Pauline Links (1)

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.Romans 15:13 NASB

Joy and peace– Paul connects joy and peace. There is a link between chará and eirḗnē.  In fact, this link also includes elpís (hope) for it is the “God of hope” that makes chará and eirḗnē possible.  How does this work?

In the Greek world, “hopes are subjective projections of the future.”^[1]  But these hopes are more like emotional crutches than real possibilities. “Hope for the Greeks is a comfort in distress, but it is also deceptive and uncertain except in the case of the wise who base it on scientific investigation.”^[2]  In other words, hope isn’t wish fulfillment.  It is rationally justified probability, and as we can readily see, there is nothing “certain” about rationally justified probability.  Without a sovereign God, hope is about as definitive as a weather report.  Perhaps this is why the LXX uses elpízein and elpís for bāṭaḥ, a Hebrew word that does not rely on observable fact-gathering but rather on the character of the Creator.

“The God of hope” is crucial if we are to experience joy.  In fact, Paul suggests that joy is a passive experience, that is, it happens to us.  We are not the initiating agents.  The “God of hope” is the active agent.  Perhaps joy is like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If we pursue it, we can never find it, but if we simply go about the business of trusting the God of hope, joy arrives.  C. S Lewis’ engaging title, Surprised by Joy, may be the proper understanding of the biblical concept.

We should also note that Paul connects this experience of joy and peace with pisteúō (to believe).  What we must keep in mind is that “believing” isn’t simply cognitive acknowledgement of the fact that God offers hope.  In the Semitic world, believing is an action, a state of extreme readiness, and a deliberate willingness to trust God despite present evidence.   This aligns with the Hebrew view of hope, that is, “To hope is to trust. It is demanded even in good times. It is not our own projection but confidence in what God will do.”^[3]  In fact, we might say that hope is the ability to look over the horizon and expect that God’s past actions will continue in the future.

Topical Index:  joy, peace, chará, eirḗnē, God of hope, Romans 15:13

^[1]Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament(229). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.

^[2]Ibid.

^[3]Ibid., (230)