Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #45 - Saved Unto Hope

Last time we began to explore the close link between faith and hope in the New Testament.  We closed with a few Scripture references that place these two concepts in close proximity and with a quote from Griffith Thomas that attempts to distinguish between them.  The primary difference between faith and hope seems to be that hope deals essentially with the future.  It is by definition the expectation of future good; and yet it is an anticipation that is based on our faith in God and His Word.  And so faith and hope are indeed inseparably linked.  So much so that hope becomes a part of the very definition or description of faith:  "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).  In this classic Scriptural definition of "faith" we are told that faith is the very substance or more literally "ground" or "confidence" of the things we hope for (i.e. the good things we expect to receive from God in the future, based on His Word who is "a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him").  In other words, by faith we confidently expect to receive those things not yet received (yet hoped for) and are fully convinced concerning those things we cannot see (yet being convinced by the evidence of the reality of the unseen world of God, angels, and heaven, etc.).  Saving faith is the very foundation of Christian hope and yet hope (confident expectation) is at the very heart of saving faith!  The distinction between faith and hope seems even less discernible when we read in the book of Romans the statement, "For we are saved by hope ..." (Romans 8:24).  At first glance this seems to parallel the familiar Gospel message of Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."  There are some who would claim that "hope" in Romans 8:24 is used as being synonymous with "faith".  This may be the way the King James translators understood it here (as well as in Hebrews 10:23 where they translated "elpis" hope as "faith").  In the Greek text of the New Testament however we find a subtle yet significant distinction between these two statements of Romans 8 and Ephesians 2.  Without trying to be too technical, we should note that there is no preposition "by" preceding "hope" in the Greek text of Romans 8:24.  The noun "hope" is simply written in what is called the Dative Case as the object of the verb "saved".  Now the Dative Case may at times express the idea of means and would be translated using the preposition "by".  This is aptly called "the dative of means" for those who wish to explore it further.  But the Dative Case may also simply express reference (most often as the indirect object of the verb).  For example, Romans 6:2 states that "we are dead to (i.e. with reference to) sin."  Romans 8:12 reminds us that the Christian is no longer a debtor "to the flesh" (i.e. with reference to our flesh).  And so we may understand Romans 8:24 as actually saying that we are saved with reference to hope.  This understanding helps to avoid confusing faith and hope.  Faith is indeed the means of our receiving salvation, grace being the grounds or basis of it.  Thus we are saved by grace and receive this gift of salvation through faith.  But we are saved unto hope!  In fact the definite article ("the") precedes the word "hope" in the Greek text which indicates that a particular hope is in view here, not just hope in general, or a subjective feeling of hope, but a real, objective hope based on the promises of God.  Try reading through Romans 8:15-23 noting the future things that have been promised to the believer in Christ and then read verse 24 as a sort of concluding thought:  "for we have been saved for this very hope"!  This passage is full of the "things hoped for" and those things "not seen" as yet:  our inheritance as the heirs of God; the glory that shall be revealed in us; the manifestation of the sons of God; the glorious liberty of the children of God; the adoption; the redemption of our body; for all the things we "groan for" and "wait for"; these are the things we are saved to receive one day, these are the things that comprise the hope for which we have been saved!  We are not in heaven yet.  We still must live in a fallen world.  We are not glorified yet.  We still must live in corruptible bodies.  We are not completed yet.  Our flesh still wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.  We have no problem groaning under the limitations and physical afflictions of the present time, but how much do we really groan for the glorification that is promised to us in our resurrection?  It is the future hope that we have because of our salvation that enables us to patiently endure the trials of this life and world (vs.17,18).  There is much more awaiting us than what we have already received!  The Holy Spirit Himself is given as the "firstfruits" of the fuller "harvest" of our future glorification awaiting us in Christ.  This is truly an unseen hope and yet one we may confidently expect to receive:  "But hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it" (Romans 8:24,25).  We can, with the Spirit's help and intercession, patiently endure any trial, any hardship, any suffering God permits in our lives knowing that there is something better to come, something incomparably better to hope for, for we have been saved unto hope!