“To evince it impossible, says the Doctor, that faith in the Messiah, should be meant by the faith in this chapter, the apostle expressly saith, that all those, to whom he assigns this faith, had not received the promises; therefore they could not have faith in that, which was never proposed to their faith. For how should they believe on him, of whom they had not heard?”
Now if this argument has any good logic in it, it must follow, that no one, whether patriarch or prophet, before, or after the law, ever had, or could have faith in the Messiah, for all who died before the birth of Christ, must have died without receiving the promises, which were then first received, when good old Simeon could sing, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”
But St. Paul, speaking to the Jews, saith, “Behold, we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise, which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same to us their children.”
Here, by the Spirit of God himself, is made known to us, the true difference between receiving, and not receiving the promises. The fathers, who could only see them afar off, are those who died without receiving the promises, that is, without receiving the things promised. And their children who lived to see the promises fulfilled, are they that received the promises, that is, the things promised.
Farther, the Spirit of God saith, “all these died in the faith, not having received the promises.”
But how could they die in this faith? It was for this only reason, because they had not received the promises, that is, the things promised. For if they had, they could not have died in faith, but in the enjoyment of things promised.
The Doctor therefore has unluckily pitched upon that, as an argument against the possibility of their faith in the Messiah, which is the very reason, why they did die in the faith of him. For the holy Spirit saith, they all died in the faith; and then the reason is added, why they did, namely, because not having received the promises; therefore their not having received the promises, is the reason why they died in the faith of them. And their faith had this foundation, because they had seen the things promised, as afar off, that is, long after their own deaths, and therefore to be fulfilled, or made good in a future life. Consequently, their faith was in a redemption to come in a life after this; which surely may be affirmed to be a true faith in the promised Messiah, or in all that, which had been promised, from the first joyful notice, which God gave of him, in a seed of the woman to bruise the head of the serpent. Which in gospel language is called, destroying the works of the devil, and bringing all that to life again, which died in Adam’s transgression.
It is added of these holy men dying in the faith of promises seen afar off, that they were perswaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth; now they that say such things, plainly declare, that they seek a better country, that is, an heavenly.
What an extravagance is it therefore in the learned Doctor, to say, How should they believe in him of whom they have not heard; as in the least degree applicable to those saints of the old world? For their faith was in promises made to them, but not fulfilled before their deaths, which they beholding as afar off, died in the fullest faith and expectation of a blessed life and heavenly country in virtue of them. Therefore they believed in that, of which they had heard, they knew what it was that they believed, namely, a redemption from all the evil of their pilgrimage on earth, to a life in heaven.
Our blessed Lord said to the Jews, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad. Surely then Abraham had faith in the Messiah, and yet he is numbered by the apostle amongst those, who died not having received the promises.