My last semester at seminary, my professor assigned the class to write a paper on the virtue we felt was central to human development. I chose hope. Here's my concluding paragraph:
"Whether aiding in the process of development or healing developmental issues. Hope is the virtue that ignites change. It motivates individuals to seek a different and better circumstance than they currently find themselves in. Hope also has the theological power to do the same thing in one’s spiritual life. Tanquerey (1932) asserts that hope has the power of sanctification by: uniting people to God, imparting efficacy to our prayers, and being the principle of fruitful activity (561-563). Hope unites people to God by driving us toward perfection and permanence rather than the imperfect and temporary things of the world. It imparts efficacy to our prayers by building confidence in the answer to our requests. Finally, hope serves as the principle of fruitful activity as it creates in us a desire to attain greater things and also a desire to sustain obstacles to those goals. The common thread in all three is the aspect of motion and development. Hope moves us forward."
The Greek translation of hope is the word "elpis" which means one of two things:
1. the expectation of evil, fear. Or
2. the expectation of good, hope.
My conviction grows that following Jesus means the second. That God placed His Son among a depraved humanity not as an empty gesture, but with the radical expectation of good.
As I enter 2010...I want to engage in the lives of myself and others with THE EXPECTATION OF GOOD.
This might be a dumb question, you've been warned:
ReplyDeleteSince the word for hope, "elpis," is defined by two, almost opposite meanings, is it prudent for the Bible reader to discern which kind of hope we're looking at when we come across each instance of the word? Are there times when we read "hope" in our traditional, optimistic sense when really it means anticipation of something negative? Let me know.
Great question, Meg!
ReplyDeleteI think it's absolutely prudent to check the context to see what kind of elpis the passage is talking about. But I think you'll be hard pressed to find the negative form...which is why I think the gospel is so spanking awesome!
I hesitated to even put the second meaning here. But, through one of my group's study of 1 Peter we came to the conclusion that often the Bible pits fear against hope. Which is an equally thought-provoking concept that I hope to touch on at some point.