Why Truthful Hope?
- Jacob Vazquez
- May 16, 2024
- 12 min read
At Truthful Hope, our mission is to provide compelling reasons for embracing the Christian hope. But why do we focus on hope? Why not emphasize faith or other crucial aspects of Christianity? These are valid queries, and we've carefully considered the prominence of hope. In short, it’s because hope is desperately needed—not just any hope, but the living hope (1 Peter 1:3).
We will expand on this below. In addition, we will discuss the difference between faith and hope, define biblical hope, show why hope is desperately needed in our culture, and explore what Christian hope represents in this article. As always, please click here to read a quick answer to this question.
Faith and Hope
Many often consider faith and hope to have the same meaning, but this isn’t true. The Bible makes a clear distinction between faith and hope. Even though they are related in a certain sense (we will discuss that further below), they are two distinct terms. The Apostle Paul wrote the following to the church in Corinth:
“Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV)
We also read in the book of Hebrews where faith is defined (notice how hope is mentioned as well):
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV, emphasis added)
While faith and hope are distinct terms, as we will see shortly, biblical hope is built on the foundation of faith. First, let’s accurately define faith as Scripture teaches.
Faith is often thought of as nothing more than wishful thinking; words are even frequently added, such as “blind” or “leap of.” But this is not true of faith as defined in the Bible. The definition of faith is seen in the verse above (Hebrews 11:1) and leaves no room for describing it as mere wishful thinking. The words “assurance” and “conviction” indicate something much more reliable – backed with sufficient reasoning. Christian Philosopher of Reasonable Faith, William Lane Craig, defines faith as “trusting in what you have good reasons to believe is true.”
Christians can have faith (trust) in Jesus because we have good reasons to believe Christianity is true! These include the inner witness of the Holy Spirit reassuring us of the fundamental truths of Christianity (Romans 8:16), how God has revealed Himself to mankind (Romans 1:20), the eyewitness accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus (the Gospels), the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, among many more.
This means we can confidently trust Jesus for our eternal destiny and thus trust in His death and resurrection for our salvation (Romans 10:9). For more information on faith as defined in the Bible, click here to read an article we recently published which we discuss the term faith more in-depth.
What is biblical hope?
Now, with faith defined as it is taught in the Bible, let’s move on to biblical hope—what is it?
The word hope in English often conveys a sense of doubt (such as “hoping” it doesn’t rain tomorrow). However, this is not the meaning of the words typically translated as “hope” in the Bible. Rather than being a subjective expectation with little basis for confidence, biblical hope is much more secure, as the author of Hebrews in the New Testament writes:
“Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.” (Hebrews 6:17-19)
The Hebrew word translated as “hope” in the Old Testament is batah, which means confidence and security – the opposite of doubt (Job 6:20; Psalm 16:9; Psalm 22:9; Ecclesiastes 9:4). In the New Testament, the Greek word for “hope” is mostly elpis/elpizo which similarly does not convey doubt in the slightest. Biblical hope is a confident expectation based upon a trustworthy foundation (faith).
The relationship between faith and hope can be illustrated in the following way: a child is joyful when his father promises to take him to the park the next day. The child’s faith is based on his father’s word and their relationship (which produces the child's trust or faith in his father). Therefore, the child believes he will go to the park the next day. At the same time, the belief within the child ignites a bubbly joy – hope.
There can be no hope without faith. Christians are people of faith and hope. We have “the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:2). We have also defined biblical hope by using the word itself as an acronym:
H – Holding
O – Onto
P – Promises
E – that are Eternal
Hope is built on the foundation of faith, and we believe the Christian faith is true because there are good reasons to believe it to be so. This enables all who put their faith in Christ to have a confident hope in the God of hope Himself, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NIV)
The Hope Crisis
What is said in this section is why I wanted to write this article—hope is desperately needed. With the increase of political divide, wars, bickering, and hatred, it’s hard not to feel a sense of hopelessness. Everybody desperately needs hope, especially the most critical generation—the next generation.
In chart below, you will see a chart we created using data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing high school youth feeling hopeless by gender between 2001 and 2021.
As the chart shows, hopelessness among high schoolers has been on the rise, particularly among females. According to the CDC survey, most of them have reported feeling hopeless. One may object here and mention that 2021 was around the time of the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, this illuminates the problem of hope (or lack thereof) even more, in my opinion.
Humans are a species filled with hope. Christian or not, we hope to accomplish our goals, find meaning in life, be loved, etc. Yet, Scripture teaches that hope, apart from being rooted in God, is ultimately to live in a state of hopelessness (Ephesians 2:12). If hope isn’t rooted in God, it’s rooted in something else – whether that be government, material things (money, cars, etc.), among others. This leaves people in a state of hopelessness because these things are fallible and destined to deteriorate.
Even if somebody places their hope in the government and a specific law is passed that satisfies their hope, all is meaningless in the scope of eternity if faith and hope aren’t placed in Jesus. Putting hope in Christ, on the other hand, is eternal and unshaken, for no matter what we go through in this life, we have a hope that cannot be impacted not because of anything we did but because of what Jesus did on the cross.
The pandemic was stressful for everybody, but it also served as an essential test. Where is our hope placed? Who do we go to in time of need? How do we handle suffering and tribulations? I believe the reason so many youths have become more hopeless through the pandemic is that their hope was placed in the wrong places or people. At the very least, God was not at the center of their hope. As we will see further below in this article, suffering and the tribulations we face produce an enduring character that helps us have confident hope in God and His promises.
Another objection may be, “Well, this only shows up to 2021; what about more recent data?” This is another reason why I believe the previous objection only supports the conclusion that hope is seriously lacking among the youth. Namely, it hasn’t gotten any better. In the image below (Figure 2), we created a chart using data from the Institute of Politics (IOP) at Harvard Kennedy School, which surveyed 18-to-29-year-olds nationwide as of March 2024.
As seen in the chart above, young adults (18-29 years old) have recently shown to be overwhelmingly more fearful than hopeful. We decided to dissect the data further and show the specific demographics that make up the hopeful versus the fearful, as shown in the charts below. These demographics include gender, age, and race/ethnicity.
This data shows that hope is seriously lacking in the next generation. This is not good. As hope declines, something else increasingly fills the void—fear. A combination of fear and hopelessness makes people do crazy things. It’s out of fear that people will depend on things of this world for a sense of protection and relief – such as alcohol, drugs, people, institutions, and even war and violence, among others. This dependency becomes the source of hope and meaning – though the destruction of such objects is inevitable.
William Lane Craig has written much on the absurdity of life without God. In one of his articles on this topic, he said,
“Scientists tell us that the universe is expanding, and everything in it is growing farther and farther apart. As it does so, it grows colder and colder, and its energy is used up. Eventually all the stars will burn out and matter will collapse into dead stars and black holes. There will be no light at all; there be no heat; there will be no life; only the corpses of dead stars and galaxies, ever expanding into the endless darkness and the cold recesses of space – a universe in ruins. So not only is the life of each individual person doomed; the entire human race is doomed. There is no escape. There is no hope.” [1]
Therefore, without God, both the universe and man are doomed. What does this mean? It means a life void of God ultimately is one without significance, value, or purpose. Just like the universe, everything will eventually pass. Therefore, putting our hope in people, things, celebrities, or anything else in this world will also pass and thus serve as nothing but an illusion of something foundational. What we really desire is something more, something firm – we all carry within ourselves a void that is specifically shaped for God. As we read in the book of Acts from the New Testament:
“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’” (Acts 17:26-29 ESV)
With the God-shaped void identified, let’s review the Christian hope and show why it’s the solution to the problem our youth is facing.
The Christian Hope
In the New Testament, hope is the fulfillment of the promises made in the Old Testament found through the Messiah (Matthew 12:21; 1 Peter 1:3). It’s grounded in faith in salvation that is made possible through Christ (Galatians 5:5) and manifested through the presence of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:24-25). More specifically, here is what the Christian hope is composed of:
The resurrection from the dead (Acts 23:6
The redemption of the body and all of creation (Romans 8:23-25)
Eternal life (Colossians 1:27; Titus 3:5-7)
The salvation of God (1 Timothy 4:10)
Christ Himself (1 Timothy 1:11)
While on earth, Jesus promised that He would return one day (John 14:3). We trust in His promises by faith, which leads to the hope that we will be with Him forever.
On the contrary, the Bible teaches that without hope, the meaning of life is lost (Lamentations 3:18; Job 7:6), and in death, there is no hope (Isaiah 38:18; Job 17:15). Having hope that is solely placed in people and things of this world is ultimately to live in a state of hopelessness (Ephesians 2:12). In addition to this, God wants us to put our hope in Him because He knows how beneficial it is for us! As we read God speaking through the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament:
“Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God?’ Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young man shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:27-31 ESV)
Since the beginning, humans have lived as if they could strive independently (Genesis 3) –apart from God. We have constantly depended on idols (false gods), sex, money, power, and things that we think will bring us the everlasting fulfillment we all desperately seek (remember back to the God-shaped void we discussed earlier). We place our hope in these things, only to be disappointed as they all expire. But God, being the all-knowing, unchanging, and all-powerful source of our hope, does not have an expiration date. Jesus said something similar:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
Jesus emphasized the fallibility of the “treasures on earth.” He also contrasted that with the “treasures in heaven,” which will not be destroyed. In other words, we shouldn’t put our hope in the things of this world that will perish; instead, we should trust confidently in that which is everlasting—God.
What is Christian hope? In short, hope is placed in God through the work of Jesus, the knowledge of God’s faithfulness, and the confident anticipation that all He has promised will come about.
Why Truthful Hope?
So, why Truthful Hope? Because hope is desperately needed—not just any hope (such as in the things of this world), but the actual living hope—Jesus. It’s difficult not to feel overwhelmed seeing all the hatred, divide, and war seen across the globe - especially in this country (the US). This is evident by the abundant fear among the youth (most active on social media), as shown in the data charts above. The question becomes, where is their hope placed?
Is it in politicians' promises? If so, they will be disappointed. What about placing their hope in companies (healthcare institutions, social media sites)? This will also lead to disappointment. So, where, who, or what can people place their hope in? The answer is in God - the One who provides hope that does not disappoint, as we read the Apostle Paul write in the book of Romans:
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5 NKJV)
To give some context for this verse, a couple of verses earlier, Paul explained that we now have peace with God through Jesus (Romans 5:1). Therefore, we can rejoice, anticipating with confidence the unveiling of His glory (Romans 5:2). Not only should we rejoice during the good times, but through the bad times as well – despite the tribulations we face (Romans 5:3).
While we aren’t enjoying what we may be going through, instead, we rejoice in what the trials and tribulations can accomplish in our lives as it fits in God’s plan (Romans 5:3). It’s God’s plan that we trust in, and our hope is centered on. This endurance through tribulations brings about perseverance that produces a hope that cannot be disappointed in us. Let’s read what Paul writes from verses 1-5:
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given us.” (Romans 5:1-5 ESV)
Character brought about through perseverance by tribulations helps us have strong hope—not merely wishing for something to happen but having a confident anticipation of what’s to come. This strong hope has more to it, though; Paul tells us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that it will not disappoint or put us to shame.
This hope can be fully trusted and relied on because it doesn’t depend on our own merits; instead, it’s trustworthy because of what Jesus has already done on the cross and all He has promised (Romans 5:6-11). In Philippians 4, Paul gives an example of how this confident hope has impacted his life and was brought about through much suffering:
“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13 ESV)
Despite what Paul went through, he persevered because of the strength that comes through Jesus. The same One who strengthened Paul is the same One who works all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). It’s this ultimate good that we place our hope in—rooted in no other than the source of it all, Jesus. It’s this hope that will not disappoint.
We at Truthful Hope understand the severe need for hope throughout our culture and the world. We also realize there is only one living hope: through Jesus. Our goal is to show that Christianity is true so that as many people as possible accept Jesus in their lives and confidently place their hope in the Christian hope.
References
[1] William Lane Craig, “The Absurdity of Life Without God,” Reasonable Faith, https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/existence-nature-of-god/the-absurdity-of-life-without-god
