I have often felt sorry for the word hope. In 1 Corinthians 13 (TLB) we read: There are three things that remain — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love. Faith is mentioned first and love is the greatest, leaving hope trailing in bronze position. If we count the instances that the word hope appears in the Bible (NRSV) we find out that hope occurs 202 times, from Ruth through to 3 John; only four times in the Gospels, none in Mark and none in Revelation. Compare this again to love and faith: Love is indeed the greatest: 731 occurrences, from Genesis to Revelation, with faith tucked into second position at 529 times.
So, from those 202 times, I chose just four:
I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. (Isaiah 8:17)
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you. (Psalm 33:22)
And in his name the Gentiles will hope. Matthew 12:21
And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. (NLT) 1 Corinthians 15:18-20
The verse from Isaiah shows a real faith in YHWH. Isaiah was prophesying to those who had disobeyed the Lord so much that it seemed as if the Lord had turned away from his people completely. Yet Isaiah is not only waiting for the Lord to speak again, he still has hope that all will be well. The psalm, in contrast, praises God for his work of creation and of keeping his people safe from their enemies. The psalmist encourages the singers to hope only in the actions of the Lord, who surrounds them with his steadfast love. The verse from Matthew is quoting part of the servant song from Isaiah 50; reminding us that the Messiah was prophesied as being for the Gentiles as well as for the twelve tribes of Israel. Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth emphasises that following Christ as an example of a good man, while ignoring his deity, does not incorporate the hope of life after death.
Bible Study, like a good sermon, does not just investigate the Scripture readings, it should improve our lives with God and our mission. First we need to remind ourselves that the word hope, as used today, is a weak word compared to spes, the Greek word used by Paul in 1 Corinthians. New Testament hope has a certainty to it, that our modern use dilutes. “I hope you get better soon,” we say, having no knowledge that recovery is possible, yet alone a swift recovery.
An anonymous post on the Internet summarises Biblical hope: “an expectation with certainty that God will do what he has said”; in other words a confident expectation. So Isaiah was waiting confidently; the psalmist was able to focus on steadfast love, because hope was sure; Gentiles can be confident that Jesus is the Messiah and we can all be certain that an eternal life with God is ours to claim.
Elaine Kinchin
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