The 3-Step Path to Biblical Hope

This past spring, a missionary spoke to our church. He lamented that the people among whom he was living were largely without hope.

This missionary used the word “hope” as we use it in casual conversation. His neighbors had nothing to look forward to, no expectation of good in their future.

When people are missing this sort of hope, they are certainly lacking biblical hope. Even among Christians, biblical hope is not immediate or easy. I’m aiming in this article to lay out three stages to hope.

Stage 1: Hear the Gospel

Biblical hope is only available to Christians. So, the first step to hope must be connected to conversion.

Paul issues a familiar call for the broad preaching of the good news of Jesus.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Rom 10:14-15)

Even more concisely, Paul writes two verses later: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17).

When we sense people are without hope, what they need most is not job training, drug counseling, affordable housing, friendship, or reliable transportation. (Though our churches should care about all of these things!) Their greatest need is Christ and his gospel.

Stage 2: Believe the Gospel

It is not enough to merely hear the gospel, of course. “For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened” (Heb 4:2).

Not all who have faith have hope, but true hope cannot exist without faith. So, the second stage is for faith to take root, for a person to believe the gospel and trust in Christ.

Here is how the Westminster Confession of Faith describes faith.

Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification. (WCF, Chapter XI.II)
But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace. (WCF, Chapter XIV.II)

We may be able to provide a short description of faith, but that does not make it automatic. Faith is the gift of God (Eph 2:8).

Stage 3: Eagerly Anticipate the Future

You may have met people who believe the gospel but do not act like it is truly good news. They rest on Christ for forgiveness, adoption, and salvation, but they may seem resigned to their future rather than delighted for it.

Notice the way Paul moves from hearing to believing to hope in Ephesians 1.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:11–14)

Paul links hope to the sealing with the Spirit (verse 13) and our anticipation of inheritance (verse 14). This all comes after hearing “the word of truth” and “believ[ing] in him” (verse 13).

In a longer passage in the epistle to the Romans, Paul holds up Abraham as an example of faith. In fact, Paul uses Abraham to explain what faith is (Rom 4:16–25). Then Paul relates faith to hope.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Rom 5:1-2)

Note that Paul writes about rejoicing in hope, which conveys the eagerness of hope.

We can also learn about hope from Paul’s benediction at the end of Romans.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Rom 15:13)

Hope involves “joy and peace in believing.” Also, like faith, hope is a work of the Spirit.

Conclusion

There are three stages to get to hope, but they are not items on a to-do list—they are matters of prayer. For ourselves and those around us, we need God to work if we are to “abound in hope.”

Hope is not a static condition but a gift of God in which we can grow. I plan to address that topic in upcoming articles.

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