Hope!

1 Thessalonians is most likely the earliest writing of Paul preserved in the New Testament, and possibly the earliest writing of all the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. In its very first paragraph, Paul reminds those ancient believers that he and his traveling companions were “remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1:3)

In the very first paragraph of anything we have that Paul wrote, he mentions those three massive nouns – faith, love, and hope. Even in the most casual reading of the rest of his literature one will quickly notice that those three nouns (and also often in their verb forms) play a crucial role in what he has to say about how the Jesus story (“we preach Christ crucified . . .” in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25) should impact the lives of those who choose to believe and the cultures in which they live.

All three of those words are challenging! I recently listened to a recording of C.S. Lewis reading his wonderful little The Four Loves and was again amazed at what a “massive noun/verb” the idea of love really is. The whole “faith/believe” concept in Scripture could (and should!) occupy our thinking daily. But hope is a big word as well.

A part of the problem for me with this word is that we use it in some many different ways in English. Stop by a convenience store to buy a lottery ticket (not saying that I do) and the sales person is likely to say “hope you win.” But the managers of the system that picks a winner knows that you’re more likely to be struck by lightning twice on the same day. Despite failing to engage in class all semester, most students will turn in the final exam with a “hope I passed” comment of some kind. Parents who invest little in the area of discipline and instruction for their children, somehow “hope they turn out okay.”

Is that what Paul had in mind when he commended the Thessalonians for the “steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”? Surely the sense that we have that somehow God is on our side and nothing can stand against us (Romans 8:31ff) isn’t quite as fickle as “hope you win” or “hope it turns out okay.”

So, despite the fact that you and I live in a world that seems more “hell bent” than “hope bent,” what is there about hope that gives me confidence to trust (faith) in God’s redemptive promises (love)?

Three simple ideas give us a place to start thinking about that. First, hope is never ego-centric. My hope is not rooted in my own sense of self. Hope is rooted in what God has done in raising Jesus from the dead. Second, hope is not dependent upon my good works. It would be utterly impossible for me (or anyone) to do enough good works to deserve what God has promised. With Paul, we declare “Christ in you (us), the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) Third, hope is a gift from God. From Paul’s perspective, we must always see our lives as “abounding in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:23)

I have been trying, it seems like forever, to come up with one word in English that covers what Scripture teaches me about hope. I haven’t succeeded in that quest, but have been able to use two words that seem to say what I think Scripture says about hope. Those two words are “confident assurance.” I know that phrase would make translating the Greek word for hope a bit cumbersome – “Christ in you, the confident assurance of glory” just doesn’t have the ring that “the hope of glory” does. And I really don’t think we should give up on the great vocabulary of our faith just because those same words are used in so many different ways or because people don’t understand them. (See William Willimon’s The Intrusive Word for more on that.)

But I do think we have to explain ourselves in ways that give those words the same content that biblical authors and biblical readers would have had. For hope, I think that means we always think “confident assurance.”  

There isn’t a whole lot going on in the world around that gives us such “confident assurance.” But when I think about what God has done for us in Christ – that’s a different story!