In Paul's ethics, three Christian virtues emerge as primary for the Church: faith, love, and hope. We might begin, though, with a passage in the Old Testament. In Lamentations 3.21-26, we read,
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.’
Note the words hope, steadfast love, and faithfulness. We have hope because of God’s love, mercies, and faithfulness. The word translated, ‘steadfast love’ is ‘hesed’ in Hebrew. It is the relational basis for a covenant of commitment between people. Translators have decided to capture this absolute commitment to a relationship with the word ‘steadfast love’. Note that the passage speaks of our hope because of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to us. Numerous times in the Old Testament, these two words appear together as descriptions of God’s covenantal relationship with His people. They are ‘steadfast love’ and ‘faithfulness’. John probably has the two Hebrew words in mind when he uses 'grace and truth' in John 1.14, and this shows how the meaning of these covenantal terms is rich and overlaps with several notions. To these, we add the word ‘hope’, as in Lamentations.
In Paul's writings and Christian ethics, faith, love, and hope are spoken of as major virtues for Christians. Paul’s opening thanksgiving in his letter to the Colossian church is structured around these three virtues. He says, ‘since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven’ (1.4-5). Looking back to the Old Testament, we might say that God’s character is the basis for our character, and His love and faithfulness call for us to have love and faith along with our hope in God. As we examine the relevant passages in Paul here, we will also see how these virtues are not just an imitation of God's character by believers but are also a dynamic expression of divine grace in and through the Church as God's community indwelling that grace.
Praying for Faith, Hope, and Love
First, then, let us examine other thanksgiving and prayer sections in Paul’s letters to see how often he refers to one or more of these virtues of faith, love and hope. Letters in antiquity were expected to begin with a prayerful thanksgiving before the body of the letter began. Paul does this in most of his letters. As with Colossians, Paul seems to have the virtues of faith, love, and hope when he prays for or gives thanks for his churches. He does not always mention all three, as in Colossians, but taken together, we can see that these virtues stand out. They are goals for the churches to work toward and the virtues that Paul prays for them.
In 1 Thessalonians 1.3, Paul writes, ‘remembering before four God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Later in this letter, Paul rejoices in the report Timothy has brought back to him of the church’s faith and love (3.6), and he encourages the church to ‘put on the breastplate of faith and love’ and the helmet of hope for salvation (5.8). These are the defensive armor that will protect us when God comes in judgement and wrath to the earth in its final days.
In 2 Thessalonians 1.3, Paul gives thanks for the increasing faith and love of this church.
In Rom. 1.8, Paul says that he gives thanks for their faith.
In Philippians, Paul says,
9-11 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
Without using the word ‘hope’, this prayer includes the hope of Christ’s return as judge, not to condemn, but to harvest the righteousness the church has produced.
In Philemon, Paul mentions both faith and love as the virtues in his prayer:
4-6 When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God 5 because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ.
In 1 Timothy, Paul begins his letter by saying, ‘The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith’ (1.5). These are not the only Christian virtues, of course, and they appear alongside others here and there. Women, for example, are to have faith, love, holiness, and self-control (1 Timothy 2.15). Timothy is to be an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity (4.12) and to be a man of God who pursues righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness (6.11).
Paul’s love for Timothy and memory of Timothy’s faith are highlighted in his prayers for him in 2 Timothy 1:
1.3-5 I am grateful to God-- whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did-- when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.
Timothy is later urged to follow Paul’s pattern in the sound words of the Gospel in faith and love in Christ Jesus (1.13). He is to flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (2.22). Paul recalls that Timothy has followed his teaching and conduct of faith, patience, love, steadfastness, and endurance in persecutions (3.10).
In Paul’s letter to Titus, he reminds his fellow worker that ‘Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness’ (2.2).
In Ephesians 1, Paul gives thanks and prays for the church with faith, love, and hope in mind. He writes,
1.15-18 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,… 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints….
Paul prays another prayer in Ephesians 3. He mentions faith and love, but note also that hope is presented in terms of the knowledge we have of God’s greatness. He writes,
3.14-19 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Along with peace and grace, Paul’s typical greetings, Paul concludes this letter with a mention of faith and love (cf. Titus 3.15):
6.23-24 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
And, as already mentioned, faith, love, and hope are mentioned in the prayerful thanksgiving in Col. 1.3-5.
We see, then, that when Paul set aside time to pray for his churches, he structured his prayers in such a way that he would give thanks and/or pray for their faith, love and hope. We need to know how to pray for our churches, and Paul offers us very clear example. That we pray for such virtues in our churches shows that their source lies in the grace of God.
What Does Paul Say about Faith, Love and Hope in the Churches?
The Christian virtues of faith, love, and hope appear elsewhere in Paul’s writings, not only in the prayer and thanksgiving sections of his letters. In Galatians 5.6 he says, ‘For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.’ In 1 Corinthians 13.13, he writes in conclusion to a chapter on love, ‘So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.’
Three things need to be said about the virtues of faith, love, and hope. First, they are fundamental characteristics of believers and of the Church. This point has been noted at length with the various Scripture passages quoted.
Second, these virtues are all focussed on Jesus Christ. The object of our faith is Jesus Christ and the salvation that He has brought to us through His shed blood on the cross. The example of love we should have as Christians is set by Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us. The blessed hope that we have, as Paul says in Titus 2.13, is ‘the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.’ Thus, faith, love, and hope are not general virtues commended to everyone but are specifically Christian virtues.
Third, these virtues do not just sit in our hearts as feelings or attitudes but are expressed in our lives. They show themselves in action. There is a work of faith, a labour of love, and steadfastness of hope.
1Th. 1:3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul follows this statement with a description of the church’s becoming imitators of his mission team and of the Lord despite persecution (v. 6). This active faith became an example to other believers and a witness to others everywhere (vv. 7-9). They turned from idols to serve the living and true God (v. 9). They now awaited the coming of Jesus (v. 10).
In Galatians 5.6, faith works itself out in love. Instead of trusting in the work of circumcision—that is, in the Law—as a means of righteousness, believers are to have faith in the grace of God in Jesus Christ. ‘For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness’ (5.5). Notice in this passage the virtues of faith, love, and hope. Notice that they are described in reference to the work of Christ and the Spirit. Their work produces righteousness in us, and our response is faith in them that is lived out through love. Paul clarifies this further in the same chapter. He says, ‘the whole Law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (5.14, from Leviticus 19.18). The Spirit’s working is also mentioned. Paul says, ‘Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh’ (5.16). The Spirit, not the Law, leads us (5.18), and the Spirit bears fruit in us (5.22-23). Paul says that we are to live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5, then, represents the rich outworking of faith, love, and hope through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. This is, at one level, so simple, and yet you can see how from this foundational understanding of the Christian faith everything else develops: our understanding of salvation, of Jesus, of the Spirit, of salvation, of Christian ethics, and—to our main point—what characterises the Christian Church. We are to be a community in Christ and the Spirit working out our faith, love, and hope together.
Rom. 12 offers a more detailed description of the labour of love in the church. First, the virtues of Christian community are character and action that flows from divine grace. God's grace works in us and through us, individually and corporately as the Church. The Church is an organic and dynamic body constituted by God's grace.
Second, love in the church involves using God-given gifts for each other:
5 So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Third, the labour of love involves how we treat and receive one another:
*not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think… (v. 3)
*love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor (10)
* Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep (15)
*Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are (16)
Fourth, the labour of love involves caring for those within and outside our community:
*Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers (13)
Fifth, the labour of love involves being a peace-seeking community:
* Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them (14)
* Do not repay anyone evil for evil… (17)
This description of a community hard at work in a labour of love shows us the kinds of practices of this virtue that make the church a healing and redemptive community.
Conclusion
As we seek to understand the significance of the 'Church' in Paul's theology, we note that it is a community of God's grace in which and through which divine virtues are expressed in the life and interactions of believers. Chief among these virtues are faith, love, and hope. All these characteristics of the Church apply to the individual believer, but they require a Christian community. This is no mere human organization trying to live a certain way. It is a people of God dependent upon our Lord Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. In this way, the Church is a work of God, or, using Paul’s analogy of the body, the Church is an organism that, being under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and living in the Spirit, is the body of Christ.
Divine grace binds the virtues of faith, love, and hope together. One cannot build a Christian unity around permissive love that tolerates, accepts, or even celebrates diversity of faith. God is the source and object of our faith. Who He is, what the Father has lovingly done for us in Christ Jesus and by means of His Spirit inspires our faith in Him, our faithfulness to Him, and the hope we place in Him.
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