Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #57 - Waiting in Hope

We have been considering some of the elements that constitute the fullness of the believer's hope in Christ by looking at some of the descriptive phrases used in the New Testament in connection with the word "hope".  Last time we looked at the promise that the believer in Christ can "rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2).  We would just like to add to that study the thought that we can presently rejoice even though the glory we shall experience is yet in the future.  This is because the future hope we are promised by God in His Word is as certain as a present fact!  If we can rejoice now because of what awaits us, how much more will we rejoice in that day when our hope in Christ is fulfilled?  There is indeed a fullness of hope that we now possess even as we await the fulfillment of hope to come.  The Apostle Paul includes this present rejoicing as a vital part of the responsibilities and privileges of the Christian life:  "Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer ..." (Romans 12:11,12).  Likewise, the writer of the Book of Hebrews exhorts us to maintain this rejoicing unto the end of our earthly lives: "But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end" (Hebrews 3:6).  In other words, it is an evidence of Christ dwelling in us that we continually hope as well as continue to hope all of our days.  But all of this is also a reminder that much of what we hope for is yet future and therefore we must wait for the ultimate fulfillment of our hope in Christ.  In Galatians 5:5 we read these words:  "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith."  We must wait in faith for this aspect of our Christian hope to be fulfilled.  We have seen the close connection between hoping and waiting already several times in this study.  In the Old Testament we saw that the root meaning of one of the Hebrew words for "hope" (Hebrew - yahal) was in fact "to wait".   Likewise we considered the Greek word "prosdekomai" (waiting, looking) in connection with the Messianic hope of those who looked for the coming of the Christ (see study#48, Jan.5, 2014 for example).  Here we find yet another word translated "wait", the Greek word "apekdekomai".  The Pulpit Commentary states that this verb "in all the six other passages in which it is found, is used with reference to objects or events pertaining to the close of the present dispensation:  Rom. 8:19,23,25; I Cor. 1:7; Phil. 3:20; Heb. 9:28."  It also notes that being a compound verb probably makes it intensive in meaning "expressing thorough-goingness; an entirely assured, steadfast expectation, persistent to the end" (emphasis mine).  It must be noted that the Apostle Paul credits this expectant waiting to the Holy Spirit within the believer:  "For we through the Spirit wait ..." (vs.5).  While some would make this refer to the spirit of the believer (we wait in our spirit, wait in a spiritual way, inwardly, etc. as opposed to in our flesh or in a fleshly, merely external way, etc.) the mention of the Holy Spirit both before (3:2-5,14; 4:6) and after this verse (5:18, 22-25) indicates that it is the personal agency of the indwelling Spirit of God within the believer that produces and makes such waiting possible.  Vincent rightly comments:  "(It is) the Holy Spirit who inspires our faith.... (These words) are not to be taken as one conception, the Spirit which is of faith, but present two distinct and coordinate facts which characterize the waiting for the hope of righteousness; namely, the agency of the Holy Spirit, in contrast with the flesh ..., and faith, in contrast with the works of the law ..." (emphasis mine).  But what is meant here by our waiting for "the hope of righteousness"?  Certainly not that we hope to one day receive righteousness in the sense of being justified before God.  We have already been declared righteous (i.e. justified) by God through our faith in Christ (Galatians 2:16; 3:6,11,24, etc.).  The "hope of righteousness" must therefore mean the hope that results from righteousness (which is freely granted by faith alone in Christ alone).  John Wesley stated that this speaks of the reward of our faith in Christ:  "The righteousness we hope for, and full reward of it.  This righteousness we receive of God through faith; and by faith we shall obtain the reward" (emphasis mine).  The comments in The Pulpit Commentary are again helpful:  "We Christians, as led by the Spirit of adoption, do rest in the confident anticipation of receiving the inheritance which is the future award of the righteous, on the ground of our faith in the Lord Jesus" (emphasis mine).  So while righteousness is imputed to the believer presently by faith in Christ, the hope of righteousness (that is, its reward) awaits us in the future. We should also note that although we have received the righteousness of Christ imputed to us at salvation, the work of imparting and restoring righteousness to the believer through sanctification is a process that will not be fully completed until our glorification in eternity.  Only then will the righteousness which is by faith have its full effect.  As believers we possess righteousness in Christ by faith, pursue the practice of righteousness in life, but will be perfected in righteousness in heaven. Until then we must wait, but wait in faith and in full expectation and joyful anticipation of joining in eternal fellowship with "the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven ... the spirits of just men made perfect" (Hebrews 12:23).