intro to: what is Hope? & definition of Hope

intro

As I named my blog The Hope That Is Within I thought I should look up what exactly this Hope that we as Christians are to have, what I found rather surprised me and I thought would be useful to you. I am planing this to be the first post in a series going through not only what Hope is but also what Faith and Love are, and how these three things are related.

definition of Hope

Lets start with the definition of Hope, I found the most useful and in my opinion accurate definition in Webster's 1828 English Dictionary (A thank you goes to Sir Emeth Mimetes for a link to that dictionary) which defines it as follows:

HOPE, n. [L. cupio.]

1. A desire of some good, accompanied with at least a slight expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable. Hope differs from wish and desire in this, that it implies some expectation of obtaining the good desired, or the possibility of possessing it. Hope therefore always gives pleasure or joy; whereas wish and desire may produce or be accompanied with pain and anxiety.
   . . .


2. Confidence in a future event; the highest degree of well founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on God's gracious promises; a scriptural sense.
   A well founded scriptural hope,is, in our religion, the source of ineffable happiness.


3. That which gives hope; he or that which furnishes ground of expectation, or promises desired good. The hope of Israel is the Messiah.
   . . .


4. An opinion or belief not amounting to certainty, but grounded on substantial evidence. The christian indulges a hope, that his sins are pardoned.

HOPE, v.i.

1. To cherish a desire of food, with some expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable.
   . . .


2. To place confidence in; to trust in with confident expectation of good.
   . . .

. . .

Please note, I have removed other definitions that did not pertain to this discussion as well as have removed examples of the definitions that are here for space. You can see the full entry here.

I think that is a pretty good definition, so I will be going with it. If I accidentally variate from it please leave a comment telling me when and how.

I think that definition number 2 there is the one that would most apply to Biblical Hope or as I would say The Hope. As there is The God, or God, so also I would say that there is The Hope, or Hope. Now if you don't agree with that please continue reading and I think it will make sense.

final words for this post

Now, I have only gotten through the first two sections of this and I think that I have as much as people want to read at a sitting. Though I think that there are some other benefits to breaking up the posting of this which I have listed:

One it will give you the reader time to absorb the information and be better prepared to absorb the next article. While if I posted everything I had to say in one article you would probably take away about the same amount of information as you are now, maybe less, the difference being if it was one long article it would have had at least twice if not three or four time as much information. If I stagger the articles you (I am hoping) will be better able to absorb, process, and comment on what I am saying.

Two is that I will be better able to prepare the articles, making it worth your time to read what I am saying.

Tomarow I will bet in to what we are to Hope for, which will probobly be enough for it's own post by it's self, we'll see.

May The Grace of The Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit.