Gospel Encounter 14

 

‘HUPOSTASIS’

This Greek word turns up in five places and each reference sheds some more light on its content.

hupostasis ⁵²⁸⁷. . . HUPO = under; STASIS = stands . . . . = what stands under you.

It is the word used of TITLE-DEEDS in the Papyri (i.e. ancient documents and manuscripts written on parchment).

When you own something like land, you are given a ‘title deed’ to prove your ownership . . . it is your’s and no-one can take it from you. Your ‘faith’ which is really His faith in yours’ is a title-deed that God holds regarding you, His promised land. No-one can take your faith from you . . . there is no persuasion or pressure that can change your stance. . . because of its substance . . . He stands under you. 

 

FAITH IS WHAT STANDS UNDER YOU

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance (hupostasis) of things hoped for, the evidence (or ‘proof’) of things not seen.

Faith can only express Him that ‘stands under’ you — for faith comes by hearing what that Person says. Such hearing is the greatest confidence builder there is. “My sheep hear My voice”.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

FAITH is the ‘title-deed’ that ‘stands under’ you . . . and it is the FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD . . . not your’s! I declare that HIS FAITH has come to me by the grace of God. . . a free gift . . . a revelation . . . GRACE being the God-given ability to accomplish His will in my life. My confidence will fade as soon as I step in with ‘my word’ in a situation.

 

FAITH IS A PERSON . . . the person of Jesus Christ

Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person (hupostasis), and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

It is the person of Jesus Christ that stands under you and He is in that supreme place of authority, the right hand of God. Knowing this, one can move with confidence with the authority He gives. It is not self-confidence which produces a boasting that is obnoxious, but rather such an expression of His life, that any boasting from there will become infectious.

It is “your faith” in the ‘Holy Place’/Church realm, but it is “the faith of the Son of God” (Christ in you) in the Holiest/Kingdom of God realm.

 

CONFIDENCE THROUGH KNOWING

Such a stance . . . upon Jesus Christ gives perfect CONFIDENCE in one’s walk.

Hebrews 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence (hupostasis) steadfast unto the end;

Partakers of the FAITH that is in His PERSON . . . through the faith that stands under us . . . such a

confidence releases yet further expressions of the Christ that is in us.

 

PREPARED, UNASHAMED AND CONFIDENT

He has accomplished in us and we shall see it as we genuinely yield to His Lordship.

2 Cor 9:4 Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident (hupostasis) boasting.

2 Cor 11:17 That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence (hupostasis) of boasting.

When you “know that you know” faith has done its work in and for you, you KNOW who it is that stands under you and that this Person being right there gives one full confidence and guarantees one’s preparedness.

In Matthew 25’s accounts of the ten virgins, it was the five wise that were ready and entered into the Kingdom of Heaven first. §