John Wesley once said that the mark of someone truly born again is that they are characterised by faith, hope and love. This New Testament three, referenced most famously in 1 Corinthians 13:13 (And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love) were referred to by doctrinal Puritan Thomas Adams as the Divine Sisters.
All three are found together in several places. Colossians 1:3-6 or 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 5:8, for example. Sometimes just two of the virtues appear.
- Rarely, faith and hope. Romans 5:2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
- Often, faith and love. Ephesians 1:15 ... ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people.
Such texts show that faith, hope and love are fundamental and central in the Christian life. Yet how often do we hear sermons on these three? There is plenty of preaching on faith perhaps, possibly enough on love but not very much on hope, the Cinderella of the trio.
Faith
One could turn to many places to explore the subject of faith but perhaps the most obvious is Hebrews 11, a long chapter all about faith. It begins with a definition and there is more of that in verse 6. We can say that faith is being
- Confident in something you hope for. Here faith and hope cross over. The Christian hopes for God's favour and for heaven. It is not a vague hope. Most people would say they hope to go to heaven in a general sense. The Christian has a confident hope because his faith is in the Lord. If I get ill and the doctor prescribes tablets, I take the tablets confident that I will improve. I put my faith in him and his prescription. The Christian puts his faith or trust in Christ and the way of salvation. Faith is vital in order to be a Christian.
- Sure about something you cannot see. Christians cannot see heaven or God or angels. However, they believe in all these. How? By faith. By faith they are sure that there are angels, that God is there and that there is a third heaven or Paradise. They do not just vaguely hope this is true. Rather, by faith they are sure of it. If my 'phone rings and it says that one of my sons is calling, I talk to him. I cannot see him (although I have the option these days) but I am sure it is him, nevertheless. I trust that it is him. Again, so the Christian puts his faith or trust in Christ.
Further, it is
- What the Bible is about, what the Old Testament saints are commended for. It is a mistake to think that the Bible urges anything else or that the ancients were saved by any other means. No, they were commended for their faith.
- Vital in order to please God. Hebrews 11:6 follows on from what is said about Enoch but is part of how faith is defined. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. If you want to please God then you must have faith. It is not about money or good deeds or religion, it is about faith. The writer shows that to come to God at least two things must be in place. You must believe that.
- He exists. Romanian pastor, Richard Wurmbrand's first prayer was “God, if may be you exist, it is Your duty to reveal yourself to me.” Not a superb start but it was enough. To go to God you must be persuaded he is there.
- Also that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Otherwise, why go to him? That is what faith is all about.
Love
As with faith, there is an obvious New Testament chapter to turn to for love - 1 Corinthians 13. Rightly famous, it is a wonderful poem, and being on love it is often read at weddings. It is important to remember, however, that it was written not for a wedding but for a church with many problems. In Corinth, there were divisions, wrong ideas about leadership and the use of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit known then and where some people thought that the way to progress as a Christian was to have more gifts and the more public the gifts, the better. Paul wants to show them a better way.
Paul closes the chapter saying of faith, hope and love that all three remain and are central. They are more important than any other spiritual gifts. But Paul adds, interestingly, the greatest of these is love. Why? Imagine a father saying his three daughters are wonderful but the best one is not Faith or Hope but Charity. What can he mean? Love does last in a way the other two do not but all three remain to some extent. He does not mean love is greatest in every sense. Without faith there is no hope or love, for a start. He means that, practically speaking, love is the greatest.
It may be said of a three piece suit that the trousers are greater than the jacket or waistcoat. Or take a BLT sandwich - the bacon is surely more important than the lettuce or tomatoes. So in what sense is love the greatest?
Love includes faith and hope to some extent, as it includes all that is good. Love always trusts; always hopes. Faith and hope should lead to love. Do not forget either that Jesus, when asked about the greatest command, spoke of love - love to God and our neighbour. Paul says something similar in Romans 13:8-10. More than that, Scripture says God is love. It does not say that he is hope or faith but he is love and those who know him must also love. To love is to follow God in a way that trusting and hoping is not. Further, there is the fact that to love is to be a blessing to oneself and to others. It is the usefulness of love above everything that makes it first.
The rest of the chapter serves to define love. It is always patient and kind, never envious, boastful, proud, rude, self-seeking or easily angered. It refuses to keep a record of wrongs and never delights in evil. In verse 7 Paul says It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. The truth is, love never fails.
This is why Paul begins the chapter with examples of apparently wonderful Christian living but pointing out that if there is no love in it then it is absolutely worthless. There must be love in all that we do.
Hope
Unlike faith and love, hope does not have a New Testament chapter devoted to it. Rather, there are 50 or so references, scattered in various places. This is not detrimental. Rather, the truth is that hope is something that so permeates the New Testament that it is found everywhere. Some tend to be rather pessimistic and easily discouraged but the New Testament holds out a wonderful hope that delivers from despair.
People use the word in quite a lose way. Will it be sunny tomorrow? I hope so. Christian hope is much more definite and certain. Do you hope to go to heaven? It is my sure and certain hope. Paul Tripp says rightly "Hope is more than wishing things will work out. It is resting in the God who holds all things in his wise and powerful hands."
Two New Testament pictures help us think of hope. First, think of it as the helmet of salvation. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 says But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. We know we have enemies as Christians - the world, the flesh, the Devil. They attack our minds and try to distort our thinking but if we have hope then it acts like a helmet protecting us from every thought that would lead to despair.
Most famously, Hebrews 6:19 likens hope to an anchor. Hence the pub name you sometimes see, Hope and Anchor or just the Anchor. Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Normally, anchors go from the ship down into the sea. Now, in a similar way, you can think of hope as being like an anchor, only in this case the chain goes up not down, up into heaven. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain the heaven hidden by the sky. By this means our souls remain firm and secure.
Some other remarks
Hebrews 7:19 speaks of the passing away of the old covenant and the introduction of the new, saying, a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. Hope, like faith, is a means of drawing near to God. When we exercise Christian hope we draw near to God because to be filled with hope is to think like God. We are agreeing with him.
Another verse - 1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The hope we are talking about is a living hope. It cannot be anything but that because it comes about by being born again to life and that new birth is possible because of the rising of Christ from the dead on the third day.
So here is a better hope than anything the Old Testament could offer and a means of drawing near to God, a living hope that promises life forever. With that note some final things about Christian hope.
- It is something unbelievers know nothing about but that all believers have. Unbelievers are without hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). Believers have every reason to hope.
- It is centred on God and on Christ and has a strong future orientation. Christians are those who have put our hope in the living God and in Christ Jesus our hope (1 Timothy 4:10, 1:11). They have been justified by his grace, that they might become heirs having the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:7).
- It is based on God's Word and is a persevering, joyful and bold hope. Romans 15:4 tells believers everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. In Romans 5:4, 5 Paul speaks of how perseverance leads on to character; and character to hope. And hope he says does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Believers are to be joyful in hope (Romans 12:12) and since we have such a hope, we are very bold. (2 Corinthians 3:12).
Faith, hope and love are essential Christian virtues that can form a three cord strand not easily broken. Spurgeon once put it like this, "Faith goes up the stairs that love has built and looks out the windows which hope has opened."
This article first appeared in Evangelical Times
