Hope of Glory
New Member
standingfirminChrist said:
Well, I also know he will return, so that's not something that I hope for. Although, I might hope that it's soon. But, in your statement above, you are saying that you know he's going to return, but you hope he's going to return. I've heard people preach that "hope" means "assurance", but that is simply someone who is desparate to make a conditional promise fit the mold of everlasting salvation. A hope is not something that's assured. (Although, since he has promised things in exchange for obedience, we are assured that he will carry out his promises if we are faithful, but we hope that we will receive those rewards and we hope that we will receive glory.)
Vol. 4: Analytical lexicon of the Greek New Testament, from Baker's Greek New Testament library, by Friberg, Friberg, and Miller, Louw and Nida’s Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament : Based on semantic domains (Vol. 1, Page 295), from the United Bible societies, Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon, Moulton’s Analytical Greek Lexicon, The Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament by Greene, and the Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich’s A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (also known as the BDAG for short), all of which are considered standards in the field of Greek Lexicons, define the verb form as “to look forward to something, with implication of confidence about something coming to pass, to hope, or to hope for; to look forward to something in view of the measures one takes to ensure fulfillment; expect”. The noun form is defined as, “the looking forward to something with some reason for confidence respecting fulfillment, hope, expectation, that which is the basis for hoping, foundation of hope, that for which one hopes, something hoped for”. (These definitions are actually from the BDAG, but all the definitions are along these lines.)
Hope means to look forward with confidence to that which is good and beneficial; to hope, to hope for, hope. Some examples can be found in Luke 24:21, which says, “and we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to redeem Israel”; 1 Timothy 4:10, which says, “because we have placed our hope in the living God”; Acts 23:6 in which Paul says, “I am on trial (here) because I hope that the dead will rise to life”; Romans 15:4: “in order that through patience and encouragement given by the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Hope means to expect, with the implication of some benefit; to expect, to hope. In Luke 6:34-35, we find [And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. ]. An example using “that which is hoped for” can be found in Romans 8:24, which says, “when what is hoped for is seen, there is no longer any need to hope”. The word can be used to reference that which constitutes the cause or reason for hoping; the basis for hope, the reason for hope. 1 Thessalonians 2:19 says, “for who is the basis for our hope or joy?” This expression in 1 Thessalonians 2.19 may be rendered as, “for who is the one who causes us to hope and to have joy [to be happy]?”
