Three that Remain: Faith, Hope, & Love

 

For we know in part [imperfect, obscure] and we prophesy in part [limited]; but when the perfect [finished] comes [the complete dispensation, the eternal state], the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now, we see in a mirror dimly [ainigma – obscurely, an enigma], but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith [pistis – trust, firm persuasion], hope [elpis – desire of some good with an expectation of obtaining it], love [agape – God’s unconditional, self-sacrificing benevolence to man], abide [meno – remain] these three; but the greatest of these is love.                             1 Corinthians 13:9-13 

The Church at Corinth was a tremendously gifted church, with many exercising spiritual gifts, many times in an unrestrained fashion. It was Paul’s priority in his first letter to address the definitions and limits of spiritual gifts, and he did so in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. Chapter 12 emphasizes the framework of those gifts, the right mode of exercising their spiritual gifts, and the degree of honor that was given to those who had been distinguished by God by the special influences of the Holy Spirit. He ended the chapter with the declaration: And I show you a still more excellent way. He would then spend the first eight verses of chapter 13 extolling the virtues of agape love.

In the above passage, Paul wishes to explain that the spiritual gifts that many times define the center of a believer's spiritual life have many limitations since we see in a mirror dimly (obscurely). He was telling the church that those gifts have an appearance of spirituality, but they do not represent the fullness of Christ available to all believers who receive the love of Christ freely, without condition, and respond accordingly. As a result, now, faith, hope, and love are the perfection of God that remain during the Church age as an avenue into the deepest experience the believer has on this side of heaven. Spirituality should not be seen according to one’s spiritual gifts.

Faith

Now faith is the assurance [hupostasis – guarantee, proof] of things hoped for, the conviction [elegchos – certain persuasion] of things not seen. For by it, the men of old gained approval. By faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.                              Hebrews 11:1-3 

And without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek [ekzeteo – search diligently, seek to obtain] Him.  Hebrews 11:6 

Faith, in the theological sense, contains two elements recognized in the Scriptures: an intellectual element and another of even more profound importance, moral. Faith is not simply the assent of the intellect to revealed truth; it is the practical submission of the entire man to the guidance and control of such truth. The demons also believe, and shudder (James 2:19). The writer of Hebrews defines faith as the guarantee of things hoped for, the certain persuasion of things not seen. So much of one’s faith is lived out in opposition to the seen world. Trusting in the invisible, as declared by God and His Word, is the foundation of a daily walk with the Lord. Pleasing God is based on believing that He is Lord moment by moment and that He wishes to reward each one who lives by that faith. 

Trust in the Lord 

Thus says the Lord, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord. "For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant. "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. "For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.                 Jeremiah 17:5-8 

Judah had been turning to false gods and foreign alliances for protection, but Yahweh indicates that a person who trusts in man for protection is cursed because his heart has turned away from God. Instead of prospering, he will wither away like a desert bush. God would make him as unfruitful as the barren saltland around the Dead Sea, unable to support life. A righteous person is blessed because his confidence is in God, For he will be like a tree planted by the water. When difficulties, represented by heat and drought, arise, he will not fear. Instead, he will continue to prosper like a tree that bears fruit and whose leaves remain green.

Hope

And not only this but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly [apekdechomai – intensely anticipating] for our adoption as sons, [to be fully realized at] the redemption of our body [our glorified body]. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it.                              Romans 8:23-25 

Elpis, the Greek word translated as “hope,” is a favorable and confident expectation. It has to do with the unseen and the future. "Hope" describes three things: 1. the happy anticipation of good (the most frequent significance), as found in Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:21; 2. the ground upon which "hope" is based, (see Colossians 1:27 - Christ in you the hope of glory; and 3. the object upon which the "hope" is fixed. As the passage above illuminates, it represents waiting eagerly or intensely anticipating the promised future that all Christians have been given. Hope is the foundation for perseverance. 

First Fruits of the Spirit

We groan because we have experienced the first fruits of the Spirit, a foretaste of the glory to come, just as the nation of Israel tasted the first fruits of Canaan when the spies returned (Numbers 13:23-27. Christians have tasted the blessings of heaven through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are eagerly waiting for our new redeemed body when Christ returns. At salvation, we experience the adoption as sons, as adults standing in God's family. When Christ returns, we enter into our full inheritance. In Titus 2:13, we are looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. When He returns, we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:2-3). 

For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, "I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU" [Genesis 22:17]. And so, having patiently waited [makrothumio – suffered long, restraint without retaliation], he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them, an oath given as confirmation is an end to every dispute. In the same way, God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things [the promise and the oath] in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure [asphales – that which cannot be thrown down] and steadfast [bebaios – fixed, sure, certain] and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.          Hebrews 6:13-20 

When Abraham was told to offer his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah as a test of his faith, he passed the test. Since he was willing to offer his promised son (a type of the Father and the Son), the quality of the promises of God is confirmed by His oath; He was vouching for Himself, He swore by Himself. A willingness to wait patiently supposes that God cannot lie, that He is faithful even when we are faithless, for He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). If God were not to be faithful, He would cease to be God. This makes our hope both sure [asphales – that which cannot be thrown down] and steadfast [bebaios – fixed, sure, certain].

Faith and hope are made of the same substance, looking at things from a different perspective. According to one scholar, faith looks back 2,000 years to Jesus’s first coming, while hope looks forward to his second coming. Still, everything God does is a byproduct of His love (1 John 4:8, 16).

The Work of God 

Constantly bearing in mind your work [ergon – performance, the result or object of employment] of [produced by] faith and labor [kopos – wearisome effort] of [prompted by] love and steadfastness [hupomone – perseverance, the quality of character which does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial] of [inspired by] hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.                         1 Thessalonians 1:3 

Each of these virtues found its object in the person of Christ, and each produced exemplary behavior. The Thessalonians had exercised saving faith in Christ in the past when they had believed the gospel, loving Christ in the present, hoping for His return in the future. These three are the clearest evidence of the believer’s election. Their lives were certainly focused on Jesus Christ. No wonder Paul and his companions gave thanks for them.

Faith & Love in Action

But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.                                 1 Thessalonians 5:8-11

A Roman breastplate covered a soldier from his neck to his waist and protected most of his vital organs. Isaiah saw the coming Messiah equipped with these pieces of armor: And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on His head, and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle (Isaiah 59:16-17). Jesus brings His righteousness in the form of faith and love and a helmet of salvation personified by hope.

That is what Christians' faith and love do. Faith in God protects inwardly, and love for people protects outwardly. These two graces cannot be separated; if one believes in God, he will also love other people. These attitudes equip Christians to live in anticipation of the Rapture. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love (Galatians 5:6). In addition, the hope of salvation guards their heads from attacks on their thinking. The salvation they look forward to is deliverance from the wrath to come when the Lord returns, as is clear from the context. It is not a wishful longing that someday they might be saved eternally. Followers of Christ have a sure hope; they are not like others who have no hope.

Bearing Fruit

We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing,  even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.                        Colossians 1:3-8

Faith is the soul looking upward to God; love looks outward to others; hope looks forward to the future. Faith rests on the past work of Christ; love works in the present, and hope anticipates the future. The Colossians' love extended to all saints (believers), probably not only at Colosse, but everywhere. 

Faith and love spring from hope, confident in what God will do in the future. This confidence leads to a greater trust in God and a deeper love for others. This confident expectation of Christ's return influences believers' conduct. Hope is stored up in heaven because Christ, the essence of this hope, is there. Without Christ's Ascension to heaven and His present ministry of intercession on behalf of believers (Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 2:1), they would have no hope. Epaphras and other fellow bond-servants found that this is the message of a fruitful life, centered on the life of Christ and His Word, and empowered by His Spirit. 

Faith will vanish into sight,

Hope be emptied in delight,

Love in heaven will shine more bright,

Therefore, give us love.