-06 Chapter 6. Of Hope.

2-06 Chapter 6. Of Hope.

1. Hope is a virtue, whereby we are inclined to expect those things which God has promised us. Romans 8:25.824
2. This Hope respects God, 1. As the object which it expects; for the principal object of Hope is God himself, and those acts whereby he is joined to us, 1 Peter 1:13.825 It is hope in the grace which is brought to you. Hence God himself is called the Hope of Israel, Jeremiah 14:8, and in Romans 15:13, he is called the God of Hope: not so much because he is the Author and Giver of hope, as because he is the one upon whom we hope. 2. It respects God as the Author and Giver of all the good which Hope expects. Psalms 37:5-6. Roll your way upon the Lord, and trust in him, for he shall bring it to pass: For as hope inclines to God to attain good, so also it regards him as the one to be obtained by his Grace. Jeremiah 17:7, Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.
3. But the proper reason why we may not trust in Creatures in the same way we trust in God, is because the formal object of Hope is not found in the Creatures. Psalms 146:3. Do not trust in Princes, nor in any son of man, in whom there is no salvation. For although some power to do us good, and to help us, is placed by God in the Creatures, the exercise of this virtue always depends upon God. Psalms 107:20 Sending his word he healed them. And Psalms 127:1. Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain they labour that build it, unless the Lord keeps the City, the watchmen watches in vain.
4. Therefore, when one says, “I hope this or that of such a man,” it either signifies that he hopes for that from God by that Creature; or it displays a human hope, not Divine; or finally, it is simply not Christian.
5. But as Faith does, so also Hope in God respects the grace of God, and Christ only, as causes of the good to be communicated. 1 Peter 1:13, Hope in the grace. Colossians 1:27, Christ the hope of glory.
6. Yet Divine Hope not only respects God and eternal blessedness, but in God and from God, it also respects all those things which faith apprehends in the promises of God, even though in their own nature they are temporal things, Hebrews 11:1; 2 Corinthians 1:10,826 although it chiefly respects eternal life. This is also why in Scripture, by a metonymy of the ADJUNCT, Hope is often put for salvation itself, or for the eternal life that is hoped for, Galatians 5:5; Romans 8:24; Titus 2:13.827 And by a metonymy of the SUBJECT, salvation is also sometimes put for the Hope of salvation, Ephesians 6:17 compared with 1 Thessalonians 5:8,828 where the helmet of Salvation is put for the helmet of the Hope of salvation. Also, this OBJECT is usually put as proper to Hope: 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Titus 3:7, the Hope of eternal life; and in Romans 5:2, the Hope of glory.
7. Those conditions which are usually required for the OBJECT of Hope — that it is good, to come, difficult, probable — are all found in the promises of God, who always promises as the greatest good, those things which cannot be had without his help; but by virtue of his promise, they will come to pass not only probably, but certainly.
8. The act with which Hope’s object is concerned is called expectation, because it is not of uncertain or probable conjecture only, as with human Hope, but of most certain expectation. Romans 8:25, If we hope for what we do not see, we expect it with patience. Php_1:20, According to my earnest expectation and hope. And everywhere in the Old Testament where the word Mikveh is rendered Hope, it properly signifies expectation.829
9. This certainty is derived to Hope from Faith: for Faith is the foundation of Hope; nor is anything hoped for which is not believed beforehand by Faith. Galatians 5:5. For we through the spirit, wait for the Hope of righteousness by Faith.
10. For seeing that Faith apprehends what is promised, and Hope expects what is promised, the whole difference between Faith and Hope is in respect to what is present, and what is to come.
11. Therefore that distinction which the Papists make is empty and vain, who grant that the faithful may be certain of their salvation with certainty of Hope, and yet deny the faithful can ever be made certain of it by ordinary means with a certainty of Faith — when there is altogether one and the same certainty of Faith and Hope.830 It is also for this reason in Scripture, especially in the Old Testament, that Hope is often put for Faith.
12. Therefore, that expectation of good things to come, which is in the Angels and the spirits of just men in Heaven, differs from our hope, not because one is certain, and the other uncertain, but because: 1. Our hope is grounded upon Faith which beholds God in the promises, as through a glass darkly, 1 Corinthians 13:12; but their expectation is grounded on open sight. 2. Our hope is with labour and contention, but their expectation is without any difficulty. 3. Our hope is an imperfect expectation, and their expectation is perfect.
13. Therefore, although Hope and Faith are usually said to be abolished in the life to come, 1 Corinthians 13:10,831 yet this should not be so understood as though they ceased in respect to their essence, but only in respect to the measure and degree of imperfection. So that only the imperfection is properly abolished; but Faith and hope are to be perfected in respect to their essence.832
14. Hence Christian CONFIDENCE as it respects the good to come, is nothing but Hope confirmed. For it must necessarily be referred to some one of those theological virtues which are reckoned by the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 13:13. That is, it refers either to Faith, or to Charity, or to Hope. But it cannot refer to Faith, because Faith apprehends a thing as it is now present, which it also makes to subsist, Hebrews 11:1.833 Nor can it refer to Charity, because Charity does not respect our own good, 1 Corinthians 13:5.834 Therefore Christian confidence refers to Hope.
15. Hence the natural fruit of Hope is Joy and delight in God. Hebrews 3:6, The hope of which we rejoice. 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:6, A lively hope in which you rejoice. This is because it respects the greatest good, things that are not only possible and probable, but also certainly to come; and so it makes the possession of them, in a certain way, to subsist, while it assures us of that which at length shall indeed subsist. Romans 8:24, We are saved by Hope.
16. The manner of this act835 depends on that respect of the object by which it is said to be, and to come, and is promised. So that, in its formal reason, it is not about those things which are seen. Romans 8:24, Hope if it is seen, is not Hope; for why does a man hope for what he sees?
17. Hence the fruit and companion of Hope is patience towards God, whereby we constantly cling to him in seeking and expecting blessedness, even though in this present life we have conflict with diverse evils, and we are without that consolation we desire. Isaiah 8:17, Waiting upon the Lord who has hidden his Face, and looking for him. Romans 8:25, But if we hope for what we do not see, we expect it with patience. 2 Thessalonians 3:5, That patient expectation.
18. A fruit of this patience is silence, whereby we rest in the will of God, and repress all those carnal things by which we are stirred to make haste, or to resist him. Psalms 37:7, Be silent to Jehovah, and wait on him without ceasing.
19. Hope is strengthened and increased by all those arguments whereby we are assured that the good which is hoped for pertains to us. Romans 5:3-21 — Experience causes Hope.
20. Among these arguments, the inward signs of Divine grace have first place. 1 John 3:14; 1 John 3:19. We know that we have been translated from death to life, because we love the brethren.837
21. Therefore, even though what the Papists say is most false, that our hope is grounded partly on the grace of God, and partly on our own merits, it may be most truly affirmed that hope is strengthened, increased, and stirred up by Faith, repentance, works, and a good conscience. So that true and lively hope exists by those “antecedent arguments.” Hebrews 10:22-23; 1Pet 3.23.838
22. The effect of hope is the confirmation of the soul as an anchor, safe and firm, Hebrews 6:19. Whereby we possess our very souls, Luke 21:19.
23. There always follows from this confirmation of mind, a study839 of holiness. 1 John 3:3, Whoever has this hope in him, keeps himself pure, even as he is pure.
24. Opposed to hope (as a defect) is a fear of the evil of punishment, Psalms 27:3.840 For as Hope is the expectation of good, so this fear is an expectation of evil.
25. But this fear, if it is moderate and tempered by Faith, even though it is always materially opposed to Hope, yet in man that is a sinner, it is not so formally opposed to Hope and virtue that it is plainly a vice; rather it puts on the consideration and nature of a virtue. 2 Chronicles 34:27. Because your heart was tender, and you threw yourself down before the Face of God when you heard his words against this place, etc. This is because this opposition to Hope is not Secundum idem & ad idem, according to the same, and for the same reason;841 for hope respects the grace of God, and fear respects the deserts of our sins.
26. Also, DESPERATION is more directly opposed to hope, in its defect, which is a bare privation of hope, joined with a sense of that privation and an apprehension842 of the thing hoped for, as of an impossible thing, or at least as to come, as in Cain, Genesis 4:13-14,843 and Judas, Matthew 27:4-5.844
27. This desperation is always a grievous sin. That is because it is not a privation of that hope which men tend to have in themselves or in other Creatures, which is usually a laudable introduction to Divine hope; but it is a privation of Divine hope, always having its beginning from unbelief, just as hope has its beginning from Faith.
28. Yet desperation in the Devils and the damned is not from a consideration of sin, but of punishment. For desperation may either be taken privatively,845 when one does not hope for what he ought to hope for,846 and when he ought to hope for it;847 or it may be taken negatively from a mere cessation of hope.848 In the former sense it is always a sin, because it is contrary to the Law; but in the latter sense, this is not so.
29. The reason for despairing may be diverse, either because the grace of God is not considered sufficient to communicate that good to us; or because God will not communicate it. Because desperation is grounded on the former reason, it is always a sin; but in the latter sense, it is not a sin if any are certain of that will of God.
30. But because it is seldom or never obvious to anyone by ordinary means, before the end of this life, that God will not make him a partaker of grace and glory, there is therefore no desperation of men in this life which is not a sin.
31. By way of excess, PRESUMPTION is also opposed to hope, by which we rashly expect some good. Deuteronomy 29:19; Jeremiah 7:4; Jeremiah 7:8-10. Let there not be any man, when he has heard, etc.849
32. This rash presumption in expectation of good, sometimes leans upon the Creatures. Jeremiah 17:5; 1 Timothy 6:17.850 Sometimes it also leans upon God in some way, but perversely so, without a promise and without Faith — as when anyone looks for pardon and salvation, even though he remains impenitent, or he retains a purpose to live in his sins, or he expects something else of God which does not agree with God’s nature or revealed will.
33. But one does not therefore sin in this presumption because he hopes too much upon God — namely, with a true and religious hope — for there is no presumption unless he hopes too lightly and rashly without any ground, or he hopes for those things which are not to be hoped.
34. Also SHAME, or confusion, is opposed to hope, in respect to the event hoped for. Psalms 25:2-3.851