ἐλπίζω

The related entry on Elpis (ἐλπίς) explores hope as a noun. This entry is on elpizō (ἐλπίζω) — the same root, but the verb form. Hope as something one does.

The two are not redundant. The noun and the verb cover related but distinct theological territory.

The noun elpis names hope as a substantive reality: the confident expectation of what God has promised, the anchor of the soul that reaches into the inner place behind the curtain (Hebrews 6:19), the substance of things not yet seen. Elpis developed this fully. Biblical hope is not the wishful “I hope it doesn’t rain” of contemporary English usage; biblical hope is the confident expectation grounded in God’s faithfulness to His promises.

The verb elpizō shifts the question. Hope, considered as a verb, demands an object. One does not just hope; one hopes in something or upon something or for something. The grammar of the Greek verb almost always requires this completion. Elpizō en (hope in), elpizō epi (hope upon), elpizō eis (hope toward) — the verb’s structure forces the question that the noun can leave implicit: In what are you hoping? Upon whom is your hope set? Toward what does your hope reach?

The question is one of the most spiritually significant in the Christian life. Every believer is hoping in something. The only question is whether the hope is well-placed. The man whose hope is in his bank account, his career, his children, his health, his nation, or his church will find his hope shaken when these prove finite. The man whose hope is in the living God will find his hope vindicated even when everything else fails.

Elpis named the substance of biblical hope. This entry names the active disposition — what it means to be hoping, how that hoping is directed, and what the right placement of hope looks like in the believer’s life.

The Word

The Greek word is ἐλπίζω (elpizō), pronounced in the Erasmian convention as el-PEE-zo, with the accent on the second syllable. The word is a regular -izō verb and appears thirty-one times in the New Testament. The aorist forms — ēlpisa, ēlpika (perfect) — appear frequently and carry important theological weight.

The etymology runs from the same root that produces the noun elpis. The Greek classical and Hellenistic usage of elpizō covered hoping in the broader Greek sense — expectation of what is to come, whether favorable or unfavorable. Greek had distinct vocabulary for fear (phobos) and for confident expectation; elpizō could cover both kinds of expectation but tended toward the positive. The New Testament use narrows the sense: elpizō almost always refers to the Christian’s confident expectation grounded in God’s faithfulness.

The word family is moderate:

Elpis (ἐλπίς) — hope (noun). Developed in Elpis.

Elpizō (ἐλπίζω) — to hope (verb). The entry’s main word.

Proelpizō (προελπίζω) — to hope beforehand, to be the first to hope. Used once in the New Testament at Ephesians 1:12 — “so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory.” The compound names the priority of Jewish believers in hoping in Christ before the Gentile inclusion.

Apelpizō (ἀπελπίζω) — to despair, to give up hope. The compound with apo- (away from). Appears in some manuscript traditions at Luke 6:35 with the meaning “expecting nothing back” — though the textual situation is uncertain.

The grammar of elpizō deserves substantial attention because it shapes the theology. The verb is almost always completed by a prepositional phrase that names the object of hope:

Elpizō epi + dative — “to hope upon.” The most common construction. Romans 15:12 (citing Isaiah 11:10) — “in him will the Gentiles hope” (ep’ autō elpiousin). 1 Timothy 4:10 — “In fact this is why we work hard and struggle, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of believers.” (ēlpikamen epi theō zōnti). 1 Timothy 6:17 — not to hope upon the uncertainty of riches (ēlpikenai epi ploutou adēlotēti). 1 Peter 1:13 — set your hope upon the grace (elpisate epi tēn charin — note the accusative variant here). The “hoping upon” pattern names where the believer’s hope is anchored.

Elpizō eis + accusative — “to hope into” or “toward.” John 5:45 — “The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.” (eis hon hymeis ēlpikate). 2 Corinthians 1:10 — “We have set our hope on him” (eis hon ēlpikamen). 1 Peter 3:5 — “For in the same way the holy women who hoped in God long ago adorned themselves by being subject to their husbands,” (hai elpizousai eis theon). The “hoping into” pattern names the direction the believer’s hope reaches.

Elpizō en + dative — “to hope in.” Less common but theologically significant. Found in Septuagint usage and continues into NT phrases like “hoping in the Lord” in the broader sense.

Elpizō with simple object or with no object — for general hoping or expectation. Used at Luke 23:8 (Herod had been hoping to see some sign), Acts 24:26 (Felix hoping for money from Paul — note the negative example), Philippians 2:19, 23 (Paul hoping to send Timothy and to come himself), 1 Timothy 3:14 (hoping to come to you soon).

The Septuagint background of elpizō is substantial. The Greek verb translates several Hebrew terms in the LXX:

Qavah — to wait, to look for, to hope. The dominant Hebrew verb for active expectant waiting. Treated also in Hypomonē.

Yachal — to wait, to hope. Often parallel with qavah. Lamentations 3:24-25 — “‘My portion is the Lord,’ I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him…The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.”

Batach — to trust, to take refuge. The Hebrew tradition’s term for active reliance and trust. Often the LXX translates batach with elpizō, capturing the close relationship between trusting and hoping. Psalm 22:4 (LXX 21:5) — “In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted in you and you rescued them.”

Chasah — to take refuge, to flee for protection. The Hebrew imagery of seeking refuge in God. Psalm 11:1 — “In the Lord I have taken shelter.” Psalm 18:30 — “He is a shield to all who take shelter in him.”

The Hebrew background gives elpizō a fuller resonance than the bare Greek vocabulary suggests. The Hebrew “hoping in the LORD” is the same disposition as “trusting in the LORD” and “taking refuge in the LORD.” The believer who hopes in God is the believer who trusts in God, who takes refuge in God, who actively waits for God. The four Hebrew terms cover overlapping aspects of the same fundamental Godward disposition.

Several Old Testament passages illuminate the New Testament development:

Psalm 25:5 — “Guide me into your truth and teach me. For you are the God who delivers me; on you I rely all day long.” The Hebrew piety locates the believer’s waiting/hoping in God Himself.

Psalm 39:7 — “But now, O Lord, upon what am I relying? You are my only hope!” The structural pattern: when everything else fails, hope in the LORD remains.

Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5 — “Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention.” The famous psalmist’s self-counsel: the cure for soul-trouble is hoping in God.

Psalm 71:5 — “For you are my hope; O Sovereign Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young.” The whole life structured by hope in the LORD.

Psalm 130:5-7 — “I rely on the Lord. I rely on him with my whole being; I wait for his assuring word. I yearn for the Lord, more than watchmen do for the morning, yes, more than watchmen do for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for the Lord exhibits loyal love and is more than willing to deliver.” One of the most beloved expressions of patient hoping in God.

Psalm 146:5 — “How blessed is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” The blessing of those whose hope is rightly placed.

Lamentations 3:24-26 — “My portion is the Lord, I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him. ט (Tet) The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him. It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord.” The pattern of hoping in the LORD even in the midst of national catastrophe.

The Old Testament’s pattern is consistent. The believer’s hope is to be directed to the LORD Himself. The Hebrew piety understood that the question is not whether one is hoping but in what. The wicked hope in their riches, their power, their alliances; the righteous hope in the LORD. The Hebrew Scriptures contain dozens of explicit commands and exhortations to hope in the LORD. The New Testament’s elpizō doctrine inherits this whole tradition and develops it through Christ as the One in whom the believer’s hope is now to be placed.

Range of Meaning

Elpizō in the New Testament covers a meaningful range:

Hoping in God or in Christ as the substance of Christian existence. The dominant theological sense. 1 Timothy 4:10 (we have our hope set on the living God), 2 Corinthians 1:10 (we have set our hope on him), 1 Peter 3:5 (the holy women who hoped in God), 1 Peter 1:13 (set your hope fully on the grace), 1 John 3:3 (everyone who hopes in him).

Christ as the one in whom the Gentiles will hope. Matthew 12:21 (citing Isaiah 42:4) — “in his name the Gentiles will hope.” Romans 15:12 (citing Isaiah 11:10) — “in him will the Gentiles hope.” The fulfillment of the OT prophetic vision that the nations would come to hope in Israel’s Messiah.

The contrast between hoping in God and hoping in something else. 1 Timothy 6:17 — the rich are not to be haughty or to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but to hope in God. The structural contrast that runs through the wisdom tradition.

Hoping for the future resurrection or eschatological consummation. Acts 24:15 (Paul has hope in God for the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked), 26:6-7 (Paul’s hope in the promise made by God). The future-directed dimension of biblical hope.

Hoping for ordinary future events — travel plans, gospel work, ministry. Romans 15:24 (Paul hopes to see the Romans on his way to Spain), 1 Corinthians 16:7 (Paul hopes to stay with the Corinthians), 2 Corinthians 5:11 (we hope that we are well-known to your conscience), Philippians 2:19, 23 (Paul hoping to send Timothy), 1 Timothy 3:14 (hoping to come soon), Philemon 22 (hoping to be granted to the Philemon community). The ordinary uses of elpizō for human plans and expectations.

Love hopes all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7 — “It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” The love-hope connection: Christian love includes the disposition of hoping even when circumstances do not warrant ordinary optimism.

The first to hope. Ephesians 1:12 (the Jewish believers who first hoped in Christ, before the Gentile inclusion).

Where You’ll Meet It

1 Peter 1:13. “Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” The Greek: teleiōs elpisate epi tēn pheromenēn hymin charin en apokalypsei Iēsou Christou.

The verse is one of the most direct New Testament imperatives concerning elpizō. Several observations matter.

First, the imperative form. Elpisate — aorist active imperative, “Set your hope” or “Hope!” The verb is a command, not a description. The believer is being commanded to hope, and to do so with particular completeness and direction.

Second, the adverb teleiōs — “completely, fully, perfectly.” The hope is not to be partial, hedged, or divided. The believer is to set his hope fully — entirely, without reservation — on the grace that is being brought. The completeness of the hoping matters; a partial hope is not what the imperative names.

Third, the object. Epi tēn pheromenēn hymin charin en apokalypsei Iēsou Christou — “the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” The believer’s hope is to be set upon grace, and specifically the grace that will be revealed when Christ returns. The future-directed dimension is built into the verse: the believer hopes upon what is coming, the consummation grace that Christ will bring at His revelation.

Fourth, the context. The imperative comes after Peter’s celebration of the believer’s living hope (1:3) and the inheritance reserved in heaven (1:4). The “therefore” connects the hope-imperative to the hope-substance: because of what is real, hope fully. The imperative is not detached from the indicative; the indicative grounds the imperative.

The Lutheran tradition has held this verse with substantial weight in pastoral theology. The believer is not just told that hope exists; the believer is commanded to set his hope, fully and directionally, upon the grace that is being brought. The hoping is active — a directing of the believer’s whole disposition toward the coming Christ. The pastoral implication is that the believer is responsible for where his hope is set. The Christian who has set his hope on something other than the coming grace of Christ has misdirected the hope God commands.

1 Timothy 6:17-19. “Command those who are rich in this world’s goods not to be haughty or to set their hope on riches, which are uncertain, but on God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous givers, sharing with others. In this way they will save up a treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the future and so lay hold of what is truly life.” The Greek of verse 17: mēde ēlpikenai epi ploutou adēlotēti all’ epi theō.

The passage develops the central pastoral question of elpizō: in what is the believer hoping? Two observations matter.

First, the structural contrast. The rich are not to set their hope upon ploutou adēlotēti — “riches, which are uncertain.” They are to set their hope upon theō — God. The contrast is direct and theologically loaded. Riches are inherently uncertain — they can be lost, devalued, taken, or proven inadequate. God is certain — He does not change, He does not fail, His provision is steady and reliable. The believer’s hope, to be well-placed, must be on what is certain.

Second, the result of rightly-placed hope. The rich who hope in God rather than in their wealth are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous givers, sharing with others. The shifted hope produces shifted behavior. When the believer’s hope is no longer in his wealth, the wealth becomes available for generous use. When the believer’s hope is in God, the worldly resources are stewarded freely rather than clutched anxiously.

The pastoral implication is substantial. The Christian whose hope is in his bank account treats his money differently from the Christian whose hope is in God. The first hoards; the second gives. The first is anxious about every market fluctuation; the second has stability that fluctuations cannot disturb. The first identifies with his net worth; the second identifies with his Lord. The structural disposition of the hope shapes the entire economic life of the believer.

Romans 8:24-25. “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance.” The Greek of verse 25: ei de ho ou blepomen elpizomen, di’ hypomonēs apekdechometha.

The passage was treated in Elpis and Hypomonē for those specific dimensions. Here we note its elpizō dimension. Paul develops the structural relationship of hoping to seeing. The believer hopes for what he does not see; if he could see it, there would be no hope (hope is replaced by sight at the consummation).

The verbal form of elpizō in this passage is significant. The believer is not just having hope (noun); the believer is hoping — actively maintaining the directed disposition toward what is coming. The present-tense verb names the continuing active reality. The Christian life is conducted in this verbal hoping — the ongoing reaching toward what is not yet visible.

The implication is significant for pastoral life. The believer who feels he must wait until he can see in order to trust has misunderstood the structure of Christian existence. The Christian life is conducted in active hoping for what is not yet seen. The Spirit produces this hoping in the believer; the means of grace sustain it; the eschatological consummation will replace it with sight.

1 John 3:2-3. “Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure).” The Greek of verse 3: kai pas ho echōn tēn elpida tautēn ep’ autō hagnizei heauton kathōs ekeinos hagnos estin.

The passage develops the connection between hoping and ethical transformation. The believer who has the hope of being like Christ — of seeing Him as He is — purifies himself. The hoping is not merely cognitive or emotional; the hoping has moral consequences in the believer’s life.

Two observations matter.

First, the connection between hope and purification. The Greek hagnizei heauton kathōs ekeinos hagnos estin — “purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure.” The believer who hopes in Christ becomes like Christ in moral character. The hoping is not just an internal disposition; the hoping shapes the life. The Christian who is rightly hoping in Christ is being purified in his ongoing life; the hoping and the purification are connected.

Second, the eschatological orientation. The believer’s hope is for the future revelation of Christ — for seeing Him as He is, for being like Him. The future orientation produces present purification. The Christian who knows what he is going to be acts now in light of that future. The believer who is going to see Christ purifies himself now.

This is one of the most theologically rich New Testament passages on the connection between hoping and Christian ethics. The hoping is active; the hoping has direction; the hoping produces transformation. The believer who hopes in Christ is being changed by the hoping into someone who looks more like Christ.

Psalm 42-43. The OT background that surfaces in NT elpizō. “Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention.” The threefold refrain (42:5, 11; 43:5) gives one of the most extended OT treatments of the verb-of-hoping in personal piety.

The Psalmist counsels his own soul. The soul is troubled, cast down, in turmoil. The counsel is direct: hope in God. The Hebrew imperative hochili — “hope!” — is the same fundamental verbal action the New Testament names with elpizō.

The implication for New Testament use is foundational. The Psalmist’s self-counsel — “hope in God” — is the same fundamental disposition the New Testament names. The believer in troubled circumstances is to direct his hope to God. The hoping is not a feeling that happens to the believer; the hoping is something the believer can call himself to do. The Christian who is troubled is to counsel his own soul: hope in God. The disposition can be commanded, directed, and re-established.

What Confessional Lutherans Hear

The confessional ear catches three things here.

Christian hoping is active and directional — the believer is responsible for where his hope is placed. 1 Peter 1:13, 1 Timothy 6:17, Psalm 42-43. The verbal form of biblical hope makes this dimension explicit. The believer is not just passively in possession of hope (though that dimension is real); the believer is actively hoping — directing his hope, setting his hope, anchoring his hope in specific objects.

This grounds the Lutheran pastoral approach to the believer’s life. The question “in what are you hoping?” is one of the most important the believer can ask himself. The Christian whose hope is in his career, his investments, his health, his family, his political party, or his nation has misplaced his hope. The misplacement may not be obvious — the objects of misplaced hope are usually good things. The question is not whether the objects are good but whether they can bear the weight of hope.

The Lutheran tradition has held this against the various forms of idolatry that compete for the believer’s hope. Idolatry in the biblical sense is not just bowing to a carved image; idolatry is placing one’s hope in something other than God. The believer who is functionally hoping in his worldly security has made the security an idol. The believer who is hoping in his children’s success has made the children’s success an idol. The believer who is hoping in his church’s growth or his denomination’s purity has made these things idols. The biblical elpizō doctrine forces the question: where is the hope set? Only God Himself, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit’s continuing work, is a sufficient and appropriate object for the believer’s hoping.

Christian hoping is directed at what God has promised — the active disposition is grounded in the objective content of biblical hope. 1 Peter 1:13 (“the grace that will be brought to you”), Romans 8:24-25 (the unseen reality), 1 John 3:2-3 (being like Christ). The verb’s object matters. The believer is not just hoping in general; the believer is hoping in specific content — the grace that is being brought, the resurrection that lies ahead, the consummation when Christ appears, the inheritance reserved in heaven.

This emphasis prevents the verb of hoping from collapsing into a content-less psychological disposition. Biblical hoping is not generic optimism, vague positive expectation, or the cultivation of hopeful feelings. Biblical hoping is the active directing of the believer’s disposition toward what God has actually promised. The content matters because the source matters; God’s specific promises ground the believer’s specific hoping.

The Lutheran tradition has held this against the various forms of content-less religiosity. Against the reduction of Christian hope to “positive thinking”: the Christian hope has specific content (Christ’s return, the resurrection, the new heavens and new earth) that is more substantial than positive feeling. Against the substitution of generic spiritual optimism for the specific apostolic hope: the Christian hopes in what God has promised, not in what feels hopeful to the believer.

Active hoping in Christ produces transformation — the believer who is rightly hoping is being changed by the hoping into someone who looks more like Christ. 1 John 3:2-3, 1 Timothy 6:17-19. The hoping is not just inert; the hoping is morally and behaviorally productive. The rich who set their hope on God rather than on riches become generous. The believer who hopes in being like Christ is being purified in his present life. The active disposition shapes the active life.

This emphasis grounds the Lutheran connection between the theological virtues (faith, hope, love) and the believer’s sanctification. The hoping is not separate from the believer’s growth in Christ; the hoping is one of the means by which the growth happens. The Spirit produces the hoping; the hoping shapes the believer; the shaped believer lives in ways that reflect the hoping. The whole pattern is integrated.

The pastoral payoff is substantial.

The believer who is troubled in soul has the Psalmist’s self-counsel as model. Hope in God. The disposition can be called for, directed, and re-established. The Christian who finds his soul cast down can speak to his own soul: hope in God. The hoping is not a feeling that must wait for circumstances to improve; the hoping is something the believer can do.

The believer who is examining where his hope is actually placed has the framework. The question “what am I really hoping in?” exposes the actual idols of the believer’s life. The honest answer often reveals that worldly things have been functioning as the believer’s hope — career success, financial security, family flourishing, health, political stability, denominational integrity, ministry effectiveness. The biblical doctrine pushes back: these things are inadequate objects of hope. Hope is to be set on God.

The believer who wants to grow in Christian ethics has the connection through hoping. The believer who is purifying himself as Christ is pure (1 John 3:3) is the believer who is rightly hoping in Christ. The hoping shapes the life. The Christian who has lost his way ethically often needs to recover the hoping first; the renewed hoping will produce the renewed life.

Where People Get It Wrong

The reduction of biblical hoping to generic optimism or positive thinking. The dominant English-language cultural confusion. Elpizō in the New Testament is not generic positive expectation; elpizō is the directed Godward hoping that takes specific content from God’s promises. The Christian who has substituted positive thinking for biblical hoping has substituted something thinner for something richer. The “everything will work out” optimism is not the biblical elpizō.

The placement of hope in worldly objects. The most common practical misdirection. Believers regularly set their hope on careers, finances, health, family, political outcomes, denominational realities, and ministry effectiveness. These may be good things, but they cannot bear the weight of hope. The 1 Timothy 6:17 instruction names the issue explicitly for wealth; the same principle applies to every finite object of hope. The believer who has set his hope in the wrong place will find his hope failing when the object proves finite.

The reduction of Christian hoping to vague spiritual feeling. Some Christianity has reduced biblical hoping to a kind of warm religious feeling that has no specific content. The believer feels “hopeful” in some general sense but cannot say what he is hoping for or in. The biblical elpizō refuses this reduction. The hoping has content (the grace being brought, the resurrection, the consummation) and direction (toward God, toward Christ, toward what God has promised). Without content and direction, the disposition is not biblical hoping.

The “wait and see” passivity that substitutes for active hoping. Some readings have effectively reduced biblical hoping to passive waiting — the believer just waits to see what happens, trying to maintain a generally hopeful disposition. The biblical elpizō is active. The believer directs his hope, sets his hope, hopes fully (1 Peter 1:13). The passive “wait and see” disposition is closer to fatalism than to biblical hoping.

The “hoping” rationalization of denial. Some Christianity has used the language of hope to authorize denial of difficult realities — refusing to face hard truths because “I have hope it will work out.” The biblical elpizō does not authorize denial. The biblical hoping engages reality directly, including difficult and painful realities, and hopes in God through them rather than around them. The Christian who is denying real problems in the name of hope has misused the doctrine.

The Pollyannaish “It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” misreading of 1 Corinthians 13:7. The verse has sometimes been read as requiring the believer to maintain naive optimism about everything — to assume the best of every person, to refuse to acknowledge problems, to act as if difficulties are not real. The Pauline doctrine is more careful. Agapē… panta elpizei — “It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” The hoping is the disposition of love toward people, including hoping for their repentance, their restoration, their growth. It is not the requirement that the believer ignore evidence or pretend that difficulties do not exist.

The reduction of “hoping in God” to passive entrustment of outcomes. Some Christianity has reduced hoping in God to a kind of fatalistic entrustment — “I’m just trusting God for the outcome.” The biblical elpizō includes entrustment but is more active. The believer who hopes in God is engaged in the work God has given him to do, is exercising the resources God has provided, is participating actively in what God is doing — while hoping in God for what God alone can produce.

The “name it and claim it” pseudo-hoping. The opposite error. Some streams of Christianity have effectively reduced biblical hoping to verbal claiming of specific outcomes — health, wealth, success, victory — as if the believer can manufacture future reality by present claiming. The biblical elpizō is grounded in what God has actually promised, not in what the believer claims to want. The believer who is hoping for healing, financial blessing, or worldly success on the basis of “claiming” rather than on God’s actual promises has substituted a counterfeit for biblical hope.

The substitution of denominational or institutional loyalty for hoping in God. A subtle but important misdirection. Some believers have effectively set their hope on their denomination’s purity, their congregation’s health, or their movement’s success — rather than on God Himself. These can be good and worthy concerns, but they are not appropriate objects of ultimate hope. Denominations fail. Congregations die. Movements lose their bearings. Only God Himself, in Christ, is an adequate object of Christian hoping.

So What

The Sunday school teacher angle is direct: develop the verb-versus-noun distinction in biblical hope. The verb elpizō almost always takes its object through a preposition — hope upon (epi), hope into (eis), hope in (en) — and the grammar forces a question: in what or upon whom is the believer hoping? This is a tool for self-examination. Where is your students’ hope actually set — not where they think it should be, but where it actually is, as evidenced by their anxiety, their attention, their money, their conversation? The objects of misplaced hope are usually exposed by what disturbs the believer when threatened: the Christian who panics at financial loss has revealed his actual hope; the one undone by political defeat has revealed his actual hope. The alternative the Bible commands is direct: set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed — hope set, fully and directionally, on what God has promised.

For Bible study leaders, the application extends to the connection between hoping and ethics in 1 John 3:2-3. The believer who is hoping in Christ — looking to see Him as He is, expecting to be like Him — is being purified in his present life; the hoping is not merely internal but shapes external behavior. Connect ethics to eschatology through hoping: students who want to grow in Christian character do not grow primarily by trying harder to behave better but by hoping more rightly in Christ, and the Christian who has lost his way ethically often needs first to recover the hoping. Psalm 42–43 adds the practical resource: Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! — the disposition of hoping can be commanded, directed, called for; the believer whose soul is troubled is not helpless but can address his own soul and direct the hope rightly.

For pastoral application, the doctrine meets three concerns. When the believer is anxious about his future — health, finances, relationships, family: the question is where his hope is set, and the answer is to redirect it — not “hope in your situation working out” but “hope in God who controls all situations.” When he examines where his hope is actually placed and finds misplaced hopes: the gospel does not command him to abandon career, family, or security but to displace them from the position of ultimate hope — he keeps them, and simply stops hoping in them, moving the hope to God and letting the lesser goods take their proper subordinate place. When his soul is troubled or cast down: the Psalmist’s self-counsel applies — hope in God; the redirection of hope is part of the believer’s resources in spiritual difficulty.

This entry has named elpizō — the active directing of hope toward God. The related entry on Proseuchē names prayer — the disposition that addresses God in trust, hope, and love.

The Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep is the One in whom the sheep place their hope. They hope upon Him because He has proven worthy; they hope into Him because His resurrection has opened the path; they hope in Him because He is the only adequate object of hoping. The active disposition of hoping is the daily form the believer’s relation to Christ takes — directing, setting, anchoring the hope where alone it can be vindicated.¹