Faith Relates Us to the Invisible

Today, I’m going to explain a very important distinction, which many people do not clearly understand: the distinction between faith and hope. Failure to understand this distinction often leads to frustration in the lives of God’s people. Many people think they have faith, but in reality, they have hope. And the results that God has promised to faith are not promised to hope.

So it’s very important for each of us to get a clear grasp of the difference between faith and hope. First of all, I think I need to define hope, at least briefly. Hope in the Scripture, in a good sense, is a steady, continuing expectation of good from God. Hope in the Scripture, in a good sense, can never be divorced from God. It’s a steady, continuing expectation of good from God.

It’s not just wishful thinking. There’s a lot of hopes that people entertain that don’t answer to that definition I’ve given. So we need to understand the nature of hope, as well as the nature of faith.

In 1 Corinthians 13, verse 1, Paul says,

“But now abide faith, hope, love, these three.”

So the three abiding realities of the Christian life are faith, hope, and love. We see that faith and hope are linked closely together. And in a certain sense, we could say their product in living is love.

Faith and hope are also closely linked in that first verse of Hebrews chapter 11, which we looked at yesterday. Yesterday, we looked mainly at the second half of the verse. Today, we’re going to focus mainly on the first half of the verse. I’ll read the entire verse again.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

You see there in the first half of the verse, the link between faith and hope. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.” An alternative translation, which I believe would be preferable, would be, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for,” or the underlying basis of things hoped for. The same Greek word is used at the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews with that meaning of substance or underlying basis. So faith is the substance, the underlying basis of things hoped for.

This shows us that faith and hope are related, but also that they’re distinct. And it tells us something very important about hope. All genuine hope is based on faith. Hopes that are not based on faith are just wishful thinking. But true hope, in the biblical sense, is based on true faith. And yet, they’re different.

What are the differences? I’ll suggest to you two main differences. First of all, faith is in the present, hope is in the future. Secondly, faith is in the heart, hope is in the mind. You see, the writer of Hebrews says, “Faith is the substance,” or the underlying reality. So faith is a substance. It’s something real. It’s something that we have here and now in our hearts. But hope essentially looks toward the future.

So that’s the first basic difference. Faith is in the present, hope looks to the future. Each is valid, but neither is a substitute for the other. And then again, faith is located in the heart, hope in the mind. This is very clear, very important. Romans chapter 10, verse 10, Paul says,

“For with the heart man believes resulting in righteousness.”

So the heart is the place we believe with. That’s the kind of faith that results in righteousness. A lot of people have intellectual opinions and give intellectual assent to doctrine, but it isn’t in their heart and it doesn’t change the way they live. Heart faith produces righteousness. That’s one of the ways we know whether a person is believing with his heart or just with his mind. You see, the trouble is, we tend to switch these things and get them in the wrong place. Faith in the mind will not do what God promises. It’s faith in the heart that produces the results God has promised.

Then Paul goes on to say in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 8,

“But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.”

Paul is talking here about the Christian’s armor. And he talks about two specific items of armor: the breastplate and the helmet. Obviously, the breastplate relates to the heart. And the breastplate is faith and love. Equally obviously, the helmet relates to the head, that is the mind, and the helmet is hope. So again, we have confirmation from Scripture that faith is in the realm of the heart, the breast, hope is in the realm of the head, the mind.

So those are the two basic points of distinction between faith and hope. Faith is now, hope is in the future. Faith is in the heart, hope is in the mind. I’ve been saying that faith is in the now. It’s a substance. Someone has rather well expressed it by saying there are three F’s: fact, faith, and feeling. They have to go in that order. The facts are in the Word of God. Faith is based on those facts. Feeling falls into line with faith. But if we put them in the wrong order and start with feeling, our feelings are very variable. They change from day to day and from hour to hour. They’re like our senses. They don’t relate us to something that is permanent.

So people who live by their feelings are unstable people. They’re up and down, in and out. The only basis for faith is fact, the facts of God’s Word. These are already stated, they are already established. They are what faith is built on. So faith is in the now. Faith relates us to the facts and the acts of God as we know them from God’s Word. Hope is very, very important in the Christian life. It’s the helmet of the mind. It’s that which protects our minds from depression and anxiety and fear.

You see, hope has to have a solid scriptural base. Otherwise, it’s just wishful thinking. There’s really one sufficient scriptural base for all hope, and that’s Romans 8:28.

“We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Now, provided we meet those conditions, that we love God and that we’re walking in His calling and His purpose for our lives, then we know that everything that happens, God causes it to work together. So there never is any basis for pessimism. Always, this is the basis of our hope. It’s our faith in God’s goodness. And this hope protects our minds. It keeps us from depression, from moodiness, from being up and down.

So we see then, each has its function. Faith is in the heart. It’s the breastplate. Hope is in the mind. It’s the helmet.