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Heb 11:1. Ἔστι δὲ πίστις, now faith is) This is resumed from ch. Heb 10:39. And the apostle gives in this passage that definition of faith, which is most suitable to his purpose of confirming the minds of the brethren.-ἐλπιζομένων ὑπόστασις, πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων, the substance of those things which are hoped for, the proof of things which are not seen) Things which are hoped for, are the species; things which are not seen, are the genus: for the former are merely future and pleasant to us; the latter also are past or present, and either pleasant or painful to ourselves or others, Heb 11:3; Heb 11:7-8; Heb 11:27; Heb 11:29. Whence the two clauses of this verse, in which there is an Asyndeton (absence of the copulative conjunction), have a gradation. Moreover, as the things which are not seen are to the things which are hoped for, so is the proof of the things to the substance; and therefore faith is the substance by which the future things, that are hoped for, are represented (vividly realized), or are set before us as present: and the same (faith) is the proof of the things, by which those things which are not seen are set before us as solid realities (πράγματα). That which is absent is opposed to substance; a non-entity, a dream, is opposed to the proof or evidence of things. Whence it is clear how closely the two words πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος cohere, so that they form, as it were, a compound word, πραγμάτων-ἔλεγχος; and why the word, things, is put in the last, and not also in the first clause. Ὑπόστασις, substance, is opposed to τῇ ὑποστολῇ, drawing back, which was lately repudiated, ch. 10, at the end; for the metaphor is taken from a pillar standing under a heavy weight, and denotes patience and constancy, καρτερίαν; comp. Heb 11:27. Ὑπόστασις in the Vulgate is translated substantia, which is correct; for substance is opposed to opinion, l. 10, § 1, Digest. de diversis temporalibus præscriptionibus, et de accessionibus possessionum, and elsewhere. Substance then has reference to a thing which is certain, and therefore also to a thing which is present. Things future are represented (vividly realized) by faith: ἔλεγχος is evidence or proof also in the peculiar language of philosophers. Ὑπόστασις, substance, is put first; and then πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος, the proof, or evidence of things; but the examples, which follow, relate in the first instance to the proof of the things, Heb 11:3, etc., and in the second place, to the substance of those things which are hoped for, Heb 11:6, etc. Chiasmus.