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?
People are saved by hope because the full reality of salvation is not yet seen but is held in hopeful waiting. Hope by definition is for what is not yet seen; what is already seen or visible is not hope, and what remains unseen is awaited with patience. Those who hope for what they do not see wait for it patiently through present trials, which prepare them for the glory still to be revealed.
Hope saves because the great Physician is present to heal every malady. While waiting, the Spirit helps human weakness by making intercession according to the will of God when prayer is uncertain, and all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Christ lived this dependence in human nature, sharing bodily wants and weariness and being braced for duty and trial by prayer to the Father. The certainty of this hope rests on God being for His people and freely giving all things with His own Son, so that neither death nor life nor any other creature can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
For fallen people, being saved by hope means being led to believe it is not too late to become men again and to rise again. Hope is awakened by honoring people with confidence and placing them on honor, treating even those who have fallen lowest with respect and with pitying tenderness toward evil habits, strong prejudices, and overbearing passions without showing shock or offense, encouraging rather than driving away, discouraging, or repelling them. Those who share this Spirit will regard all as brethren facing similar temptations and trials, often falling and struggling to rise again while battling discouragements and difficulties and craving sympathy and help, and will meet them with sympathy and help in a way that encourages confidence. The encouragement is the promise that when they fall they will arise, and when they sit in darkness the Lord will be a light to them, bringing them out of darkness, upholding and pleading their cause, and bringing them into the light of His righteousness.
People are saved by hope because the full reality of salvation is not yet seen but is held in hopeful waiting. Hope by definition is for what is not yet seen; what is already seen or visible is not hope, and what remains unseen is awaited with patience. Those who hope for what they do not see wait for it patiently through present trials, which prepare them for the glory still to be revealed.
Hope saves because the great Physician is present to heal every malady. While waiting, the Spirit helps human weakness by making intercession according to the will of God when prayer is uncertain, and all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Christ lived this dependence in human nature, sharing bodily wants and weariness and being braced for duty and trial by prayer to the Father. The certainty of this hope rests on God being for His people and freely giving all things with His own Son, so that neither death nor life nor any other creature can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
For fallen people, being saved by hope means being led to believe it is not too late to become men again and to rise again. Hope is awakened by honoring people with confidence and placing them on honor, treating even those who have fallen lowest with respect and with pitying tenderness toward evil habits, strong prejudices, and overbearing passions without showing shock or offense, encouraging rather than driving away, discouraging, or repelling them. Those who share this Spirit will regard all as brethren facing similar temptations and trials, often falling and struggling to rise again while battling discouragements and difficulties and craving sympathy and help, and will meet them with sympathy and help in a way that encourages confidence. The encouragement is the promise that when they fall they will arise, and when they sit in darkness the Lord will be a light to them, bringing them out of darkness, upholding and pleading their cause, and bringing them into the light of His righteousness.