Christians often hear statements like, “I hope the car doesn’t run out of gas,” or “I hope he shows up for the appointment.” In everyday speech, “hope” carries no guarantee — it expresses a desire, not a certainty. So when someone says, “The Christian has a great hope,” some object: “I don’t have a ‘hope so’ faith, but a ‘know so’ faith.” That objection is understandable.
These everyday examples show how the word “hope” is commonly used, usually implying uncertainty — a wish for a desired outcome that may or may not happen. Sometimes this ordinary sense of hope appears in Scripture. For instance, in Acts 24:26, Governor Felix repeatedly sent for Paul because he hoped Paul would offer him money; he was wishing for a bribe. This is hope as mere desire.
• Christian Hope Is a Certainty
In most other passages, however, the Bible uses the word “hope” quite differently. It refers not to a mere wish, but to a confident assurance of a future reality grounded in the promises of God. Hope is biblical shorthand for unconditional certainty. This element of assurance is evident in verses such as 2 Corinthians 3:12: “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.”
Christians were not willing to give their lives for Jesus because they held a vague wish; rather, they were bold because they possessed a settled confidence in the future God had promised. In this sense, hope functions as biblical shorthand for assured certainty. Therefore, the believer truly has a “know so” faith.
This hope exists only in relation to the true and living God. When Paul described pagans as having “no hope” (Eph. 2:12; cf. 1 Thess. 4:13), the reason given is that they were without God, whose very character is the ground of hope. Since God is loving, He desires to keep His promises. Since He is all powerful, He has the ability to fulfill them. Since He is all knowing, He knows how to bring them to fulfillment. Knowing God’s character, Paul could refer to Him as “the God of all hope” (Rom. 15:13a).
• God, the Ultimate Promise Keeper
While God’s character ensures that His every promise offers hope (assurance) to the believer (Rom. 8:28, for example), the word “hope” generally refers to God’s promises related to the eschaton. The Christian hope includes a future resurrection of the dead, which Paul said delivers the believer from excessive grief at the loss of loved ones (1 Thess. 4:13). The Christian is on his way to life, not death.
The Christian hope consists of the bounties awaiting them in heaven. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:3–4). This inheritance is no mere wish; it is guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus.
The Christian’s ultimate salvation is grounded in hope, in that he wears “for a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thess. 5:8) and lives “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began” (Titus 1:2; see also Titus 3:7). The hope that secures all other hopes is the triumphant second coming of Jesus. Only this hope is called the blessed hope (Titus 2:13).
Hope is a great blessing in itself, but it also brings with it other blessings for the believer, such as joy and peace. As Romans 15:13 declares, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Hope, peace, and joy are inseparably woven into the life of the believer. Because their joy is grounded in hope, the circumstances of life cannot ultimately take away that joy.
• Hope Spurs Godly Perseverance
Hope enables believers to endure even the most adverse circumstances. In Romans 12:12, hope is presented as the foundation of patient perseverance. Jesus Himself exemplified this, enduring the cross for the joy set before Him, the hope of accomplishing salvation for His people. In the believer’s darkest hours, hope serves as a mainstay. As Hebrews 6:19 declares, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” As an anchor steadies a ship and keeps it from drifting or being torn apart, so hope secures the soul by fastening it to the unchanging faithfulness of God.
Hope, especially the hope of the Lord’s coming, motivates the believer to pursue a life of holiness. Peter links setting one’s hope fully on the grace to be revealed at Christ’s return with a call to readiness and sober-minded living. Likewise, John teaches that this hope leads believers to purify themselves, producing a life marked by holiness (1 John 3:2 3).
The stronger one’s faith — the more firmly one trusts in God’s promises — the more fully hope will be present in one’s life. Donald Whitney relates this story:
In 1858, the steamship Austria caught fire and sank in the Atlantic, killing 400 people. One survivor told how he and five Christian friends stood between the fire behind them and the water before them. They agreed that at the end they would leap from the sinking ship together. When the time arrived, they join hands, look at each other, and just before jumping into the cold waters of the Atlantic, expressed their confidence that in just a few moments they would all meet in heaven.
These men had biblical hope — the confident assurance of a future reality grounded in the promises of God. Because God is faithful, those who place their hope in Him will never be disappointed (Rom. 5:5).
— Walter Johnson is a retired dean of the College of Christian Studies at North Greenville University, where he taught and served for 32 years.