Hope

Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Eight
WE ARE SAVED BY HOPE

Scripture Reading: verses 22-25

FOR WE KNOW THAT THE WHOLE CREATION GROANETH AND TRAVAILETH IN PAIN TOGETHER UNTIL NOW. AND NOT ONLY THEY, BUT OURSELVES ALSO, WHICH HAVE THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, EVEN WE OURSELVES GROAN WITHIN OURSELVES, WAITING FOR THE ADOPTION, TO WIT, THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY. FOR WE ARE SAVED BY HOPE: BUT HOPE THAT IS SEEN IS NOT HOPE: FOR WHAT A MAN SEETH, WHY DOTH HE YET HOPE FOR? BUT IF WE HOPE FOR THAT WE SEE NOT, THEN DO WE WITH PATIENCE WAIT FOR IT.

Paul is now demonstrating how the entire visible creation shared in the spiritual cataclysm that took place when Adam sinned. The sad tale since has been one of pain and travail on behalf of the whole creation, and, on the part of every living thing there is an earnest looking forward to the day when the Lord Jesus returns. We are in the midst of a groaning creation, and we need not look for a final, universal settlement of the affairs until the rightful Heir of all things comes back in power and glory. Until then, the groaning will continue. Thus, the elements of suffering around us today are harbingers of the coming of Christ. The distress of nations, the impossibility of agreement between politicans in a world languishing in the throes of conflict, the whine of pain among animals, the struggle of trees to combat the attack of disease and destructive insects, the presence of hospitals to house the ailing and injured – all potent tokens of the ttruth that the whole creation groans. It is a groan that goes up as a prayer for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only then will all these things be set aside. Only then will the groaning and the travailing of the creation be over forever and the yearning prayer of the centuries will be answered. “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings.”

Little wonder the coming again of the Lord Jesus is spoken of as “the Blessed Hope.” Romans 8:23 speaks of “waiting for the adoption¹ . . . the redemption of our body,” and we who are the firstfruits of the Spirit² groan with grief within ourselves over our remaining sinfulness (Rom. 7:24; cf. Ps. 38:4, 9, 10), waiting for that moment. Having the firstfruits of the Spirit merely means God has given to His beloved children the indwelling Holy Spirit as an earnest or pledge of the day of glory about to be inaugurated. This subject is taken up in some detail in Ephesians 1. Then this passage in Romans 8 says: “For we are saved by hope;” hope that is not seen.³ In this age, when there is so much disintegration, failure, and collapse of the very moral fiber of our universe, we must constantly emphasize this fact. In this world, one can hardly be surprised that unbelieving men scoffingly ask, “Where is the promise of His coming?” Many centuries have rolled by since the Lord Jesus was here on earth. The last words He left with us in the New Testament are these: “Behold, I come quickly.” It has been a long time of waiting, a time characterized by unmitigated suffering on the part of God’s people, as well as the whole creation. The rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ by way of the Cross of Calvary was the beginning of a long decline toward chaotic confusion marked by disappointment and sorrow on every hand.

We are now at the beginning of the 21^st century, and evidences do not portend any kind of solution of the multiplied problems before mankind. Therefore, the Christian is not saved by sight, but by hope.⁴ The revelation of God concerning the coming again of the Lord Jesus has come to us at the darkest hour in the world’s history. The Christian believes it and as the darkness in the world becomes deeper and more inpenetrable the Christian realizes the Lord is at hand. It is remarkable how the truth of the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ is today so well known among Christian people across the world.

Footnotes:
¹ Our adoption,” which was mentioned so favorably in Romans 8:15 (which see), even that is by no means final but must be waited for. The adoption will be final and complete when man possesses His body, free of the sentence of death, thus being empowered truly to participate in the glory of God. The incompleteness of man’s salvation shall ever pertain to the earthly phase of the Christian’s existence. The adoption is not final, and even his possession of the Spirit of God is partial, in the extent of an “earnest” only, and bearing not the full fruit, but only the “firstfruits.” Despite the partial and incomplete nature of the salvation Christians enjoy during the present life, it is nevertheless the end and all of living. The Word of the Creator Himself is signed to the title deeds of our hope. The blood of Christ is sufficient to redeem; the love of God for His children will finally prevail; and the ancient promise of God will be fulfilled when “the ransomed of the Lord” shall indeed enter into His presence “with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. 35:10).
² In his Study Bible (2010), John MacArthur writes the following on the “firstfruits of the sprit:” Just as the first pieces of produce to appear on a tree provide hope of a future harvest, the fruit which the Spirit produces in us now (Gal. 4:5-7) provides hope that we will one day be like Christ.
³Attention is directed to the English Revised Version (1885) margin where appears the alternate translation, “By hope were we saved.” Translators and commentators are sensitive about salvation’s being ascribed to anything else except faith; but the Word of God honors no such inhibitions, affirming positively that people are saved “by grace” (Eph. 2:8), “by the gospel” (1 Cor. 15:1,2), “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” (Acts 4:10-12), “by his (Christ’s) life” (Rom. 5:10), “by the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5), “by his (Christ’s) blood (Rev. 1:5), “by the foolishness of the preaching” (1 Cor. 1:21), “by baptism” (1 Peter 3:21), “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3), etc. Any simplistic system whatever that would impose such a word as “only” upon any of the factors involved in human redemption is antagonistic to the Scriptures. Hope belongs to the Christian’s status and is a prerequisite of his salvation, no less than faith and love, all three, in fact, being mentioned as a trinity of Christian requirements in 1 Corinthians 13:13; and most significantly, faith does not climax that series; love does.
⁴Verse 25 explains how we are saved by hope, because without hope there could not be the patience required to prevent the child of God from falling into discouragement. The Christian’s salvation lies within an area of what the world speaks of as “intangibles.” It is a faithful trusting in “things not seen as yet.” Hope is far more than a mere wish that something might exist or be possessed; it is a valid claim supported by faith and grounded in confidence that the Lord is able to keep “that which I have committed to him” against that day (1 Tim. 1:12). This hope which saves is grounded in the Christian’s living faith, but it must also be distinguished from faith. As Dr. Harrison noted, “Nor can it rightly be said that hope is an aspect of faith, because faith and hope are expressly distinguished, and placed as coordinates with each other in 1 Corinthians 13:13, ‘And now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.’” Going a little further with Harrison's reasoning, “these three” are arranged in the ascending order of greatness, and therefore hope outranks faith in the constitution of God's redemptive system. The KJV’s rendition of “We are saved by hope” is thus far better than the English Revised Version’s “for in hope were we saved.” One may not resist the fear that the latter translation was encouraged by the jealousy of people to guard one of their popular theories that people are saved by “faith alone.”