We Wait in Hope

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. -Romans 8:23–25

The expression “we were saved” is in the aorist mood which indicates it is a completed action. It happened when we entered into our union with Christ. Then how is it that we still hope for it?

What Paul refers to as “this hope” is the promised redemption that is still futuristic in its realization. In other words, though our salvation in Christ was completed as a transaction in the past (when the Father elected, when Christ died and rose again, and when we by the Spirit’s power believed and were baptized), we have only received its fulfillment in part. It is in hope that we await its future realization. Hope is not a passive uncertainty but a positive perseverance. 

Leon Morris suggests, “It is the attitude of the soldier who in the thick of the battle is not dismayed but fights on stoutly whatever the difficulties.”