Faith And Hope: What Is The Difference?

Faith and hope are related and share a great affinity. They cannot be separated from each other. There is, however, a difference between them – let’s take a closer look.

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Faith is complete trust or confidence in something, and it involves intellectual assent to certain facts and trust in those facts. Having faith, for instance, is believing in Jesus Christ and completely trusting Him for eternal destiny. Christians give intellectual assent to the facts of Christ’s death and resurrection and then trust in His death and resurrection for their salvation. 

Hope, on the other hand, is built on faith – it is the earnest anticipation that comes with the belief in something good. It stems from faith as it confidently expects something, and it is calm in the assurance that something that has not happened yet will happen. According to Romans 8:24, “Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?” 

If faith is confidence or trust in something, hope is an optimistic attitude of mind based on that expectation or a certain desire. Faith says it is so now, while hope says in the future it could – or will – happen. The two are complementary, with faith being grounded in the reality of the past and hope looking to the reality of the future. Christians are deemed people of both faith and hope. 

Image source: Pixabay.com

Ron Hindt is a Senior Pastor at Calvary Houston. From a small Bible study group, the church grew to a congregation of thousands focusing on contemporary worship and an expositional teaching of the Bible. For more on Pastor Ron, click here.