Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is… "He that cometh to God" — and that is religion; "he that is perpetually approaching God," as a worshipper, as an applicant, as one who would live with Him and walk with Him, and that continually; "must believe" — must (the phrase is) "have believed," first of all and once for all — "that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." There are two parts, then, in this primary, this preliminary belief. First the existence of God. A man cannot "come to " a phantom, to an idea, to a non-entity. It is self-evident. 'The very phrase here used for religion implies the reality of the Object. "He that cometh to God" — and that is religion — must know and feel that he comes to some one. He that would "walk with" God — and that is religion — must know and feel that that desired Companion exists. The other part of the belief is less obvious, but no less instructive. It is the certainty of blessing for the seeker. "That He is a rewarder," a recompenser, "to them that diligently seek Him." It is no humility, it is an irreverence, to doubt God's will to bless. It is one thing to be conscious of a want of "diligence " in "seeking" — it is another thing, altogether, to mistrust the willingness of God to be found. To suppose Him reluctant to bless, is to paint Him in a repulsive form; is to make Him less gracious, less merciful, less bountiful, than any very ungracious, unmerciful, ungenerous, and churlish man; is to deny to Him one of those attributes which make Him God. (Dean Vaughan.) Parallel Verses KJV: But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. |
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