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“Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
The words faith and hope get used together, but they are not the same by definition. They are related, but hope draws from faith. Looking at the Strong’s definition of faith, it is defined as follows: “The conviction of the truth of anything. It is a complete trust or confidence in something, and that involves an intellectual agreement to a set of facts and trusting those facts.”
We have faith in Jesus and completely trust Him for our eternal destiny, not because of an emotional feeling, but because we know that the reason behind our faith in Jesus is factual. The truth of his His death and resurrection for our salvation has been verified by an endless number of historians and skeptics alike who have researched the event. There is more evidence supporting the death and resurrection of Jesus than any other event in history.
This is why Jesus told us to go to all the world and disciple (with confidence). Not only are we responsible to tell others about Jesus but also to teach them who Jesus is and why it matters that He died and rose again.
Hope is defined as anticipation with pleasure, and biblical hope is based on faith. It is the earnest expectation that comes with believing something is good. It naturally stems from belief. Faith is grounded in the reality of the past, and hope looks forward to the future.
Without faith, there is no hope. When we tell our kids, we are going on vacation to the beach, and they believe us because we have given them our word. They know the beach is coming soon because in the past when we’ve said we are going on vacation, we always follow through. At the same time, the belief that the beach vacation is coming sparks joy within them, and that is hope. The child’s natural trust in their parents’ promise is the faith; the child’s insistence to begin packing immediately and asking nonstop, “When are we going? Is it today?” several days before leaving are expressions of hope.
Jesus said He is coming again, and by faith, we trust His words are the truth because we know and have studied why the Bible is reliable. Educated faith leads to the hope that because Jesus died and rose again, we will be with him forever. Jesus promises that those who believe in Him will one day be resurrected from this earth to be with God for eternity.
“But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20).
“Because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:19) That’s Jesus’ promise to us, and that is the basis of our hope.
Paul reminds Titus who he (Paul) is “a servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.” (Titus 1:1-2)
Christians are people of faith and hope.