Paul's Favorite Trio in the Trenches

Sing along if you know the words:  "But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor. 13:13) A modest estimate would tell us, I am convinced, that roughly two million people have, in the past five years, translated some portion of these words into a 90s script font and placed them into a picture of an ocean sunset. You can find them all on Facebook.

That aside, though, the trio of faith, hope, and love is certainly one of Paul's favorites.  He mentions this combination a number of times in his biblical writings, and it is evident that, for him, these are more than just pretty words or ideas.  They are the helmet and the breastplate for the sober Christian warrior (1 Thess. 5:8), essential defensive components in the chaos and struggle of Christian life. 

Consider the basis of Paul's thankfulness for the Thessalonian believers, taken from 1 Thessalonians 1:3 - "your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father."  These qualities were not incubated in a pristine bubble of comfort (read:  they did not pitch their tents in the candle aisle of a Christian book store).  There was hardship, persecution, confusion, difficulty - even from the very beginning (see Acts 17:1-9, for instance).  Let us look at faith, hope, and love in the above context, and see what they teach us about the commendable Christian life.

1.  Our faith must work.  We cannot mention faith and works without James' famous treatment in James 2:14-26 springing into our thoughts, can we?  The faith of the commendable believer is one that is active.  It is not content to rest upon the (presumed) laurels of (supposed) salvation; rather, the natural outpouring of genuine faith is committed action for the Lord.  A lazy faith is not one that will excite gladness from our spiritual family, and it will not fasten us to an immovable pillar of assurance, because true faith should naturally generate godly works (cf. 1 John 5:2-4).  The circumstances through which our God leads us are manifold and complex, but biblical wisdom and godly discernment always, always demonstrate to us how we can serve Christ in faith in a given situation. 

2.  Our love must labor.  Paul's word choice behind "labor" is kopos.  This is toil, exertion to the point of weariness or pain¹ - perhaps not the usual sort of idea when love is discussed.  Our love, both for God and for others (and it is difficult to completely separate those two objects; is it not?), should motivate us to lavishly pour out our energies in useful, selfless kingdom work.  The immortal words of David Brainerd, that earnest missionary of the 18th century, spring to mind:  "I want to wear out my life in His service and for His glory."  We live and work in the only kingdom that will never be overthrown; we enjoy the only salvation which is true and permanent.  We serve the only righteous Lord and life-giving Savior - what cause could clamor more loudly and rightly for the near-prodigal expenditure of our energies and zeal?  Put another way, what would we seek to withhold from ourselves for the sake of the love which God commands and implants?² 

3.  Our hope must endure.  We know from Paul that hope grows from the soil of steadfastness (Romans 5:3-5), and he explains here that steadfastness must also be a facet of that same hope.  True hope in the Christian world is never an uncertain venture, for it is grounded in the faithful truth of our immutable God - it possesses the element of expectation, not assumption.  Hope for the believer is always favorable.³  It is easy to see, then, how genuine hope can either set a believer up for devastating failure, or else carry through with them to victory for God's glory, in any given endeavor.  Hope that falters and comes short when circumstances grow difficult is of little use; it merely mimics one's emotional state when it should be driving one beyond the frustrating confines of emotional mire.  It has no weight, and is thus without momentum (simple physics teaches, of course, that momentum is the product of mass and velocity).  Hope's reality is proven in its endurance - true hope knows and believes in God's character and promises, and acts accordingly.

True faith, hope, and love, are serious pursuits, as well as powerful tools.  They require effort and endurance, and they will be tinged with the dirt and sweat of spiritual battle, but they will provide energy, direction, and protection, all from God, in our lifelong pursuit of Christ and His kingdom!



¹Brown, Colin. Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Vol. 1. Grand Rapid, MI:  Zondervan Publishing House, 1975. pp. 262-263.

²This is not at all to suggest that love should be given without wisdom or reck (e.g. giving the family house to a homeless man who shows up at your door).  Love must fall within the righteous confines of God's wise word, or it is not love at all, for it fails to love Him.  Make your love a wise, godly love.

¹Vine, W.E., et al. Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. "An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words." Nashville, TN:  Thomas Nelson, 1996. p. 310.

Forget the Bad - Fear the Good!

God's self-understanding is beyond questioning.  Thus His descriptions of His many counterfeits, those would-be comers in the sealed arena of deity, are always crushingly perceptive.  For instance, when He warns His people in Jeremiah 10 not to trifle with idols, He says this of them in verse 5:

Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good.

In other words, idols do not possess even the vigor needed simply to move or to speak.  Where, then, is the logical basis for fearing acts of judgment or vengeance from such as these, when they have no more strength or volition than a head of cabbage?  (Though, to be sure, there are those who do fear cabbage.)  God renders this crystal clear when He explains that idols cannot do evil (a better translation than "harm," it appears), and certainly they can do no good either.

A god who can act evilly is surely one to be feared:  what sort of tragedies, calamities, or injustices might be visited upon us, without warning, cause, or explanation?  What promise could be made that we could trust?  What assurance could we enjoy, even of our continued existence?  How could such a god be appeased beyond doubt?

However, all the terrors that would attend a god capable of evil are nothing compared to the very real terrors of our living, holy God, who can do only good.  A perfectly good and holy God is a God of integrity, a God of preserved promises, and a God of faithful, fulfilling action.  While this means that we may trust His salvation with a grip that even death's cold fingers are helpless to loosen, it also means that we must trust His condemnation in the same way.  His holiness is relentless, and it will be satisfied and avenged. 

This should devastate our glib, cavalier hearts.  An evil god may tire of punishing a certain enemy, or else this god may feel that the punishment has at last become equal to the crime.  A perfectly holy God, on the other hand, knows that any offense against Himself is immeasurable, and must be punished immeasurably.  His integrity will see His work done, and His justice does not permit Him to parole His enemies.  His honesty cannot overlook the treachery of a sin, so every one must be accounted for, either on the cross of Christ, or in an eternity of hot, dark, agony.

To die, unrepentant and prideful, and thus to fall into the hands of a holy and offended God, is a prospect overwhelming in its hopelessness.  To live, unrepentant and prideful, in the knowledge that you are actively offending a holy God should provoke an urgency of fear sufficient to dwarf and obscure any other concern of life.  Even to live as believers in the throes of unrepentant sin should cause our hearts to quail, for if we look at ourselves in this dreary light, we will find all of our former assurance unceremoniously stripped away (1 John 2:3-6, 2 Peter 1:3-9).

To summarize, then, God uses the nature of idols to reveal something about Himself.  He says, in essence, "Do not fear idols; they can do nothing.  Do not fear evil gods, for these are not real.  Fear Me, because I am real, and because I am holy."  There is no hope found in the folly of defiance; the only real hope is the hope that God extends to us in the blood of His Son, spilled for the punishment of the sins of those who would believe in Him and turn from those sins.  To the believer and the unbeliever alike, I say simply this - do not harden your heart to this.  Believe in His justice, and then live in His grace.  He extends certainty of that eternal salvation which alone can deliver us from the certainty of eternal destruction.  Repentantly seek this with all your heart, and when God has blessed your humble frame with this salvation, do not fritter away the blessed assurance of that salvation through persistent disobedience!  Take fullest advantage of His unspeakable kindness, friend.

We will let Jeremiah's fittingly humble response ring in our ears as we close:

There is none like You, O Lord;
You are great, and great is Your name in might.
Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
Indeed it is Your due!
For among all the wise men of the nations
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
- Jeremiah 10:6-7