Hope: One of the three main elements of Christian character
(1 Corinthians 13:13) It
is joined to faith and love, and is opposed to seeing or possessing
(Romans 8:24; 1 John 3:2) "Hope is an essential and fundamental element of
Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can
itself designate the essence of Christianity
(1 Peter 3:15; Hebrews 10:23)
In it the whole glory of the Christian vocation is centred
(Ephesians 1:18)
(Ephesians 4:4) "Unbelievers are without this hope
(Ephesians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:13)
Christ is the actual object of the believer's hope, because it is in
his second coming that the hope of glory will be fulfilled
(1 Timothy 1:1)
(Colossians 1:27; Ti 2:13) It is spoken of as "lively", i.e., a living, hope,
a hope not frail and perishable, but having a perennial life
(1 Peter 1:3)
In
(Romans 5:2) the "hope" spoken of is probably objective, i.e., "the hope
set before us," namely, eternal life (comp.)
(Romans 12:12) In
(1 John 3:3)
the expression "hope in him" ought rather to be, as in the Revised
Version, "hope on him," i.e., a hope based on God.
