"HOPE" IN THE BIBLE

Sometimes the definition of a word such as “hope” can best be comprehended by a real example. Taking one out of the Old Testament,we should think of Jeremiah. He has often been characterized as a weeping or grieving prophet, but the utter despair of his situation actually lay behind all his actions and teachings. Recall that he was a prophet to the Jews for forty years, during which time God told him to do things which made him ridiculous in the eyes of the people; he was not allowed to marry; his life was threatened; he was imprisoned; all his writings were destroyed; he was called an enemy of the people for his teachings; he paid to purchase a plot of land that he knew he would soon lose; and finally he was carried away against his will, and died in a foreign land. Nonetheless, he continued to preach a message of hope to the people.

As an aside, the word “hope” appears exactly eight times in Jeremiah, a number symbolically indicating in the Bible a surfeit, “more than sufficient to meet the need, or a brand new beginning.”

Psalms 39:7-8

Jacobson: “The two terms for hope, qawa and tohelet, technically refer to 'waiting' and 'expecting,' which can be understood as two of the components of hope. To hope is first of all to wait, in the full sense of waiting. That is, to wait is to be stuck in the present moment without something or someone that one desires. But to wait is also to linger in the expectation that the something or someone will show up. This is the sense of qawa, especially as it is used in the Psalter.”

Psalms 71:5

“The pleas of vv. 2 and 4 give way [in vv. 3, 7-8] to a testimony of lifelong relationship. Each line except v. 7a contains the word you, telling over and over of a life of faith. God is this one's hope and trust and has been so since birth (v. 6). The poem stresses how this one has always had God as a constant (v. 3) place of safety (vv. 3-7), and the response is to be an example (v. 7) and to praise (v. 8). This section reminds all of God's sustaining grace, but as the next section opens, it also serves as a reminder to God to act again as God has acted in the past.” (Tanner)

Psalm 78:7

“Aseph called the people to hear his instruction about the Lord's deeds...that He would make known to his generation. These had been handed down from earlier generations as God had commanded. The LORD planned this so that the nation might trust Him and obey the Law (v. 7), not stumbling in unbelief and rebellion like their unfaithful forefathers (v. 8).” (Ross)

Psalm 146:5-7

As deClaisse-Walford points out, verse 5 begins with the wisdom word content ('asre), the same word with which Psalm opens and Psalm 2 closes. The word 'asre occurs eleven times in Book Five of the Psalter, almost half of all its occurrences in the Psalter...Content is the one whose help ('ezer) is the God of Jacob. “That last line stands in a parallel relationship with 5b: “whose hope is the LORD their God.”

Acts 23:6

Trenchard states: “The hope in the resurrection of the dead was not a theological sophism but the essence of the gospel. Paul stirred into life something real in some of his old companions [the Pharisees] when he reminded them that their most treasured possession was the messianic hope and the doctrine of the resurrection. This was true OT succession, and not the sterile formalism of the Sadducees and the legalists...”

Acts 26:6

This verse continues the thought of the above passage as Paul describes his early upbringing and points out the “absurd feature of the present dispute [with the Jews] that he was being prosecuted for his proclamation of this very hope – and prosecuted by Jews, of all people! But this hope was the hope that God would keep the promise which He made to the fathers of the nation long ago; it was the hope which gave life and meaning and purpose to the ordinances of divine worship, faithfully maintained by all twelve tribes of Israel generation after generation – the hope that God would one day come down to deliver His people as He had done when they were slaves in Egypt...” (Bruce)

Romans 5:1-5 “We are justified by faith and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 1)...we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God (v. 2)...character produces hope (v. 4) and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that was given us (v. 5).” Notice how the three members of the Trinity are woven into the concepts of faith, hope and love. This is but the first of a number of occurrences of that triad of characteristics in the New Testament.

Romans 8:24-25

The thought is not that he [Paul] will attain to the future salvation by the instrumentality of hope. And neither is the thought that the salvation in the believer's possession came to be his by the instrumentality of hope...'In hope' refers to the fact that the salvation bestowed in the past, the salvation now in possession, is characterized by hope. Hope is an ingredient inseparable from the salvation possessed; in that sense it is salvation conditioned by and oriented to hope. Hope is imbued with that same confidence which characterizes faith (cf. Heb. 11:1). As faith is contrasted with sight (II Cor. 5:7), so is hope, and hope is not dimmed although its object is not present to sense or attained in experience.”(Murray)

Romans 12:3-11

This appeal by Paul to believers begins with telling them “to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned them.” In v. 6 he reiterates that this is is a gift they have received from Him “in proportion to their faith.” We also have a two-fold mention of love in verses 9 and 10, first directed to what is good and secondly directed toward one another. The third member of the triad appears in v. 12 where they are told to rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, and persevere in in prayer. Those last two verbs are closely related to hope and can be said to arise out of it.

I Corinthians 13:13

Fee explains that “these words [i.e. faith, hope and love] embrace the whole of Christian existence, as believers live out the life of the Spirit in the present age awaiting the consummation. They have 'faith' toward God, that is, they trust him to forgive and accept them through Christ.., they trust in his goodness and mercies. They also have 'hope' for the future, which has been guaranteed for them through Christ.Through his resurrection and the gift of the Spirit, they have become a thoroughly future-oriented people...They are on their way 'home,' destined for an existence in the presence of God that is 'face to face.'”

Galatians 5:5-6

“For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision not uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is [faith working] through love.” Here Paul utilizes the most commonly recognized order of these three: faith-hope-love.

Colossians 1:1-8

This compact and organized passage begins with God and Christ (v. 1), repeats these two persons of the Trinity in the same order in vv. 6-7, and finishes with addition of the Spirit. At the same time, the other familiar triad appears as part of the following phrases: “your faith in Christ Jesus” (4a), “love that you have for all the saints (4b), “the hope laid up for you in heaven. You heard of this hope before” (5), “Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant” (7a), “He is a faithful minister of Christ” (7b), and “your love in the Spirit” (8).

I Timothy 6:11

Paul tells Timothy to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. After faith and love we might expect to read 'hope,' but get endurance (hupomeno) instead. Vine notes that this word in Matthew 10:22; 24:13; Mark 13:13 is followed by the phrase 'unto the end.' Thus we can say that it alludes to the hope of heaven for those who persevere.

Titus 2:2

“Tell the older men to be temperate, serious, prudent, and sound in faith, in love, and in endurance.” That the last item in the list is equivalent to or arises from the hope of salvation is indicated by a consideration of 2:13, where Paul says, “...we wait for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:22-24

Kittredge says, “For Hebrews, faith undergirds hope (see 2.6; 6.11,18; 7:19).” To this we could add: “and results in love.”

Ellingworth states that the “present passage becomes increasingly forward-looking, so that faith and hope are closely related, like faith and confession...”

Hebrews 11:1-12:6

Hebrews 11 is the great dissertation on faith and in the first verse it is coupled with hope: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” And this main theme continues into the following chapter, ending problematically at 12:6, which mentions the Lord's love for us. This is the same order we also noted in Hebrews 10:22-24 above.

I Peter 1

In this chapter, faith appears in verses 7, 9, and 21a and belief in 8; the theme of hope of eternal life runs throughout the chapter; and in v. 22 we finally are reminded of love.

And as Keener puts it, “Because the English word 'hope' is ambiguous, we might better render the underlying Greek term as 'expectation'...Believers' hope of future inheritance in Christ (1:4; 3:9) is secure because it is grounded in the already fulfilled resurrection of Christ (1:3, 21; 3:21) and believers' consequent experience of new birth (1:3, 23). This hope is also associated with eschatological glory (1:7; 2:12; 4:13; 5:1,4,10) and described as ultimate salvation (1:5,9,10; 2:2). Embracing such an expectation should affect how believers live (3:9; 4:7).”