Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. This prayer is closely connected with the preceding (vers. 5, 6), and the more obvious link between them is "In Him shall the Gentiles hope"; but the note of hope had been struck before (ver. 4). The apostle, however, loses sight of the connection and gives us his solitary petition for this grace in a manner perfectly independent. Let us study the prayer in regard to — I. THE GOD TO WHOM IT IS ADDRESSED. Who derives many of His names from the gospel which manifests His glory. As that gospel rests on an accomplished propitiation, He is "the God of grace," "the Father of mercies"; as it displays its present effects in the soul, He is "the God of peace," and His name of names is love; as it reserves its blessedness for the future, He is "the God of hope," i.e., the Fountain of the entire Christian salvation as it is not yet revealed. This includes — 1. A wide range: there is hardly an aspect of the redeeming work which "the God of hope" does not preside over. His Son is "Jesus Christ which is our hope" (1 Timothy 1:1); the gospel is the foundation of a great hope (Colossians 1:23); the Christian vocation is summed up in hope (Ephesians 1:18); salvation is our comprehensive hope (1 Thessalonians 5:8). 2. An interminable perspective. The future is a glorious sequence of revelations which the God of hope has yet to disclose (Romans 8:20, 24). There is the hope of the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour (Titus 2:3), the hope of the resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:13), the hope of final deliverance from every evil (1 Thessalonians 5:8), the hope of eternal life (Romans 7:20), the hope of glory (Titus 1:2; Titus 3:7); and it would be easy to show that every one of these forms of the one great gospel blessing is referred to God as its Author (Colossians 1:27; Romans 5:2; 2 Corinthians 3:12). II. THE FULNESS OF THE BLESSING WHICH IT ASKS. Though other terms are found here, they all pay tribute to this grace. Faith is the root of hope; the peace and joy which are the fruits of faith are the nourishment of hope; and the abundance of hope is made the perfection of the Christian life as a state of probation. 1. Faith and hope are so inseparable that their only scriptural definition makes them all but identical (Hebrews 11:1); and they are one in this that their objects are invisible (Romans 8:25). But they differ in this, that faith has to do with the present, but hope with the future; or faith brings the past and hope the future into the reality of the present moment. Faith rests upon the "It is finished" already spoken; hope rejoices in the assurance of another "It is finished" which the creation waits to hear. But faith must have the pre-eminence as the parent of hope; for while we can conceive of a faith without hope, we cannot conceive of a hope that does not believe in its object. Hence the apostle here utters his prayer in a circuitous manner, and takes faith on the way. 2. There is an evident connection in Paul's mind between the fruits of faith and the abounding in hope. He borrows from the previous chapter (ver. 17). Peace is the blessed settlement of the controversy between God and the sinner as respects the past; while joy is the present good cheer of the soul as encompassed by mercies, but feeling the present rather than thinking of the past or future. Now these two demand a third to fill up the measure of the Christian estate; peace touching the guilty past, and joy in the fruitful present, do not so much cry out for as naturally produce good hope for the unknown future. 3. But of all these there may be measures and degrees. Nothing is more characteristic of St. Paul than his insistance on the increase even unto perfection of every grace. The notion of fulness enters into every department of his practical theology. Here we have set before us the abundance of peace, joy and hope as the result of the abounding power in us of the Holy Ghost. But the term reluctantly submits to exposition. It is chiefly to be defined by negatives, though they are positive enough for man's desire. To be filled with peace is to be dispossessed of the last residue of a servile dread before God, and to have risen beyond the possibility of unholy resentments towards man; to be filled with joy is to have vanquished the sorrow of the world, to find elements of rejoicing even in tribulation, and to possess a serene contentment that finds nothing wrong in nature, providence, or grace; to abound in hope is expressed by another word that rather brings the answer of the prayer down into the region of our own endeavour. The God of hope bestows its increase rather as the fruit of our patience and fortitude. Hence the marked allusion to the "power of the Holy Ghost." Hope is strengthened by the habits of endurance and resistance. While all graces demand His in working, these demand His power. 4. Abounding in hope is prayed for as the end and result of the fulness of joy and peace. This indicates that these more tranquil graces are instruments for the attainment of that more strenuous grace. Joy and peace minister to hope. The assurance of reconciliation cannot rest in itself, but must muse on that which is to come; how can it but encourage the expectation of all the fruits of a justified estate? The soul, no longer weighed down under the burden of sin, by a holy necessity springs upward. Peace is not hope, but it sets hope free. So also joy, by an equally Divine necessity, encourages endurance and fortitude, and the hopeful expectation of the great release. Hope in this case ministers as it is ministered unto (Romans 5:2). Conclusion: Hope is in some sense the highest of the probationary graces. It is the servant of many of them, but is itself served by all. What would everything else be without this? The mere imagination of the withdrawal of hope withers the rest, and wraps all in darkness. Charity, of course, has the pre-eminence by every right; but as the grace of our stern probation — hope has its own peculiar pre-eminence. It imparts its strength to all other graces, so that they without it cannot be made perfect. It divides the triumphs of faith, and enters largely into the self-denials and labours of love. As it respects the present life hope is in some sense the abiding grace. Then comes a supreme moment when hope, or faith working by hope, is the only anchor of the soul; and when it has endured its final strain it will be glorified for ever. With all its fruition it will have its everlasting anticipation of glories not yet revealed. (W. B. Pope, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. |
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