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Hope, its qualities.

Christian hope is very closely connected with Christian faith. If faith is confidence in the “invisible,” i.e. in the fact that there is the Creator, taking care of the world and that the atonement of the mankind is accomplished by the son of God, then hope is the confidence in “that desired and expected,” i.e. the fact that the purpose of creation of the world and atonement of the man will be achieved, and the highest good will be fulfilled. But the purpose of creation and atonement is the common perfection and corresponding to it happiness. Therefore the object of hope is, in the first place, perfection and happiness of each one of us, and secondly, perfection and happiness of all the other people and the whole world. In particular, the subject of hope is the release from the sin and death, the free disclosure of all forces of a human being, the complete connection of the man with Christ the Savior and God-Father by the means of the Holy Spirit. This subject in the most perfect manner is depicted by Apostle Paul in the Epistles to Corinthians and Romans. It is said there that, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive but every man in his own order Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power …The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:22-28). Then as well for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom.8:19).

The next subject of Christian hope is first of all, and mainly, the future life. But to the extent the moral perfection is accessible on the earth, the present life can be the subject of hope, too. AP. Peter writes: Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet.1:13). Ap. Paul expresses hope that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6). Not only moral and spiritual values are the subject of Christian hope, but also the physical or bodily ones (health, property, etc.), as much they are necessary for the acquisition of spiritual goods. The Lord himself teaches us to pray about the “daily bread.”

Although hope is directed towards the future, as faith is directed towards the past, but faith is directed to the accomplished in the history revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement of the mankind, and earlier — to the creation of the world from the eternity by existing God, so it follows that the essence of Christian hope lies in the fact that the future is manifested in it as the present, being accomplished now, — while the essence of faith lies in representing the past like something happening at the present time. Hope would not be true and efficient, i.e. full of firm confidence and filling the man with courage and energy, if it was only pure expectation, if its subject and purpose were totally absent now, i.e., would be located only in the distant and misty future. The subject of hope, precisely God and Christ, belong to the man at present (Math. 28:20; Eph. 3:20; Luke 1:37). This does not report to the Christian hope falsity and force, as God is not false and strong to save men (on the word of the Holy Scripture, Rom. 3:4; 2 Tim. 2:13; Hebr. 10:23). Ap. Paul says that we are saved by hope (Rom. 8:24) This expression, on the one hand, indicates the fact that our salvation is still ahead and is expected by us further in the future, and on the other hand, that this future by means of the steadfast hope already seemingly exists in the present. For this is also indicated the basis, which consists of the fact that we already, in the present time, have the firstfruits of the Spirit in ourselves: but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23). Hence we see that hope can take place only in the Christianity. Although hope, as faith, is characteristic of the man in general, but out of the Christianity there is no sufficient basis for hope. Therefore the apostle calls the heathens as others which have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13).

True (Christian) hope is the simple and barren desire, proceeding from the merry disposition, but it is the voluntary and fruit-bearing determination and therefore, as faith, is a virtue. In this determination are combined, in the first place, the readiness to tolerate all the occurring sufferings (the internal and external “cross,” according to the Evangelical expression), in the understanding that they are assigned to us by the fostering mercy of God, since we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22), and whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth (Hebr. 12:6; Rev. 3:19), and though now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebr. 12:11); secondly— contentment with the personal state, and realization that each one of us is put at his own place and in his state by God Himself (1 Cor. 7:20; 1 Pet. 4:10, 11; Rom. 12:3-8), and that for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content (1 Tim. 6:7,8); thirdly — faithfulness to the will of God and hope for Him in realization that He cares about us (Math. 10:29 and f.), that the hope for Him maketh not ashamed (Rom. 5:5), that all things work together for good to them that love God (Rom 8:28) and that if we have the Lord, we would not ask about none upon the earth, not in heaven (Psalms 72:25). The Christian hope, obviously, directly calls to patience, without which its existence is impossible; therefore the virtue of patience is the daughter of hope.

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it, as the apostle said (Rom. 8:25). The Lord Jesus Christ call us to be patient when He says: In your patience possess ye your souls (Luke 21:19), But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved (Math.24:13), — and Ap. Paul, when he says: let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Hebr. 12:1-2). Apostle James points at the model of patience in the example of Job (5:7-11).

Christian patience differs from the stoic renunciation or apathy (impassivity). This becomes evident from the above-indicated qualities of Christian hope. A Christian hopes for the power of eternal God, Who desires to him any good and therefore is directing everything towards his welfare; while a stoic knows only the impersonal power of nature, only blind fate, which cannot take into account his interests. A Christian tolerates all those occurring sufferings voluntarily, because of obedience to his good and merciful to him God; meanwhile a stoic forces himself to tolerate the inevitable evil and to get accustomed to it. Therefore a Christian is not humiliated with sufferings, while a stoic is. Further, a Christian, by the voluntary subordination to the highest authority and hope for it testifies about his humbleness and submissiveness, which will lead him to the final reconciliation with the highest force, to the fulfillment of hope and to the crowning of his patience; however, a stoic by the willful resistance to that being outside and above him force testifies about his pride, which never and nowhere gets calmed and does not achieve its goal. Finally, a Christian with all sufferings and humiliations values life and realizes high merit of the entire existence in general, while a stoic treats the existence neglectfully; he even frequently despises his own life.