You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘hope’ tag.
I ran track all throughout college, and the first week of practice was always the hardest.
Sure, we had been running and lifting all off-season, but there was nothing that could match that first week; nothing could replicate the intensity, the fervor, and the harshness of that first week. Our coach was always there, guiding us and putting our hard work in perspective, reminding us to persevere. He was especially cognizant of the freshman, who had a tendency not to understand what we were doing or why, and was always careful to encourage them.
That is essentially what I Thessalonians is, a letter of encouragement and joy from the apostle Paul to a group of believers who were new in their faith; challenging these new believers to remain strong in their faith and persevere through persecution and opposition.
Paul makes it very clear in verse 1 that the church at Thessalonica is a true church, an ekklesia; “those who are called out, those who are called for a special purpose.”
In verse 2, Paul thanks God for the believers’ dedication and persistence, and brings their names before the Lord in prayerful petition. Paul is thankful for the fruits of grace that were revealed in the lives of the believers.
Verse 3 can be translated various ways:
NASB: constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and of our God and Father
NIV: We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
ESV: remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The similarities in the words used within the verse is very striking: Work, labor, endurance, steadfastness, hope, inspired…it seems to me that Paul had something very important to say, something that isn’t quite captured by the English rendering.
When we break down the different words, we find the following:
Work is the word ergon, and denotes something by which an individual is occupied, something that takes up all their time and energy.
Faith is the word pistis, and carries with it the idea of faith, confidence, conviction, commitment, trust, fidelity, and guarantee. It is derived from peithomai (be persuaded, have confidence, obey).
Labor is kopos, and Paul envisions one who beats his breast with grief and sorrow when he uses this word, a beating of the breast which leads to intense labor.
Love is agape, agape being the highest form of the words used for love in the NT, meaning God’s love, love with deep respect, love according to value, love expressed in good will or deeds, love that manifests itself and puts itself on display; literally demonstration of love.
Steadfastness/endurance is hypomone, meaning endurance, from hypomeno, meaning to endure, to wait expectantly. The connotation is of someone who is not swayed from his purposes by even the most severe trials or sufferings. Those reading this in Paul’s time would envision this endurance as the most potent of all virtues, the vigor and perseverance of an Olympic athlete.
Hope here is elpis, referring to hope inspired by Jesus Christ, a confident, expectant, and joyful hope of salvation. This spiritual hope is contrasted with human hope, which is the uncertain or anguished longing for a desired good.
When we put verse 3 back together, we read Paul’s words in a slightly different light:
remembering all your time and energy occupied by obedient works of commitment, your passionate and intense labor of love that is not merely spoken, but demonstrated, and your confident and expectant hope in Jesus Christ, of which you are certain and for whom you endure all things.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 can be translated various ways:
NASB: constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and of our God and Father
NIV: We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
ESV: remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
What is most striking to me when I read this passage in one translation, and again when I compare several different translations, is the similarity in the words used. Work, labor, endurance, steadfastness, hope, inspired…it seems to me that Paul had something very important to say, something that isn’t quite captured by the English rendering.
When we break down the different words, we find the following:
Work is the word ergon, and denotes something by which an individual is occupied, something that takes up all their time and energy.
Faith is the word pistis, and carries with it the idea of faith, confidence, conviction, commitment, trust, fidelity, and guarantee. It is derived from peithomai (be persuaded, have confidence, obey).
Labor is kopos, and Paul envisions one who beats his breast with grief and sorrow when he uses this word, a beating of the breast which leads to intense labor.
Love is agape, agape being the highest form of the words used for love in the NT, meaning God’s love, love with deep respect, love according to value, love expressed in good will or deeds, love that manifests itself and puts itself on display; literally demonstration of love.
Steadfastness/endurance is hypomone, meaning endurance, from hypomeno, meaning to endure, to wait expectantly. The connotation is of someone who is not swayed from his purposes by even the most severe trials or sufferings. Those reading this in Paul’s time would envision this endurance as the most potent of all virtues, the vigor and perseverance of an Olympic athlete.
Hope here is elpis, referring to hope inspired by Jesus Christ, a confident, expectant, and joyful hope of salvation. This spiritual hope is contrasted with human hope, which is the uncertain or anguished longing for a desired good.
When we dissect Paul’s words, we read 1 Thess 1:3 slightly differently:
remembering all your time and energy occupied by obedient works of commitment, your passionate and intense labor of love that is not merely spoken, but demonstrated, and your confident and expectant hope in Jesus Christ, of which you are certain and for whom you endure all things.
“For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us.”
– 2 Corinthians 1: 8-11
When all the world threatens to overwhelm, overpower, and overcome us, when we are pressured and indeed feel the sentence of death itself pressing in our souls, take heart.
God has a plan and a purpose in the midst of our broken, despairing, and suffering soul.
God desires we would trust in Him, in His grace and His truth, and not our own feeble attempts to stake out an existence for ourselves.
God does indeed raise the dead – He raised Christ and He has made us a new creation; the victory is in Him.
We set our hope on the living Christ, the risen Christ, the conquering Christ. We set our hope He who works all things for His glory.
We have no other choice, there is no hope but hope in Christ.
