This hope is not some uncertain, cross your fingers, hope I make it kind of hope. Unlike the english word "hope," the N.T. word contains no uncertainty; it speaks of something that is certain. - Strong's #1680 elpís (from elpō, "to anticipate, welcome") – properly, expectation of what is sure (certain); hope. If we have saving faith in Christ then we have this hope. Faith is the substance of things HOPED for.. (Hebrews 11:1). *So that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the HOPE (expectation of what is sure certain) of eternal life (Titus 3:7).Yes. Have not seen.
The scripture plainly defines what faith is.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
Before we go any further in our discussion of faith, I would like to point out a challenging bit of truth.
If we have faith in Christ Jesus for salvation, then by default we have the hope of receiving the salvation of our soul, if we believe Him.
I will say it this way.
If we have faith for something, then by default, we don’t yet have the thing we are hoping for, the thing that is not yet seen.
Paul says it this way -
24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
Romans 8:24-25
Paul says “why do we still hope” for what we can see; what we have already obtained?
- But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it
We don’t hope for what we have fully realized and received, so obviously we don’t yet have what we are hoping for.
But, we have the substance of the thing we are hoping for; The sure confidence that God will fulfill His promise because we believe.
The “it” we are eagerly waiting for is the salvation of our soul, that we will receive on that Day; if we have kept the faith.
JPT
Salvation has 3 tenses, which often get confused by works-salvationists. 1. We have been saved from the PENALTY of sin (justification) 2. We are being saved from the POWER of sin (ongoing sanctification) 3. We will be saved from the PRESENCE of sin (glorification) The salvation of our soul (future tense) is in regards to glorification. Romans 8:30 - Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. *ALL of them. *Notice how Paul uses the past tense for a future event to stress it's certainty.
John 3:36 - says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” Note that the believer “has” (present tense) this life (the verb is present tense in the Greek, too). We also find similar present-tense constructions in John 5:24 and John 6:47. The focus of eternal life (here-justification) is not on our future-glorification, but on our current standing in Christ. Yet believers eagerly await their future-glorification.
Salvation is by grace through faith and is not by works (Ephesians 2:8,9).Next, I would like to discuss how we get faith and how faith is activated so that it functions to produce the intended divine result.
