Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Faith and Hope

As I read, I often come to "sticking points" which cause me to think.  One such place has been a talk given by Mormon, found in Moroni chapter 7.  It seems to have a contradiction that I have been unable to reconcile.  I now think I know.

The first part reads:
"And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?"  (Moroni 7:40)

Hope--> Faith
Without hope you cannot get faith.

Then, two verses later:
"...if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope." (Moroni 7:42)

Faith --> Hope
If faith, then hope
No faith, no hope

It feels like without hope we cannot have faith, and without faith we cannot have hope.

The definition of hope is found in the intervening verse:
"And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise." (Moroni 7:41)

So, hope is the expectation of resurrection to Eternal Life, which comes through faith in Christ.

The definition of faith is given by Paul to the Hebrews:
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)   Another circle of faith connected to hope.  Hope comes first, then we get faith as we gain substance and evidence for that hope.  In other words, we develop faith by gaining knowledge and experience, or substance and evidence.  Faith in Christ is the evidence that only through Him can we hope for salvation.  It is a knowledge of the Atonement.  The better we understand the Atonement of Christ, the more faith we have.

Does faith come before hope, or does hope come before faith?

Maybe it's like this:
Your knowledge of the existence of a glorious resurrection brings you to desire that blessing -- or hope for it.
This desire (hope)  brings you to Jesus Christ, your only hope, to learn more about His Atonement and resurrection.
As you gain knowledge (faith) of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and have more evidence, you receive the hope you desire.

Thus, hope brings you to faith in Christ, which faith then gives you that hope.
In other words, the hope of the possibility of a glorious resurrection causes you to seek Christ and develop the faith needed to actually receive that hope.

Hope --> Faith --> Hope

Thus, the reconciliation of the "which comes first" question is that there are two related, but distinct, senses of the word "hope."  They both have the same definition, but the first is the possibility, whereas the second is the assurance of a glorious resurrection to Eternal Life.  What brings the assurance is faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ and His Atonement and resurrection.  Without hope, or the possibility of Eternal Life we could not develop faith, and without faith we cannot have the hope, or assurance, of it.  Faith is sandwiched between hope!

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