The Ultimate Translation Text: Hebrews 11:5-6
Introduction: A Faith That Walks
We live in an age that is allergic to faith. Our secularist high priests tell us that faith is a blind leap, a retreat from reason, a private psychological crutch for those who can't handle the cold, hard realities of a meaningless universe. And sadly, much of modern evangelicalism has tacitly agreed, treating faith as a mere decision, a transaction, a fire insurance policy that you purchase with a prayer and then file away. It is a faith that is kept in the glove compartment of the soul, rarely consulted and having almost no bearing on how one drives.
But the faith described here in the great hall of Hebrews 11 is something else entirely. It is not a leap in the dark; it is a walk in the light. It is not a crutch; it is a backbone. It is not a private sentiment; it is a public testimony that reorders all of life and culminates in glory. The writer of Hebrews, having just shown us Abel's faith that offered a better sacrifice, now brings another antediluvian saint to the stand. He calls Enoch, a man whose life was so radically oriented toward God that he simply walked out of this life and into the next without the messy interruption of a funeral.
Enoch's testimony is a direct assault on the twin errors of our time: the sneering unbelief of the atheist and the sterile, impotent belief of the carnal Christian. To the atheist, Enoch is an impossibility, a man whose life was defined by a God the atheist insists is not there. To the carnal Christian, Enoch is an embarrassment, a man who actually walked with God, while they are content to merely acknowledge His existence from a safe distance. Enoch’s life and his spectacular departure from it force a question upon us that we dare not evade: what does it mean to please God? And what kind of faith is it that accomplishes such a thing?
The world thinks pleasing God is impossible, or that it involves a life of grim, joyless asceticism. But the Scriptures teach that it is not only possible, but it is the central business of our existence. And it is not accomplished through heroic striving, but through simple, robust faith. This passage lays out the fundamental grammar of that faith. It is a faith that believes God is, that He is good, and that He rewards those who seek Him. It is a faith that walks, and it is a faith that is ultimately translated.
The Text
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for prior to being taken up, he was approved as being pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who draws near to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
(Hebrews 11:5-6 LSB)
A Life Translated (v. 5)
We begin with the astounding conclusion to Enoch's life:
"By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for prior to being taken up, he was approved as being pleasing to God." (Hebrews 11:5)
The first thing to notice is the engine of this event: "By faith." Enoch's translation was not a random act of divine whimsy. It was the logical conclusion, the fitting capstone, to a life lived by faith. Faith was the instrument. The entire chapter is a drumbeat of this phrase, "by faith," showing us that from start to finish, the life that connects with God is a life of faith.
Enoch "was taken up," or translated. God simply took him. The Genesis account is famously concise: "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (Gen. 5:24). One moment he was here, walking, and the next he was not here, because God had relocated him. He bypassed the curse of the grave. This is a staggering event. In a world under the dominion of death, where every life story ends with a period, Enoch's story ends with an exclamation point. He is a type, a foreshadowing, of the final victory over death that all believers will experience in Christ, when the dead are raised and those who are alive are caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:17).
The text emphasizes the reality of his disappearance: "he was not found." You can imagine the search party. They looked behind the rocks, they checked his usual paths, but he was gone. This wasn't a quiet death in his sleep; this was a divine removal. God took him. This is a polemic against the naturalism that governs the modern mind. Our wise men tell us that such things do not happen. But the Christian faith is grounded in the reality that the God who created the world is not bound by its ordinary operations. He can, and does, intervene.
But the writer of Hebrews wants us to see the foundation for this miraculous event. Before the translation, there was a testimony. Before he was taken up, "he was approved as being pleasing to God." The Greek here for "approved" carries the idea of a testimony being borne to him. God Himself was Enoch's character witness. And what was the testimony? That he was "pleasing to God." The Genesis account uses the phrase "walked with God." The two are synonymous. To walk with God is to please God. This is not about a mystical, abstract feeling. It is about a life of steady, consistent, forward-moving fellowship and obedience. It means walking in the same direction as God, at the same pace, in constant conversation. This is the very essence of a covenant relationship. And this walk, this life of pleasing God, was the basis for his extraordinary exit.
The Non-Negotiable Necessity of Faith (v. 6a)
Verse 6 then draws out the central, universal principle from Enoch's specific example.
"And without faith it is impossible to please Him..." (Hebrews 11:6a)
This is one of the most foundational statements in all of Scripture. It is an axiom of our relationship with God. The word "impossible" is absolute. It is not "difficult," or "challenging," or "unlikely." It is impossible. You can no more please God without faith than you can fly to the moon by flapping your arms. It is a categorical impossibility.
This demolishes every man-made religion, all of which are built on the sandy foundation of human works and merit. People think they can please God by being generally decent, by keeping the scales of their good deeds tipped slightly more than their bad deeds, by attending church, by being religious. But God is not grading on a curve. He is not looking for effort; He is looking for faith. All our righteous deeds, performed apart from faith, are as filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah 64:6). Why? Because without faith, the motive is always corrupt. The work is done to indebt God, to earn favor, to build a resume for heaven. It is an act of pride, not worship. It is an attempt to relate to God as a contractor, not as a son. And God will not be pleased with it.
Faith is the only proper response to God because it is the only response that acknowledges who He is and who we are. Faith says, "You are God, and I am not. You are the Creator; I am the creature. You are the source of all life and goodness; I am a needy recipient of your grace." Any other approach is an act of rebellion, an attempt to stand on our own two feet before the throne of the universe, which is the height of cosmic absurdity.
The Two Pillars of True Faith (v. 6b)
The verse then concludes by defining the essential, non-reducible content of this necessary faith. What must we believe?
"...for he who draws near to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6b)
This is the irreducible minimum of saving faith. It has two pillars. First, "he who draws near to God must believe that He is." This is the presupposition of all presuppositions. You must believe in His existence. But this is not merely an intellectual acknowledgment that a deity of some sort exists. The demons believe that, and they tremble (James 2:19). This is belief in the God who has revealed Himself in Scripture: the transcendent, personal, triune God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is to believe that He is the ultimate reality, the source and sustainer of all things. To come to God is to acknowledge that He is the central fact of the universe and that you are a peripheral fact.
The modern atheist prides himself on his supposed lack of faith. But in reality, he is a man of profound faith. He has faith that there is no God, a universal negative that is impossible to prove. He has faith that matter and energy are eternal, that chaos can spontaneously generate order, and that consciousness can arise from non-conscious matter. These are all massive, unprovable articles of faith. The Christian simply places his faith in the one true God, the only starting point that makes logic, morality, and science intelligible.
The second pillar is that we must believe "that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." This is crucial. We must not only believe that God exists, but we must also believe that He is good. To believe He is a rewarder is to believe in His grace, His goodness, His benevolence. It is to believe that seeking Him is never a waste of time. He is not a cosmic tyrant who is begrudgingly served. He is a loving Father who delights to give good gifts to His children.
This strikes at the root of all false religion and all joyless, dutiful Christianity. God is not pleased by the faith of a slave cowering before a master. He is pleased by the faith of a child running to his father, confident of a warm reception. He is a rewarder. This does not mean He is a cosmic vending machine, dispensing health and wealth on demand. The rewards of God are first and foremost God Himself. The great reward for seeking God is finding God. But it also means that a life of faith is a life of blessing. He rewards our faith with peace, with joy, with purpose, with righteousness, and ultimately, with eternal life. To seek Him is the most reasonable and profitable venture a man can undertake.
Conclusion: Walk, and Be Translated
So what is the takeaway for us? Enoch's life is not just a curious artifact from the ancient world. It is a paradigm for every believer. We are called to this same kind of walking faith.
First, we must begin with the two pillars. Do you believe that He is? Not just in your head, but in your bones? Is He the fundamental reality around which you organize your entire life? And do you believe that He is a rewarder? Do you approach Him with the glad confidence of a beloved child, or with the grim resignation of a hired hand? If your faith is weak, it is likely because one of these pillars is crumbling. Shore them up with the Word of God.
Second, we must understand that this faith is a walk. It is a daily, step-by-step process of fellowship and obedience. It is not about ecstatic experiences, but about dogged faithfulness in the mundane. Enoch walked with God for three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah. This was a long obedience in the same direction. This is what pleases God. It is the man who gets up every morning and says, "Lord, what is the next step?" and then takes it. It is the woman who deals with her children, her work, and her neighbors with a constant awareness of God's presence and a desire to please Him.
And last, we must live in light of the translation. Enoch's story reminds us that this world is not our final home. He was a pilgrim, and his walk had a destination. God took him. For us, the translation will come at the return of Christ. But the principle is the same. A life of faith is a life that is heading somewhere. We are not simply wandering in circles until we die. We are walking toward glory. And the God who took Enoch is the same God who has promised to raise us up in Christ. Therefore, let us walk with Him, pleasing Him by our faith, until that day when He either calls us home or comes for us, and we too are translated into His immediate presence forever.