Faith - Hope - Love

These three words epitomise many aspirations of people all over the world. In general, we all want to be loved, to have faith in other people and we certainly have hope that the future will bring us good times and good things.

The apostle Paul uses the 3-fold combination of faith, hope and love at least 4 times in his epistles. Let's look at them in their settings in the Scriptures.

1 Thessalonians 1:3, "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God our Father." The apostle's first epistle to the Thessalonian believers is considered to be the first letter he wrote to any church. Paul in his to prayers to God remembered three particular attributes of these believers.

1. Your work of faith. Faith to me is an unswerving conviction and a deeply felt trust in someone, or something. Therefore my work of faith is to follow my unswerving conviction and put into practice my deeply felt trust. James states in his epistle, in chapter 2:26, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."  Ephesians 2:10 tells us we have been "...created in Christ Jesus for good works...

2. (Your) labour of love. How well this follows on from the work of faith. The labour of love stems from the outworking of faith in our lives. Love enriches faith and faith enhances love. Our human labour of love is inspired by divine love in our lives. Colossians 3:23, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men."

3. (Your) patience of hope. The word hope denotes something in the future. Patience is required if hope is to be fulfilled. Ephesians 1:18, "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." Titus 2:13, "Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ."

 1 Thessalonians 5:8, "But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation." In chapter 5 the apostle Paul uses the illustration of a soldier's armour to help us and comfort us. This chapter starts off by telling us of the coming Day of the Lord; a time of wrath and judgement on the nations. Paul exhorts the Thessalonian believers to be vigilant and sober. Faith and love here are likened to a breastplate that protects the heart and lungs. The helmet protects the head and thus protects the hope of our salvation.

 Paul reminds the Thessalonian believers in verse 9, "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."

 1 Corinthians 13:13, "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." In 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 we find that these verses form a part of the Holy Scriptures known to Christians as the love chapter. Verse 13 our heading verse is the last verse of the chapter. It is Paul's summation of the chapter.

 The word abide can also mean dwelling or remaining. Remaining seems to fit this verse best. From all the things Paul tells us in chapter 13 that will cease, faith - hope - love remain. However, he points out that the greatest of the three is love.

 1 John 4:16, "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."  Love is not just an attribute of God. God Himself is love! All love therefore has its original source in God Himself. When we get to heaven faith and hope will no longer be required; for we are in the presence of God, who is love! This outcome is also the fulfilment of our faith, hope and love.

  

Jon Peasey

Biblical Perspectives blog www.jon-peasey.blogspot.com

Ebooks author page https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JRPeasey

 [All Scriptures quoted are from the New King James version; unless otherwise noted. Words enclosed in [ ] are inserted for clarity. Words in bold type emphasise a point. You may notice some verses are quoted with ... at the beginning, ending or elsewhere in a verse. Only the relevant part or parts of the verse, that relate directly to the current subject matter is quoted.]

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