What does "Hope" mean in the Bible?

What does the Bible say about Hope?

One of the three main elements of Christian character (1 Cor. 13:13). It is joined to faith and love, and is opposed to seeing or possessing (Rom. 8:24; 1 John 3:2). “Hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity (1 Pet. 3:15; Heb. 10:23). In it the whole glory of the Christian vocation is centred (Eph. 1:18; 4:4).” Unbelievers are without this hope (Eph. 2:12; 1 Thess. 4:13). Christ is the actual object of the believer’s hope, because it is in his second coming that the hope of glory will be fulfilled (1 Tim. 1:1; Col. 1:27; Titus 2:13). It is spoken of as “lively”, i.e., a living, hope, a hope not frail and perishable, but having a perennial life (1 Pet. 1:3). In Rom. 5:2 the “hope” spoken of is probably objective, i.e., “the hope set before us,” namely, eternal life (comp. 12:12). In 1 John 3:3 the expression “hope in him” ought rather to be, as in the Revised Version, “hope on him,” i.e., a hope based on God.

What is the Greek word for Hope?

Where does Hope appear in the Bible?

Hope is referenced in 44 verses across 15 books. Every passage below is about this one, not just every verse the word turns up in.

• 1 Corinthians 13:13
• 1 John 3:3
• 1 Peter 1:3
• 1 Peter 1:21
• 1 Peter 3:15
• 1 Thessalonians 1:3
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13
• 1 Timothy 1:1
• 2 Corinthians 1:7
• 2 Corinthians 3:12
• 2 Corinthians 10:15
• 2 Thessalonians 2:16
• Acts 2:26
• Acts 16:19
• Acts 24:15
• Acts 26:6
• Acts 26:7
• Acts 27:20
• Acts 28:20
• Colossians 1:5
• Colossians 1:23
• Colossians 1:27
• Ephesians 1:18
• Ephesians 2:12

What else appears in these passages?

These turn up in the same passages as Hope.