Titus 1:2 Our Hope of Eternal Life is Not Just Wishful Thinking

In our culture we often think of hope as being a mere wish. Oftentimes, we use the word hope when we desire something, but all evidence indicates that what we desire will not happen. We express a hope for something, knowing that it probably will not happen. So in our culture, hope is often wishful thinking.

The Biblical definition is different. In the Bible the word hope was used when people had a very reasonable expectation they would receive that which they desired. This means that our hope of eternal life is not just wishful thinking.

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Transcript:

Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the 14th lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Titus. In this lesson we're going to look at verse two, and talk about hope. 

Let's start by reading the first two verses of Titus.

Titus 1:1  Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of the elect of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to Godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which the God who never lies promised before the beginning of time.

We see the word hope in verse two. It specifically mentions hope of eternal life. Let’s think about the definition of the word hope. In our culture we often think of hope as being a mere wish. Oftentimes, we use the word hope when we desire something, but all evidence indicates that what we desire will not happen. We express a hope for something, knowing that it probably will not happen. So in our culture, hope is often wishful thinking. 

The Biblical definition is different. In the Bible the word hope was used when people had a very reasonable expectation they would receive that which they desired.

The Greek word that was used in verse two and was translated hope is elpidi. Let's look at some other verses where that word was used so we can see the biblical definition of the word hope. Let’s start in Acts 16.

Paul was on one of his missionary journeys. He was in Philippi. He was being followed by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and who kept crying out as she followed Paul. After a couple days of this, Paul was annoyed, so he commanded the spirit to come out of her. The spirit came out. 

Then we read the following in verse 19. 

Acts 16:19   But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, 

The masters of this slave girl were earning money because the slave girl had a spirit of divination and was fortune-telling. When Paul cast the spirit of divination out of her, then they no longer had their source of profit, they no longer had hope of profit. Their hope for profit was not unrealistic when the slave girl had the spirit of divination, because they were earning it. They had hope they would continue to earn it and that hope was realistic. However, as soon as Paul cast the spirit out, then that hope was gone. We see that hope was a realistic expectation, not wishful thinking. 

Let's go to 1 Corinthians 9 and start reading at verse 9.

1Cor. 9:9  For it is written in the Law of Moses, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He? 10 Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. 

We see the word hope twice. Paul's argument was based on the fact that a plowman very realistically expects to get a share of the crops. Likewise, a thresher has a very realistic expectation that he will share in the crops that are produced from his work. Paul used the word hope to describe their realistic expectation. We see again that hope is not wishful thinking, it’s a realistic expectation. 

Now let's look at a verse that tells us what hope is not.

Rom. 8:24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?

When we hope for something, it's not referring to something we already have. If we already have it, then we’re not hoping for it. When we hope for things, we’re desiring something that we do not yet have, but according the Biblical definition, it is a realistic expectation that we will at some point receive that which we hope to receive.

Before we go back to Titus, I want to take a look at one more passage which is in Ephesians 2. These verses talk about the condition of the Gentiles before Christ. Let's start reading at verse 11. 

Eph. 2:11   Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands — 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

Before Christ, the Gentiles did not have hope. They did not have a realistic expectation of being brought near to Christ. However, after Christ, the Gentiles did have a realistic expectation of being brought near to Christ by the blood of Christ. 

With all that as some background and definition of the word hope, let's go back to Titus and re-read the first two verses and see what Paul wrote about hope of eternal life.

Titus 1:1  Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of the elect of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to Godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which the God who never lies promised before the beginning of time.

If you remember from previous lessons, Titus was written by Paul. He identified himself as a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was a slave and an apostle in order to build up the faith of the elect and to build up the knowledge of the truth. Then we see the phrase “in hope of eternal life”. 

The reason Paul was building up the faith of the elect and the knowledge of the truth was because he had hope that he would have eternal life and he knew that all people can have hope of eternal life if we become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

When Paul mentioned the hope of eternal life, he was not suggesting we have an unrealistic wish that we will have eternal life. Instead, this is a realistic expectation. It's not something we have yet, but it's something we will receive in the future. Anyone who becomes a servant of Jesus Christ and believes that Jesus rose from the dead can very realistically expect to have eternal life. 

This is encouraging to us as we go through our lives here on earth because, as you know, life is difficult. There's a lot of work as we go through life. There are a lot of obstacles. Many things in life cause stress. As we look around our society, there's a lot of crime, dishonesty, deceit, and corruption. There are many threats to our freedoms. 

However, despite all the difficulties of life, we as Christians have hope there are better days ahead. We have hope that we will have eternal life. When we say we have hope there are better days ahead and that we can have eternal life, that’s not wishful thinking. That's not something we wish for even though all evidence indicates we will not get it. The reality is we as Christians have a very realistic expectation and belief that there are better days ahead, and we will have eternal life and spend eternity with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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Scripture quotations from Titus taken from a translation by Bible Mountain.

“All other Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)