We are continuing our word studies on the three virtues in 1 Corinthians 13:13: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Today we will take a deep dive into the word “hope.”
How do we usually think of the word hope? Most of us tend to think of something that we aren’t sure will actually happen, but we want it to happen, so we “hope” that it will happen. Whether it was something when you were a kid that you hoped to get for Christmas, or as an adult maybe you took a test and you hoped you got a good score on it. Maybe you or someone you love is going through something very difficult, and you hope that you or they will get through it soon. These are all things that we cannot be sure about. All we can do is hope that the favored outcome will be what happens.
But is that what “hope” means in the Bible? It is clearly a very important virtue, as it is one of the three that “abide,” or “remain” in 1 Corinthians 13. Love is described as “the greatest of these,” and love itself hopes, as described in 1 Corinthians 13:7, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Let’s take a look at what the word hope really means in the Bible.
The Greek word for hope is elpis, and the strong’s definition for it is, “(to anticipate, usually with pleasure); expectation (abstractly or concretely) or confidence:- faith, hope.”
Now that sounds a lot more certain than what we usually think of when describing the word hope, but let’s look into it a little more.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) gives some interesting notes about this word in the Bible: “In the Old Testament there is no Hebrew word that has the exact force of ‘expectation of some good thing,’ so that in the KJV ‘hope’ stands for some 15 Hebrew words nearly all of which in other places are given other translation.” It goes on to talk about the word hope in the New Testament, saying, “Hope is simply faith directed toward the future, and no sharp distinction between faith and hope is attainable.”
We see this in many verses where faith and hope are used together, or can almost be used interchangeably, such as in Romans 4, where the apostle Paul shares how Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. He says in verse 18, “In hope [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ‘so shall your offspring be.’” Then verse 20 continues, “ No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” Here hope is described very similarly to faith in that in both verses Abraham believed what God had promised. Faith was Abraham simply believing God, and hope was him believing in what God promised was going to happen.
Although faith and hope are very similar, Hebrews 11:1 gives a distinction between the two words. It says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It’s as if faith is what pulls back the curtain to show that what you are hoping for is real. This brings us back to what the meaning of hope really is, as used in God’s Word. According to Strong’s definition for hope, it can be used in the abstract or concrete. In the Bible, it seems to be used very concretely. The KJV uses the word “substance” instead of “assurance” in Hebrews 11:1. Hope is attached to something very real, something that will actually happen as God promised. St Bernard of Clairvaux commentates on this verse. Although he is talking specifically about faith, again faith and hope are so closely linked that it sheds light on the meaning of the word hope as well. He says, “the substance, he says, of things hoped for, not a fantasy of empty conjectures. You hear, that is a substance; and therefore it is not allowed you in your faith, to suppose or oppose at your pleasure, nor to wander hither and thither amongst empty opinions, through devious errors. Under the name of substance something certain and fixed is set before you. You are enclosed in known bounds, shut in within fixed limits. For faith is not an opinion but a certitude.” In terms of hope, it is a substance, not just a possibility.
Hebrews 6:18-20 describes how sure hope really is. It says, “so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie. We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us, we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, the hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.” This verse shatters to pieces our usual perception of the word hope. Hope is anything but unsure, uncertain, or unstable. It is a virtue that means we are certain in something that is real because it comes from God, who will never put us to shame, as in Romans 5:5. It says, “and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” It is not because of us that hope does not put us to shame, but because of God and his promises that he never breaks.
This truth becomes even more evident when we read about Paul and other Christians who were martyred for their faith, and their hope in what God has promised will come. In Acts 26, Paul testified before King Agrippa and shared his testimony of becoming a Christian. Starting in verse 4 he said, “And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises from the dead?” The hope Paul was talking about here isnt just an abstract hope in something that could “potentially” be fulfilled but is unsure. It is quite the opposite rather, because hope in the promises of God is something that will be fulfilled. It is something we can expect with confidence.
Not only is our hope in God sure, but according to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, “hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity.” This is clearly seen not only in what we read about Paul risking his life for the hope he had, but also in the fact that we are commanded in 1 Peter 5:7 to, “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” Hope must be very certain if it is the basis of our entire faith.
The ISBE points out a truth that is important to our Christian walk: “Yet, though the hope might be, it was not yet attained, and the interim was an opportunity to develop faith.”
We can rest in the assurance of God’s promises in the Bible. The assurance of our salvation, the assurance of being resurrected with Christ on the last day, and the assurance of living with God for all eternity, because of what Jesus has done for us. Until then, we remember the words of Paul in Romans 8:18-25, “for in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
Written by NBB Alumna: Victoria Hoverson
