Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #60 - The Hope of Salvation

Our next descriptive phrase of the believer's hope in Christ is found in I Thessalonians 5:8 - "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."  This passage is dealing with the protective armament of the believer in Christ that is needed as we live in a world of sinful darkness and spiritual conflict.  We may compare it to Paul's even fuller description of the Christian's armor (the whole armor of God) as found in Ephesians 6:11-17 where in verse 17 he states: "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Both of these passages refer to the believer's salvation as part of a spiritual armor that guards and protects the head of the Christian.  Obviously the head is a vital part of the body and a blow to the head can lead to serious consequences in battle.  The head is also the source of thought, decision making, reason, hearing, speaking, and sight.  It is both the receptor center and the command center of the rest of the body.  Many if not most of all spiritual battles take place in the mind of the Christian!  We must carefully guard our minds with the helmet of our salvation.  Simply put we should continually think about what it means to be saved and then seek to think and act accordingly.  We must be thinking Christians! The consecration and renewal of the mind is essential to spiritual growth and success (Romans 12:1,2).  Likewise, complete mastery of our thought life is critical to spiritual victory (II Corinthians 10:3-5).  But what is meant by "the hope of salvation"?  Many times we have heard it said that we must have a "know-so" salvation, not merely a "hope-so" salvation.  While I would agree with this statement wholeheartedly, I do not believe that Paul is here speaking of a salvation that is merely "hoped for" in the modern sense of the phrase.  Rather we must remind ourselves of our previous findings in this study on the Biblical meaning of the word "hope" as used in the Scriptures.  We have consistently observed that the word "hope" in the Bible is not used of merely "wishful thinking", but always of "confident expectation", especially of future good.  Thus Paul is referring to the expectation of salvation that gives the believer complete confidence in times of spiritual conflict.  The word "salvation" is a rather broad term that includes all aspects of the spiritual deliverance and safety that the Christian has been given and/or will be given.  The basic meaning is "to be rescued from danger and to be placed in a safe condition."  There are present aspects to the believer's salvation which include, among other things, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation and the new birth.  There are progressive aspects of salvation which include such things as sanctification, spiritual growth and maturity, spiritual virtues and fruit bearing, conformity to the image of Christ, etc.  And there are future aspects of salvation too - such as resurrection, redemption of the body, and glorification.  Thus the Scriptures speak of :  1) having been saved (past tense) - Romans 8:24; Ephesians 2:5,8; II Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5; etc.  (This is more clear in the Greek text since both the Aorist and  Perfect tenses are used in these verses). 

2) being saved (present tense) - Luke 19:9; I Corinthians 1:18,21; 15:2; II Corinthians 2:15; etc. And,

3) shall be saved (future tense) - Matthew 10:22; Romans 5:9; 13:11; I Corinthians 3:15; etc.

The past tense speaks of our past reception of salvation at which time we were delivered from the penalty of sin.  The present tense speaks of our present possession of salvation and the progressive deliverance from the power and practice of sin.  The future tense speaks of the future consummation of our salvation and the perfect deliverance from the very presence of sin in heaven!  This comprehensive view of salvation should serve to give us hope indeed -  A confident hope of spiritual deliverance and victory that is a settled fact, a present enjoyment, and a future guarantee!  Let us guard our hearts and our head with this great helmet: the hope of salvation!

Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #59 - The Hope of the Gospel

In our last post we looked in the Book of Ephesians at the hope of the believer's calling.  We noted that there are two aspects to our calling in Christ:  God's perspective of an eternal calling (He loved us in Christ before the creation of the world); and man's perspective (We accepted His calling through personal faith in Christ at a definite time and place in our lives).  From God's standpoint of eternity (He sees and knows all things past, present and future as one eternal "now") He has either always known us or He has never known us (II Timothy 1:9; Matthew 7:23).  J.I. Packer has defined our calling as "the temporal execution of (God's) eternal intentions."  The means by which God extends His eternal calling to us in time is the evangelical call of the Gospel! The only way we can "make our calling and election sure" (II Peter 1:10) is to be certain that we have believed the Gospel.  This is the means that God has ordained in order to make our calling effectual for salvation (many are called, but few are chosen - Matthew 22:14).  Thus the hope of our calling is inseparably linked to the hope of the Gospel:  "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven ..." (Colossians 1:23).  This verse comes in the context of the Apostle Paul's presentation of Christ as the Preeminent One:  He is preeminent over all creation because He is the Divine Creator (Colossians 1:15-17);  He is preeminent over the Church because He is her Divine Head (vs.18-23).  The Creator of the universe is the Sovereign of the Church!  And He alone is our Savior:
1) He made peace (between a Holy God and sinful men) through the blood of His cross - vs.20.
2) He made reconciliation possible to those who were once alienated as the enemies of God - vs.21.
3) He will present the believer as holy, unblameable and unreproveable in His sight - vs.22.
All of this constitutes the hope of the Gospel!  This is what we may confidently claim and expect to receive because we have believed the Gospel of Christ, but only if we have believed.  The peace and reconciliation Christ died to provide is offered conditionally.  He does not reconcile everyone unconditionally  or else the devil himself and all his demons would be reconciled to God (which is clearly not the case).  He does not reconcile anyone apart from faith in Christ which is a grounded and settled trust in His Person and Saving Work.  To "move away" from this Gospel message is to be excluded from the hope of salvation it offers the sinner.  Only the Gospel of Christ offers the sinner any hope for eternal salvation!  Do you have this hope?  "We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus ... for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel" (Colossians 1:3-5).