Hope Versus Dread, Fear and Despair

Hope is the opposite of despair. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary says that despair means: The complete loss or absence of hope.

The word despair only appears once in the King James Version of the Bible. Although the Greek word used is also translated as despaired in another verse of the New Testament.

According to Strong’s Dictionary of Greek Words, the Greek word exaporeomai translated despair and despaired in the King James Version, means:

Middle voice from G1537 and G639; to be utterly at a loss, that is, despond: - (in) despair.

According to Thayer’s Greek Definitions, this Greek word means:

1) to be utterly at loss, be utterly destitute of measures or resources, to renounce all hope, be in despair

Joseph Thayer uses the term to renounce all hope in his description of despair. So despair is the opposite of hope. It stands to reason that if a person has this hope aspect of love in their life, they will be unable to succumb to despair.

Despair comes when a person seems to have no other option than to trust in their own limited ability, other people, or the circumstances of life. Despair is always the result of an absence of God or simply not being made perfect in love.

The word dread is closely related to the word despair; the Concise Oxford English Dictionary describes the word dread as: great fear or apprehension. Dread is fear and often manifests itself as a vague sense of foreboding – as if something bad is going to happen, although you do not quite know what.

This is the total opposite of the Biblical concept of hope, which is the Greek word elpizō (G1679) (verb) or elpis (G1680) (noun). Hope is the expectation of good, whereas, fear is the expectation of bad. Fear or dread, just like hope can be either vague and generic or it can be specific.

Fear is caused by an absence of love, and therefore, is separation from God. Fear is the result of spiritual death. Fear, therefore, can be seen as encompassing a whole range of negative attributes, such as anger, bitterness, pride, envy and so on. More specifically though, fear is usually a negative expectancy of a future event. Fear is a projection of past, negative experiences into the future. I would therefore say that fear, the strictest sense of the word, is despair.

We see despair in action in story of the disciples in the boat during a storm at sea in Matthew 8. Jesus put a demand on His disciples for love that would rise above despair. Jesus knew precisely how they would respond. But the fact that He acted as if they should have been calm, suggests that through Him it is possible to maintain peace even when it seems that your life is in danger. Obviously, something supernatural is required here. See John 14:26-27.

If the disciples had the peace that Jesus promised in John 14:27 – they would not have reacted the way they did; it would have been impossible for them to do so, because John 4:18 says that perfect love casts out fear.

If fear is despair or dread and if hope is the attribute of love that is the closest equal opposite of despair or dread, then we could read John 4:18 as:
There is no despair in hope; but perfect hope casts out despair, because despair involves torment. But he who despairs has not been made perfect in hope. We could also read that verse, substituting the word "fear" with "dread".

It seems rather difficult for the mind to grasp spiritual concepts such as love. Only the recreated spirit of man can receive the things of God as the Holy Spirit reveals them. Too many Christians are still living according to a works mentality: they take the responsibility of love upon themselves without knowing how to access it.

When a believer develops knowledge of what love really is and that it only comes from God, it sets him free from the burden of having to live right by his own strength and his own understanding. A works mentality spurns God’s love and welcomes guilt.