“Hope” is a strange word. We often use it as a synonym for “wish,” even when we don’t realize that’s what we’re doing. Think about it:
“I hope it doesn’t rain this weekend.”
“I hope we get to hang out while you’re in town.”
“I hope the chef cooks my steak the way I like it.”
“I hope I get to see Clay Cook in concert next time he comes to Atlanta.”
The way we use it in English, the word “hope” almost has a childlike quality to it. But in Romans, the Apostle Paul intended it to be something so much stronger.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:1-5 (ESV)
The Greek word for “hope” is elpis (ἐλπίς). James Strong’s The New Strong’s Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible defines this Greek word as “to anticipate, usually with pleasure; expectation… or confidence:—faith, hope.” In other words, it’s a robust word.
In his commentary on Romans, Romans for You, the late Tim Keller said this about hope (ἐλπίς): “This is a definite anticipation of sharing God’s future glory. The word ‘hope’ in English is rather weak. To ‘hope’ means to want something without certainty. But the Greek word underlying it, elpis, means a conviction. Christian hope is not a hopeful wish—it is a hope-filled certainty.”
Related: Sunday Thoughts: Certain of God’s Promises
John R. W. Stott wrote something similar in The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World: “Christian hope (elpis) is not uncertain, like our ordinary everyday hopes about the weather or our health; it is a joyful and confident expectation which rests on the promises of God, as we saw in the case of Abraham.”
Stott continued by pointing out that Paul “adds that hope does not disappoint us, and never will. It will never betray us by proving to be an illusion after all.”
Later on in Romans 8 (my favorite chapter in the Bible), Paul tells us that this hope is what keeps us waiting for the culmination of our salvation:
…we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:24-25 (ESV)
When we place our hope in Jesus Christ, it’s not some vague, silly wish for something that may or may not happen. Instead, it’s a confidence that we know that God is going to do what He has promised. In this sense, hope should spur us on to persevere, to be bold, and to worship. This kind of hope is exciting, and I hope you can find encouragement and joy in it, no matter what you’re going through.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member