Title: 13
Author: Joe G
Last saved by: Matt Lawson
Company: GDC

Clanking Chains		06-06-29.CC02-626 /

Past, Present, & Future Concepts of Hope; without Doctrine One Can Have No Hope; Courage Increases As Hope Acquires Confidence through Spiritual Growth

8)	This word comes from Stoic philosophy which refers to the exercise of inner-sufficiency so that a person is sufficient to himself.  The doctrinal application has to do with spiritual maturity where the believer possesses cognitive invincibility.
		10.	Paul and other New Testament writers use elpis in the sense of not only the present, but also the past and the future.  This can be demonstrated by definitions of the word as it is used in the New Testament:
Balz, Horst and Gerhard Schneider (eds.).  Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament.  (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 1:438:
Hope is based on the divine promise and leaves behind it any uncertainty.  Hope by its very nature, is associated with not seeing.
Romans 8:24 -	In reference to hope [ ™lp…j, elpis: future expectation ], we have been saved.  Now when a hope is being seen it is not a hope [ it becomes a confident expectation ].  Moreover, who hopes for what he sees?
When what one hopes for occurs it is no longer a hope but a reality.  There is nothing more real than the Word of God because what the Bible says is more certain than what experience reveals.  Therefore, what you have learned from the Bible in the past is more real to you than what is going on at present and therefore you have confident expectation that what is promised is to be viewed as having already come to pass.  This confident expectation applies to salvation, eternal life, and the fact you go to heaven when you die.
Romans 8:25 -	Now if we have confident anticipation for what we do not see [ the eternal future and its blessings and rewards ], and we do, then through endurance [ of momentum testing, undeserved suffering, temporal trials ] we stand fast in eager anticipation [ ¢pekdšcomai, apekdechomai: refers to the believer’s future expectation ]. 
Hope demands patient expectation of that which does not belong to the visible world.  The person who stands in grace possesses hope.  This hope is not disappointed because of God’s love, which has already been demonstrated because of the justification and reconciliation through Christ.
This hope is supported by the divine predestination of the believer to salvation and thus receives the greatest possible basis for security.  Anyone who is not included has no hope.
		11.	What all these definitions and uses of elpis provide is an overview of what the word means to the believer as he grows in grace, retains doctrine, and looks toward his eternal future.
		12.	Without knowledge of doctrine there is no hope—no confidence about anything you believe or anything regarding your future.
		13.	Knowledge of doctrine must be retained in the memory center, doctrinal storage, vocabulary, norms and standards, and frame of reference of the soul.
		14.	When present circumstances confront the believer he is able to use his memory of doctrines learned in the past to resolve current conflicts.
		15.	In so doing his confidence in the plan of God for his life provides courage toward life and circumstances.  Further, his confidence in the doctrine of logistical grace support provides additional courage to face the challenge of the moment.
		16.	Rationales include one’s confidence that as a believer he is in the plan of God and in that plan he is guaranteed all necessities for both his physical and spiritual sustenance.
		17.	When it becomes obvious that circumstances indicate logistics are being removed through accident, disease, or illness then his absolute confidence in his eternal future brings tranquility of soul and eager anticipation that his confident expectation is about to be converted into eternal reality.
		18.	The essence of “hope” is confident expectation accompanied by eager anticipation and made possible by spiritual growth as indicated by Paul in:
2 Timothy 1:12 -		I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted in Him until that day.

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