Hebrews 11 has three different phrases related to faith. The first and by far most common is “by faith.” It appears in all those verses that describe the believing activity of the men of faith listed in the chapter: “by faith Abel…,” “by faith Enoch…,” “by faith Noah…,” and so on. The second is used only once: “These all died according to faith…” (v. 13). And we find the third, “through faith” in verses 33 and 39.
The first phrase emphasizes that faith is an activity of the believer that produces works of obedience based on the hope of the promises. The third points to faith as the gift of God and the instrument through which the saints receive the power of obedience: “who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises…” (v. 33). And, “All these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise” (v. 39). The second is more difficult, but I believe the context shows us the significance: “These all died according to faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (v. 13).
In other words, “according to faith” means that these Old Testament saints lived before the fulfillment of the promises in the promised seed, our Lord Jesus Christ. They saw them afar off. They saw them, not in reality, but only in prophecies and ceremonies. They had much less than we have today, and it can never be said of us that we die “according to faith.” We live by faith, and through faith we subdue kingdoms, but we do not live according to faith. It cannot be said of us that we “did not receive the promise” (v. 39).
This is why we call them “heroes of faith.” They had much less than we do, and could not be made perfect without us (v. 39), but still they acted believingly in many trying circumstances. They are a cloud of witnesses for us who, by their example, are encouraged “to lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us” and to “run with endurance and race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (12:1–2).