The Bible expresses our relationship to God and our ultimate salvation in many terms and concepts: faith, hope, confidence, trust, relationship with God, sons, heirs, obedience to his commands, and other related concepts. I’d like to treat the topic of biblical hope, to determine exactly what it means.

Here are the primary New Testament passages on hope:

• Hebrews 3:6, 14 — But Christ was faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope. … For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. (cf. Revelation 2:10: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”)
• Romans 8:16-17, 24-25 — It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. … 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. (cf. Galatians 5:5: “Through the Spirit, by faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness” and 6:9: “In due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.”)
• Colossians 1:21-23 — And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him, provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard ... (cf. Philippians 3:11-12, 16: “That if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own ... let us hold true to what we have attained.”)
• Hebrews 6:11-12 — And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (cf. 2 Timothy 2:12: “If we endure, we shall also reign with him ...”; 1 Peter 1:13: “Set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you.”)
• Hebrews 10:23 — Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful ... (cf. 2:3: “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”; 10:35: “Do not throw away your confidence.”)
• 1 John 3:21 — Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; (cf. 1:7: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light ... the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin”; 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”; 2:3; 4:12.)

We see, then, that doubt that the “hope” we have in Christ is not the same thing as “absolute assurance” or “eternal security.” In this venue I’ve addressed the Catholic notion of a very strong moral assurance or confidence of salvation, provided we persevere and repent if in mortal sin, and the related notion of examination of conscience (1 John 3:21: “If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God”).

Catholics have a very strong confidence — even assurance of a sort — in our salvation, provided that we examine ourselves and determine that we aren’t in mortal sin. But since we don’t infallibly know the future, short of a direct revelation of God, we can’t be certain that we won’t ever fall away (nor can any Protestant who makes the claim of absolute assurance or eternal security). But an examination of conscience can make us abundantly assured, confident and hopeful that right now, in this moment of time, we are in God’s good graces, and would be saved if we were to die.

The old Catholic Encyclopedia states that “we cannot in advance insure ourselves against the weakness or the malice of our free wills. This doctrine is in direct antagonism to the initial Protestant contention that we can and must be altogether certain of our salvation.”

The biblical data above may be summarized in three ways. First, we see in the Bible the conditional notion of obtaining salvation “if we hold fast our confidence” (Hebrews 3:6); “if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:14; “hope” being mentioned in context in 3:6); “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope” (Hebrews 10:23); “do not throw away your confidence” (Hebrews 10:35).

Secondly, we observe other conditional factors for being saved in the end, such as “provided we suffer with him” (Romans 8:17; “hope” of salvation mentioned in 8:24-25); “provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:23); “show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end” (Hebrews 6:11).

Thirdly, we have many associated biblical warnings about the danger to everyone of possibly falling away or committing apostasy: “do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1); “you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4; “hope” mentioned in 5:5); “if they then commit apostasy” (Hebrews 6:6; “hope” appears in 6:11); “do not harden your hearts ... hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:8, 13; “confidence” and “hope” in 3:6; “confidence” in 3:14); “do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance” (1 Peter 1:14; “hope” in 1:13).