one of the three main elements of Christian character ( 1 Corinthians 13:13 ). It is joined to faith and love, and is opposed to seeing or possessing ( Romans 8:24 ; 1 John 3:2 ). "Hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity ( 1 Peter 3:15 ; Hebrews 10:23 ). In it the whole glory of the Christian vocation is centred ( Ephesians 1:18 ; 4:4 )." Unbelievers are without this hope ( Ephesians 2:12 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:13 ). Christ is the actual object of the believer's hope, because it is in his second coming that the hope of glory will be fulfilled ( 1 Timothy 1:1 ; Colossians 1:27 ; Titus 2:13 ). It is spoken of as "lively", i.e., a living, hope, a hope not frail and perishable, but having a perennial life ( 1 Peter 1:3 ). In Romans 5:2 the "hope" spoken of is probably objective, i.e., "the hope set before us," namely, eternal life (comp 12:12 ). In 1 John 3:3 the expression "hope in him" ought rather to be, as in the Revised Version, "hope on him," i.e., a hope based on God.

These dictionary topics are from
M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition,
published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain, copy freely.