Hope Facilitates Trust

I believe that the Biblical concept of hope, as an aspect of love, is a generic, broad-based expectation of good. It is only a state of despair, an absence of hope, which leads a person to insist on specific outcomes, and thereby, entertain fantasies.

This kind of hope comes out of peace and joy. When you have peace and joy you cannot help but expect good things to happen to you. It is only when a person lacks peace and joy that they will have a sense of foreboding about everything.
When a person has this kind of hope, they are more prone to just leaving things to fate. Hope will lead to a que sera sera kind of attitude, because although you might not know exactly what will happen in the future, you know that things will work out well for you in the end. This complies with what 1 Corinthians 13:8 has to say about love: Love never fails...

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.

Faith Works by Trust and Hope

I am convinced that faith will not work without love, because faith requires the two vital ingredients of love that we have just studied: belief (or trust) and hope. According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, the word hope means:

1 A feeling of expectation and desire. A cause or source of hope. Grounds for hoping.
2 Archaic: a feeling of trust.

Again, we are directed towards trust, as hope is a feeling of trust in archaic terms. The modern sense of hope is an expectation and desire. We often say thing like, “I hope things will go well at my job interview next week.” Kenneth E. Hagin and E.W. Kenyon have both written about the difference between faith and hope. Hope says, “I’ll have the promise someday.” Whereas, faith says, “I have it now.”

Albert Barnes on the Hope Aspect of Love

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible says the following about hopes all things in 1 Corinthians 13:7.

Hopeth all things - Hopes that all will turn out well. This must also refer to the conduct of others; and it means, that however dark may be appearances; how much soever there may be to produce the fear that others are actuated by improper motives or are bad people, yet that there is a “hope” that matters may be explained and made clear; that the difficulties may he made to vanish; and that the conduct of others may be made to “appear” to be fair and pure. Love will “hold on to this hope” until all possibility of such a result has vanished and it is compelled to believe that the conduct is not susceptible of a fair explanation. This hope will extend to “all things” - to words and actions, and plans; to public and to private contact; to what is said and done in our own presence, and to what is said and done in our absence. Love will do this, because it delights in the virtue and happiness of others, and will not credit anything to the contrary unless compelled to do so.

Hope In Relation To Belief and Trust

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
1 Corinthians 13:7 KJV

7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:7 NIV

7 If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him.
1 Corinthians 13:7 TLB

The Greek word elpizō (G1679) appears a total of 32 times in the King James Version of the Bible. It is translated as trust 15 times, hope 7 times, hoped 4 times, trusted 2 times and hope’s, hopeth, hoping and trusteth all once.

According to Strong’s Dictionary of Greek Words, the Greek word elpizō (G1679) translated hopes in the King James Version, means:
From G1680; to expect or confide: - (have, thing) hope (-d) (for), trust.

According to Thayer’s Greek Definitions, this Greek word means:
1) to hope
1a) in a religious sense, to wait for salvation with joy and full confidence
2) hopefully to trust in

As you can see, this Greek word which represents the hope aspect of love in 1 Corinthians 13, is actually used to convey trust in the King James Version of the Bible, more than it is used to convey hope.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary emphasizes the trust aspect of hope in its description of this verse:
hopeth — what is good of another, even when others have ceased to hope.

The Living Bible interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:7 attempts to personalise the message of love by expressing it in the form of trusting and believing in a person. Although, I would say that love is also to be expressed towards situations, groups of individuals and to God. I suppose we can also trust an institution or group of people, as if they were collectively an individual.

God is not a person, as such, but we can personalise love towards God as if He was a person. The concept of God as our loving Heavenly Father and we as His children, personilzes our relationship with God. Jesus represents the Son of Man aspect of God; Jesus was made incarnate and came to earth as a man. Jesus represents both our great High Priest and our sacrificial Lamb. We can therefore approach God as if He was a person through Jesus.

Endurance and Hope Compared

In order to better understand the difference and similarities between hope and endurance, we need to look again at the true meaning behind the Greek words elpis (G1680) and hupomonē (G5281).

Hope

The Greek word elpis (G1680) is a confident expectation of good which can be specific or generic. Hope gives a person a sense of trust and confidence in something or someone, regardless of what their senses tell them.

The word elpis (G1680) seems to be more applicable to a person’s attitude as well as their mental and emotional wellbeing. Without elpis (G1680) it would seem that a person would lapse into a state of despair. A lack of elpis (G1680) would seem to be responsible, at least in part, for anxiety and depression. It seems obvious to me that a person could simply not have faith for the fulfilment of a promise without elpis (G1680).

Endurance

The Greek word hupomonē (G5281) means steadfastness, constancy, endurance. These words have a strong emphasis on a person continuing to do something. We can therefore see that hupomonē (G5281) is geared towards action. The need for this kind of endurance would obviously become more apparent the more challenging the circumstances become. Without endurance, a person will give-up on a project or endeavour before it is completed – even if there are negative consequences for doing so.

Hope and Endurance are a Gift

Thankfully, hope and endurance are not something that we do, as such. We do not need to make an effort of the will to have hope and endurance. Hope and endurance are aspects of God’s love, His nature. Therefore, hope and endurance are something that we receive as a free gift, and express freely and effortlessly in our lives – without coercion.

Hope and Endurance are not Separate

Perhaps it is possible for a person to continue in an endeavour if they had hope, but not endurance. But we must consider the fact all of the aspects of God’s love are something that we receive together as a gift – they are not something that we must do and they are not something that we receive separately. I believe that it is not possible to have hope and yet not have endurance and vice-versa.

Hope

The God-kind of hope or elpis (G1680) as it is known in the Greek, also has a role to play in maintaining constancy. Hope is an expectation of good.

The Lord Jesus spoke about bringing a peace to the world, not as the world gives. (See John 14:27). This is a supernatural peace that enables a person to rise above the circumstances and maintain a sense of tranquility. Hope also operates according to John 14:27 in that it gives us an expectation of good, when it seems there is no logical reason to support it. Perhaps then, peace is related to, contains or actually is, hope?

We become more aware of this hope of God operating in our lives, when our physical senses and mental reasoning give us no plausible reason for us continuing in an endeavour.

Wordly Hope

If we try to attain hope by means other than God’s love, we can end-up being
disappointed. A lack of God’s hope can lead to a state of dread and despair. Even when our senses tell us that we should be in good spirits because the outlook is good – a lack of God’s hope in our soul can result in us feeling depressed and anxious over the most trifling circumstances.

We often use terms such as, "Don't build-up your hopes" and "don't put all your hopes on that happening" and "I hope such-and-such happens" and "I hope things will go well on Saturday". Basically, we often tend to associate hope with specific expectations.

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary describes "hope" as follows:
 noun
1 a feeling of expectation and desire. a cause or source of hope. grounds for hoping.
2 archaic a feeling of trust.
 verb
1 expect and desire: he's hoping for an offer of compensation.
2 intend if possible to do something.

The English word "hope" used to mean something different to what it means now. It used to mean a feeling of trust. Nowadays, the word "hope" means a feeling of expectation and desire. In the Bible, "hope" is an expectation of good.

The Greek word translated "to believe" in the Bible, actually means to trust, and is used in the Bible in relation to our trust in God and Jesus Christ and His Word. The Greek noun translated "faith" means, to be persuaded. We often struggle in our relationship with God because we do not trust in Him. We do not trust in Him because we are not convinced of the truth of His Word. When we lack faith we fail to trust in God and we experience no hope (dread and despair). When we are in a state of dread and despair, we derive our hope from our own specific expectations of what we believe we need to happen and what should happen. Our expectations are not always in-line with Go's plan for our lives. This kind of "hope" will only lead to disapointment.

In order to be effectively led by the Holy Spirit, we need hope in case things don’t turn out quite as we expected them to. An anxious mind simply gets in the way of God, because He wants to lead us in ways that may contradict traditional thinking and human reasoning. We need hope, God’s hope, in order for the law of serendipity to operate.

Hope enables us to do the things we do, often without truly knowing the ultimate reason for doing so. Hope does this by maintaining an expectation of good, even though we might not have evidence to support our hope other than what the Word tells us about hope.

Without hope, it becomes difficult to carry on doing what you are doing; and it becomes difficult to know if what you are doing is truly the will of God.

Pep-Talks

Preaching is often used to instill a sense of hope in people; I can this type of preaching, “Pep-Talks”. Pep-Talks are the kind of message that encourage beleivers to, “Just keep going” and “Don’t give up”. But surely, this is the kind of peace that the world gives, which Jesus spoke about in John 14:27. I am convinced that it does not matter how many pep-talks a believer hears – if he does not have hope – the positive feelings and sense of encouragement – will not last long. Pep-talks are a poor substitute to God's hope!

See my previous post: http://thedivinenature.blogspot.com/2009/05/pep-talks.html