Hebrews 11:3 - Exposition

By faith we perceive that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen (or, that which is seen ) have (or, has ) not been made of things which do appear. "By the word of God" has reference to "and God said," of Genesis 1:1-31 ., which chapter enunciates the primary article of all definite religions faith, viz. the existence and operation of God, as the unseen Author of the visible universe. Even without a revelation to declare this, faith's office is to apprehend it from observation of the phenomena themselves; as is intimated in Romans 1:20 , where even to the Greek "the invisible things of God from the creation of the world" are said to be "clearly seen, being understood [ νοούμενα : cf νοοῦμεν in the passage before us] by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." The drift of both passages is the same, viz. this, and no more—that faith recognizes an unseen power and Godhead behind, and accounting for, the seen universe. Commentators, who—taking μὴ ἐκ φαινομένων as equivalent to ἐκ μὴ φαινομένων , and hence seeking to explain what is meant by "non-apparent things"—perceive here a reference either to the formless void ( Genesis 1:2 ) out of which the present creation was evolved, or to the Platonic conception of eternal ideas in the Divine mind, read into the text what is not there.