ἐλπίς

In modern English, the word hope is most often used to express uncertain wish. I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow means I would prefer that it not rain, but I have no real assurance that it won’t. I hope I get the job means I want the job, but the outcome is uncertain. I hope she gets better means I am wishing for her recovery, but I do not know whether she will recover. The English word hope in ordinary use names what we want without naming what we expect. Hope, in this everyday English sense, is wishful thinking with the volume turned down.

The Greek word elpis — the New Testament’s word for hope — means something different. It does not name uncertain wish. It names confident expectation grounded in something solid. When the Greek elpis hopes for something, it does so on the basis of a promise that has been given, a covenant that has been made, a faithfulness that has been demonstrated. Biblical hope is not wishing what one cannot be sure of; biblical hope is the confident awaiting of what God has promised.

This distinction matters more than it might first appear. If the modern English reader carries the everyday English sense of hope into his Bible reading, the New Testament’s doctrine of Christian hope becomes thinner than the original Greek makes it. In this hope we were saved (Romans 8:24) becomes we are saved by a wish. The blessed hope of Christ’s appearing (Titus 2:13) becomes the wish that Christ would appear. Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (Hebrews 10:23) becomes don’t waver in your wishful thinking. The whole vocabulary collapses into pious aspiration.

The Greek elpis is something else entirely. It is the confidence of one who has been given a promise by someone who can be trusted to keep it. It is the soul’s anchor (Hebrews 6:19), reaching past every present circumstance into what God has secured. It is one of the three theological virtues that abide — faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). It is, in 1 Timothy 1:1, identified with Christ Himself: Christ Jesus our hope.

This chapter is about that word — the closing word of Part III’s vocabulary for what Christ has done.

The Word

The Greek word is ἐλπίς (elpis), pronounced in the Erasmian convention as el-PEES, with the accent on the second syllable. The word is a third-declension feminine noun and appears throughout the New Testament in standard inflected forms.

The etymology runs back to a Proto-Indo-European root that meant something like “to wish for” or “to anticipate.” In classical Greek, elpis could be used for both positive and negative expectation — one could hope for good things or anticipate bad things, both with the same word, depending on context. The Hellenistic Greek and the LXX tradition gradually narrowed the word to positive expectation, and by the New Testament period elpis almost always refers to hope in the positive sense: the expectation of good things to come.

The word family is moderate in size:

Elpis (ἐλπίς) — hope (noun). The chapter’s main word.

Elpizō (ἐλπίζω) — to hope, to expect, to set one’s hope on (verb). Used at Luke 23:8 (Herod hoping to see a sign), at Romans 8:25 (we hope for what we do not see), at 1 Corinthians 13:7 (love hopes all things), at 1 Timothy 4:10 (we have set our hope on the living God), and at many other passages.

Proelpizō (προελπίζω) — to hope beforehand. The compound with pro- (before). Used at Ephesians 1:12 — those “who were the first to hope in Christ” (the Jewish believers who hoped in the Messiah before the Gentiles).

Apelpizō (ἀπελπίζω) — to despair, to hope back from. The compound with apo- (from, away from). The compound carries the sense of “to give up hope” — to no longer expect. Used at Luke 6:35 — “lend, expecting nothing in return” (mēden apelpizontes) — though the use here is unusual and contested. The compound also names what the believer does not do; the New Testament’s Christian is not to apelpizō (despair).

The etymology and word family carry a few important nuances. First, the Greek elpis always implies a waiting — the hoped-for thing is not yet present, and the one who hopes is waiting for it. Hope is the disposition of one who has been given a promise and is awaiting its fulfillment. Second, the Greek elpis implies a ground — there is something that grounds the expectation, makes it confident, distinguishes it from mere wish. In the New Testament’s use, the ground is God’s promise and Christ’s work. Third, the Greek elpis is forward-looking — hope is directed toward the future, toward what is coming, toward what God will accomplish.

The Septuagint background is substantial. Elpis and the verb elpizō translate several Hebrew words in the LXX, each carrying its own dimension of the hope-vocabulary:

Tiqvah (תִּקְוָה) — hope, expectation, cord. The Hebrew word has a fascinating double meaning. Tiqvah can mean both hope and cord. The connection is the same as the Greek elpis and the Hebrews 6:19 anchor image: hope is what binds the soul to what is hoped for, the cord that connects the believer to the secured outcome. Rahab’s scarlet tiqvah in the window (Joshua 2:18) is a cord; the believer’s tiqvah in God is the hope that binds him to the promise.

Qavah (קָוָה) — to wait for, to hope. Closely related to tiqvah. Isaiah 40:31 — “they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength” — uses the verb form. The waiting is not passive resignation but active expectation of what God will do.

Yachal (יָחַל) — to wait, to hope. Used in penitential and patient contexts. Lamentations 3:21-24 — “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope (yachal): The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases.”

Several Old Testament passages illuminate the New Testament development:

Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5 — “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him.” The threefold repetition of this refrain in Psalms 42 and 43 makes it one of the most concentrated Old Testament treatments of the believer’s discipline of hope. The psalmist speaks to himself, commanding his cast-down soul to hope in God.

Psalm 130:5-7 — “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.”

Lamentations 3:21-24 — “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ’therefore I will hope in him.’” The hope of the faithful Israelite even in the destruction of Jerusalem — grounded in what he calls to mind, not in his present circumstances.

Isaiah 40:31 — “But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” One of the most beloved Old Testament passages on the strength that comes through waiting.

The Old Testament’s hope vocabulary is rich and substantive. The faithful Israelite hoped in the LORD even when present circumstances gave no apparent ground for hope. The ground was God’s character (His steadfast love, His faithfulness, His covenant) — not the visible situation. The New Testament’s elpis inherits this whole tradition and develops it Christologically. The believer’s hope is grounded in Christ — in His person, His work, His promise, and His coming.

Range of Meaning

Elpis in the New Testament covers a meaningful range:

Confident expectation of what God has promised. The dominant theological sense. Romans 5:1-5, Romans 8:24-25, 1 Peter 1:3, Titus 2:13. The believer’s hope is grounded in God’s promise and is the confident awaiting of what He has guaranteed.

Christ Himself as the believer’s hope. 1 Timothy 1:1 — “Christ Jesus our hope.” Colossians 1:27 — “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Hope is personalized in Christ; the believer’s hope is not abstract but is Christ Himself.

The substance of what is hoped for. Hope can name the object of hope as well as the disposition. Titus 2:13 — “the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The hope here is the thing hoped for: Christ’s appearing.

Hope as one of the three theological virtues. 1 Corinthians 13:13 — “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” The three are paired throughout the New Testament; hope is the abiding disposition that the Spirit produces in the believer.

Hope as the anchor of the soul. Hebrews 6:19 — “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.”

Hope as what the Christian gives an account of. 1 Peter 3:15 — “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” Hope as the visible disposition of the Christian that calls forth questions and requires explanation.

The hope that produces endurance in suffering. Romans 5:3-5, James 5:7-11, Hebrews 6:11-12. The believer endures present suffering because of the hope set before him.

Negative or worldly hope. Sometimes the New Testament uses elpis for hope in the wrong things. Ephesians 2:12 — Gentiles before Christ described as “having no hope and without God in the world.” 1 Timothy 6:17 — those rich in this present age are warned not to “set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches.” The right object of hope is decisive; not all elpis is theological hope.

Where You’ll Meet It

Romans 5:1-5. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” The Greek uses elpis and elpizō repeatedly, with kauchōmetha ep’ elpidi tēs doxēs tou theou in verse 2 — “we boast in hope of the glory of God.”

The passage is one of the densest treatments of Christian hope in the New Testament. Several features deserve attention.

First: the believer’s hope is connected to justification. The opening “therefore” connects what follows to the doctrine of justification by faith that Paul has been developing in Romans 1-4. The believer who has been justified has peace with God, has access by grace, and rejoices in hope. The hope is the consequence of the justification; the justification grounds the hope.

Second: the believer’s hope produces a peculiar kind of boasting. Kauchōmetha (we boast, we rejoice) is used twice in the passage — first about the hope of God’s glory (verse 2), then about suffering itself (verse 3). The Christian boasts in two strange places: in a hope that has not yet been realized, and in present sufferings. Both make sense only on the basis of what is hoped for.

Third: hope is produced in a sequence that runs through suffering. Suffering produces endurance (hypomonē); endurance produces character (dokimē, tested-and-proven character); character produces hope. The order is striking — hope is the outcome of the believer’s tested endurance, not just the prior disposition with which the believer enters suffering. Hope grows through what the believer endures.

Fourth: hope does not put the believer to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The ground of the hope’s reliability is the Spirit’s testimony of God’s love. The believer who hopes will not be ashamed (will not be disappointed at the consummation) because the Spirit’s testimony in his heart is the down-payment on what is hoped for.

Romans 8:24-25. “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” The Greek: tē gar elpidi esōthēmen. The dative tē elpidi — “by hope” or “in hope” — is the only place in the New Testament where the believer’s salvation is named as having occurred in or by hope.

The verse is theologically remarkable. Paul names hope as the mode of the believer’s salvation. The believer has been saved — the salvation is real and accomplished — but the mode of present possession is hope. The full reality is not yet visible; the believer waits for what he does not see. Hope is the form of possession in the present age.

The structure that follows in verse 25 is significant. Hope by definition is for what is not yet seen. If we could see the thing, we would no longer hope for it; we would have it. The believer’s present possession is not yet sight; it is hope. And the proper response to having a hope rather than a sight is patience — hypomonē, endurance, the waiting that does not abandon the hope because the hope has not yet been consummated.

This is one of the most pastorally important New Testament texts. The believer who feels that his salvation is somehow incomplete — that the full reality has not yet been realized in his experience — is not failing. He is exactly where Romans 8:24-25 says he should be: saved in hope, waiting with patience, looking for what is not yet seen. The Christian life is conducted in this mode.

Hebrews 6:18-19. “So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.” The Greek: agkyran tēs psychēs asphalē te kai bebaian — “an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast.”

The image is striking and concrete. The believer’s hope is an anchor — a heavy object cast into the seabed to hold the ship in place against wind, current, and storm. The anchor is not a sentimental image; it is a load-bearing object. The ship that has been anchored does not drift in the wind or current; it is held by the anchor’s connection to something solid below.

The Greek adjectives asphalē te kai bebaian — “sure and steadfast” — emphasize the reliability of the anchor. Asphalēs means “secure, unfalling, firm.” Bebaios means “steadfast, reliable, certain.” The believer’s anchor is not a hopeful guess but a sure and steadfast hold.

The location of the anchor is theologically loaded. The anchor “enters into the inner place behind the curtain” — that is, into the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the temple, where God’s presence dwells. The image is striking: the believer’s anchor extends past the visible world into God’s own presence, where it is fastened to something the believer cannot see but that holds the believer steady against every storm. Christ Himself has gone into this inner place (Hebrews 6:20), and the believer’s hope is anchored where Christ is.

This is the chapter’s most concrete image. The believer who is in a storm has an anchor that holds. The storm does not change the anchor; the storm’s threats do not loosen the anchor’s hold; the believer is held by something stronger than the storm.

1 Peter 1:3-5, 13. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you… Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The Greek of verse 3: eis elpida zōsan — “to a living hope.”

The phrase living hope — elpis zōsa — is striking. The hope is not a static disposition or a passive wish; it is living, animated, alive in the believer. The hope is born again with the believer at regeneration; the same God who has caused the believer to be born again has given him this living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The verse pairs the new birth with the hope. The believer who has been born again has been born into a hope that lives — that grows, that sustains, that anchors. The hope is not separate from the new life but is the form of the new life’s orientation toward the future.

Verse 13 makes the practical point. The believer is to set his hope fully on the grace that will be brought to him at Christ’s revelation. The Greek teleiōs elpisate — “hope completely” or “hope to the fullest extent” — calls for a hope that does not divide itself between Christ’s coming and other competing hopes. The believer’s full hope is to be set on what Christ will bring.

Titus 2:13. “Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The Greek: prosdechomenoi tēn makarian elpida kai epiphaneian tēs doxēs tou megalou theou kai sōtēros hēmōn Iēsou Christou.

The “blessed hope” — makaria elpis — is one of the most beloved New Testament phrases for Christian hope. The grammatical construction in the Greek treats “the blessed hope” and “the appearing of the glory” as appositional — they are the same thing, named from two different angles. The hope is the appearing. The appearing is the hope.

The verse also makes the Christological identification explicit. The appearing is the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Christ Himself, in His appearing, is the substance of the Christian’s blessed hope. This is the same identification 1 Timothy 1:1 makes — Christ Jesus our hope. The believer’s hope is not an abstract good thing in the future; the believer’s hope is Christ, who has been promised and will appear.