escrow office on Monday morning. Remember the “blank check” analogy both both Boyd and Sittser used? Doesn’t the legal aspect of a title deed described by hypostasis more closely fit Boyd’s view than Sitter’s?

I believe it does.

Incidentally, after we signed the paperwork, they gave us the keys to the house.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. -Matthew 16:18-20