Faith is Trust & Hope

2 Corinthians 5:7, We walk by faith, not by sight.

Faith does not need to see to believe; it merely hears and believes. Faith is trust and hope. Faith trusts God is able to do what He has promised, even when natural things—the ways of the world—say it is impossible.

Abraham’s wife was barren, but he believed God—he trusted God—that he would have a son, and God credited his faith in Him as righteousness (Romans 4:3; Genesis 15:6). Indeed, God enabled Sarah to conceive, and Abraham had a son. With nature—with man—this was impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). So we, too, when we believe God—that Christ died for us, rose from the dead, and will raise us from the dead—he credits this faith to us as righteousness (Romans 4:5, 23-25; 5:1).

Faith is also hope. What is hope? Not as the world thinks. When people of the world hope for something, it is a 50/50 view—a flip of the coin. It may or may not happen, but they wish it will. Biblical hope is antithetical to worldly hope. Faith is hope and hope is faith. What is biblical hope? “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Biblical hope is a hope that knows. Biblical hope does not wish; it knows. Hope knows because it is based on faith—the trust that God is able to do what He says. “In hope [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ‘So shall your offspring be'” (Romans 4:18). In other words, Abraham, in hope, trusted God against worldly hope. Because Abraham trusted God was able to do what He said He’d do, he knew God would do it.

Indeed, God did what He said He’d do—Abraham became the father of many nations in his descendent Jesus Christ. Abraham’s faith did not actuate God’s promise; rather, God’s promise actuated his faith.

Thus we, too, hope against hope because we trust God in Christ. Our hope in the resurrection is not a wish, but a knowing, for it is based on historical evidence. We know God raised Jesus from the dead, and so we trust and hope—we know—God will raise us from the dead at Christ’s glorious return.