Hope in its Right Place

“May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in HOPE.” (Romans 15:13 ESV)

Paul had, previous to this verse in Romans, made the case that Christ is the HOPE of both Jew and Gentile – all nations. This text and prayer for those in Rome about hope is the culmination of the theme of Romans – where Jew and Gentile are both only and ever made right with God by the faithfulness of Jesus, and by a living faith in the efficacy of the saving work of Christ.

So, normally we’d expect Paul to talk about faith, because it has been his theme to this point, but now he speaks of hope – something we are less familiar with. This hope, that comes from the God of hope, a God defined by hope, is to bring joy and peace in believing. Not only so, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, this hope will fill us to overflowing. 

What is this hope then, as it seems to be in short supply? We will try to answer this, by reframing hope in biblical terms. But before that a few words about faith, hope and love – the big three: a trinity of gift, perspective and action.  

  

Paul tells us that three things, faith, hope and love, will endure, will last forever. Point is, they outlast everything. Almost everything we think is secure and permanent is far from it, but faith, hope and love will go the distance.  They don’t crumble, rust, fade, self-destruct, lose value, nor do they go out of fashion. 

We are familiar with faith. It describes the inner conviction that what God has said is both trustworthy and apprehend-able. By it we have a foretaste of the age to come. It is the ‘now’ of, ‘now and not yet.’ And faith points to, is fulfilled by, the one who we have faith in – Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.  

Love needs no introduction, although it needs constant redefinition and reminder. 

But hope languishes in the understanding of many. 

To begin with it isn’t wishful thinking, as in, I hope it doesn’t rain (a forlorn hope in London), or, I hope I pass the exam, or, I hope for better days, etc. Nor is hope merely a positive attitude/optimism (although someone with hope is likely to have a positive attitude – as an outcome though, not as a goal). I suspect many of us think that hope is a cheery disposition. Motivational speakers hope you will find a point of reference in yourself by feeling better about yourself to add more boldness or strength to your life and decisions – a laudable goal, but as far from biblical hope as is the sun from the moon - which is approximately 150 million kilometres.  You get the point. 

This is - Hope Reframed.

*‘Now and not yet’ is a theological term that helps explain that the resurrection of Christ ushered in a fore taste of the age to come – ‘now’ – but not the completion of all the promises of God – ‘not yet’.  We get a fore taste of the coming age but we don’t yet experience all of it. This will be at our resurrection. See Hebrews 6:5 and Romans 8:23 ESV.