I know a couple of women named Hope. My granddaughter is named Faith. But ... I don't know anyone named Love. Apparently, then, "faith, hope, and love" does not refer to names. I've written about faith. It is not merely "believing." It isn't mental acquiescence to a data point. And it isn't "credulity" ... believing without any reason. It is a confidence that produces action based on the demonstrated character of God. Today's version of faith is self-generated optimism; biblical faith is God-enabled trust in a faithful God, grounded in His revelation and expressed in obedience. And I've written about love. Love isn't a warm affection. It's not romantic. It's not "good chemistry". It is a choice we make to seek the best interest of the loved one. Biblical love is a commitment rooted in God's character and expressed in action. Our culture's love is emotion-driven, self-oriented, and conditional. Biblical love is action-driven, other-oriented, and covenantal. And then ... there's hope.
In our culture, "hope" is a wish, a possibility. When we say, "I hope it doesn't rain on the picnic tomorrow," we mean "Maybe it will ... maybe it won't." It is uncertain, fragile, and dependent on circumstances ... optimism without guarantees. Biblical hope is different. Like faith based on God's character and love based on God's character, hope is a certainty ... based on God's character. It's not a wish or a possibility. It's a future certainty because of Him who promised. Hebrews says, "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil" (Heb 6:19). Hope is rooted in what God has already done ... creation, blessings, especially the Resurrection. Hope gives stability to our present events because of God's past gifts that establish His future faithfulness. So biblical hope doesn't "wish" with fingers crossed ... it is a future certainty, a fact not yet made real. Society's hope is a desire for something good in the future with no guarantee. Biblical hope is a confident expectation of God’s promised future, guaranteed by His character and Christ’s resurrection. So, Hebrews says, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11:1).
Paul wrote, "Now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor 13:13). All three are gifts from God, predicated on God, and guaranteed by God. So maybe now you can see why they remain. They're not actually about us. They're about Him.
2 comments:
It's almost like the world wants to destroy anything good about God and must distort anything God says and cheapen it. It would be nice to have better words used by the Bible than the ones we use in normal parlance.
Whenever I consider “faith” and “hope” together, it brings to my mind this personal precept: I wish to have a true faith and not a false hope. This would relate not only to embracing the doctrines of salvation that I believe are biblical but to how I live my life in light of the theology I hold. I desire a saving faith--grounded in God’s Word and His promises; one that will see me through to eternity. Likewise, my most earnest hopes (i.e. of the nontrivial variety) are not those of a “wishful thinking” nature but instead are solid expectations with a sure outcome--again, grounded in God’s Word and His promises and able to see me through to eternity, with nary a drop of perchance in sight.
I like your reminder that for the believer, both faith and hope (along with love) come from God and are not conjured up in my feeble mind or inspired by anything this fallen world can offer. Only God is trustworthy to the degree that never disappoints.
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand, all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.”
P.S. I think that Faith and Hope are very nice female first names. Joy can substitute for Love (although I have heard of Lovey). Other common virtue-related girl names are Grace, Patience, Justice, Chastity, Charity, Prudence, Felicity, Blythe, Sage, and Constance. The Puritans regularly used names like Modesty, Comfort, Serenity, Verity, Harmony, Amity, Abstinence, Temperance--and crazier monikers like Be-Faithful, Fear-God, Humiliation, From-Above, Silence, and Search-the-scriptures. (And I thought my first name was uncommon!)
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