New Testament Hope as Present and Future

These New Testament texts and many others suggest that hope is eschatological in nature. It looks to the return of Christ and presence with Him. In the interim, hope gives rise to an ethical obligation that produces godly character. Following His resurrection, Christ ascended into heaven accompanied by the promise that He would “come back in the same way you saw him departing into heaven” (Acts 1:11). John’s first epistle promises Christians that “whenever he is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is” (1 John 3:2). Thus, while Christian hope has both existential and eschatological dimensions, Paul recognizes that “If we have put our hope in Christ in this life only, we are of all people most pitiable” (1 Cor 15:19; emphasis mine). The certainty of Christ’s resurrection enables Christians to hope in confidence that “as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22).

This awareness brings about a purifying effect on the transient lives of those who have their “hope in Him” owing to the fact that He is pure (1 John 3:3). An attitude of hope is the appropriate response to this and all of the promises of God. Therefore hope, in the biblical sense, means that the believer “already participates in the reality for which [s/he] hopes” (Beardslee, “Hope,” 235).

Thus, Christian hope has both already and not-yet dimensions (Cullman, Christ and Time, 86). It is possible to participate in a hope that influences the concrete forms of society now. Jürgen Moltmann insists, “the coming lordship of the risen Christ cannot be merely hoped for and awaited” (Moltmann, Theology of Hope, 329). Christian hope challenges believers to engage the world to better its social structures. On the other hand, full participation in hope waits expectantly for the parousia of Jesus Christ. Until then, believers face the crises of life in the tension between the already and the not-yet.

Above all, New Testament hope is christological. Owing to the kerygma of the apostles, early Christian hope is vectored toward the parousia (second coming) of Jesus and the ultimate coming of the kingdom of God (Matt 6:10). Thus, Christian hope requires the atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ. Since, however, the parousia is an eschatological event, Christian hope is an eschatological blessing. With hope, Christians anticipate the future return of Christ; but, in the present, Christians exercise faith and develop confidence in God to fulfill His promises (Bultmann, “ἐλπίς, elpis,” 2:532).