What does it mean to abound in hope (Romans 15:13)?

193 The apostle proceeds to sum up briefly the leading elements of what he had taught, especially the letting in of the nations to the privileges of the gospel. Christ "was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers." The nations, on the other hand, had no such promises; they had to glorify God for His pure mercy. We have already seen how the accomplishment of promise to the Jews has become pure mercy by their rejection of the Christ of promise. The apostle then quotes several passages from the Old Testament, shewing that this mercy to the nations was always contemplated of God, and that there should be a root of Jesse, and One rising to reign over the nations, in whom the nations should hope. The apostle then thinks of them as such, and says, resting on this word "hope," "now the God of hope [for the full promises are not fulfilled, and He gives us hope, and we are saved in hope as to that fulness] fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." Such is the natural condition of the Christian, full of joy and peace in believing; the Holy Ghost dwelling and acting in him so that his spirit rises in abundant hope, trusting in God, and looking forward to the bright and holy and blessed time when all shall be accomplished in the light - when we shall be with Jesus.

The believers in Rome were mainly Gentiles, hence there is a special force in the Apostle's desire in verse 13. They had been without God and without hope in the world — as the Gentile believers in Ephesus were reminded — and now God, who is the God of hope, is to fill them with such joy and peace that they abound in hope. This is a most desirable, a most glorious result, which is achieved as the fruit of faith in the Gospel; for it is, "in believing," and also, "through the power of the Holy Ghost." Believing the Gospel, the Holy Spirit is received, and peace, hope and joy follow, as the fifth chapter of our epistle taught us.

Many there are who earnestly desire peace and joy, but they think to arrive at them in working, in resolving, in praying or in feeling, but none of these things lead to the desired end. It is only in believing. Faith, and faith alone, puts the soul into touch with God. And only by the Spirit are our hearts filled with all joy and peace and hope, which are the proper fruits of the Gospel. It is very fitting that the Apostle should desire these things for those to whom he wrote, seeing that this epistle unfolds the Gospel which produces them.

The exhortations are ended, and what we find in the rest of this chapter is supplementary to the whole Epistle and touches once more on the question concerning the Jews and the Gentiles. Christ was the minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises to the fathers. Thus He appeared in the midst of His people. But the Gentiles also were to receive mercy through Him. Four Scriptures are quoted to prove that it is the purpose of God to bless the Gentiles in mercy with His people Israel (Psalm 18:49; Deuteronomy 32:43 in Moses' great prophetic song; Psalm 117:1 and Isaiah 11:10). But it must not be overlooked that these quotations do not teach that Gentiles are as fellow heirs put into the same body with believing Jews. They show that God had announced that Gentiles would rejoice in salvation and trust in Christ. The fulfillment of the passages quoted awaits the second coming of our Lord "when He shall rise to reign over the Gentiles," when Gentiles will rejoice with the saved remnant of Israel. "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 Spirit." This is our most blessed inheritance. The Holy Spirit indwells the child of God and in believing He manifests His power, the God of hope filling us with all joy and peace, so that we abound in hope, looking forward to that blessed day, the realization of our blessed Hope, when we shall be like Him and see Him as He is.

It sometimes happens that the connection of a scripture is obscured in a translation. It is so in thiscase. The last clause of verse 12 should be rendered, "In Him shall the Gentiles hope." Then, as based upon this, the apostle prays, "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." But this will be better understood if attention is given to the whole paragraph. In verses 8, 9, Paul points out the difference of the ground on which the Jews and Gentiles originally stood, arising from the fact that God had made promises to the Jew, but not to the Gentile. He therefore says that "Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises [made] unto the fathers." The presentation of Christ indeed to the Jews was in pursuance of the promises as to the Messiah given through the prophets. It is therefore, we apprehend, during His earthly sojourn that Christ was a "minister of the circumcision"; for after He was rejected and crucified, the Jew must, if saved, come in like the Gentiles, on the ground of mercy. (See Romans 11:31-32.) While however there were no promises to the Gentiles, there were prophetic intimations that they would be brought in to share in the grace of the gospel; and the apostle cites, in proof of this, scriptures from the law (Deut.), the Psalms, and the prophets (Isaiah). But brought in, they would have to "glorify God for His mercy," as they had been lost sinners, and destitute of all claim. Mercy and truth thus met together (Psalm 85:10) in Christ, in His death on the cross, and the foundation was thereby laid on the ground of which God could righteously save both Jews and Gentiles. His truth had been vindicated in sending His beloved Son into the world, and in presenting Him to the Jews as their Messiah, and His mercy has been exhibited in setting forth Jesus as a propitiation through faith in His blood for the salvation of all, whether Jews or Gentiles, justifying them freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, it is in connection with the quotation from Isaiah (v. 12) that the word hope is introduced; and this, as we have seen, gives occasion to the prayer in verse 13. The apostle speaks of the God of hope, a large and significant expression; for it is He alone that can produce hope in the hearts of any, even as He Himself is the alone object of hope in accomplishing all the blessing which He has purposed for the Gentiles. And it is the apostle's desire that the saints should be in a practical condition answering to the object of their hope; and hence he prays that the God of hope would fill them with all joy and peace in believing, that they might abound in hope in the power of the Holy Ghost. The expressions should be noted, "Filled with all joy," etc., and this manifestly the apostle regards as the saints' normal condition. True it is only in the power of an ungrieved Spirit that the effect of this will be seen, abounding in hope; but the maintenance through watchfulness and self-judgment of the Spirit ungrieved within us, is the requisite of all apprehension and growth in the Christian life. It is well to read such scriptures, and to enquire as we read them whether we in any measure possess the blessings of which they speak.

"For I say that Christ became a minister of circumcision for [the] truth of God to confirm the promises of the fathers, and that the Gentiles should glorify God for mercy, according as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among [the] Gentiles, and will sing praises to thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, Gentiles, with His people; and again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and laud him, all ye peoples. And again Esaias saith, There shall be the root of Jesse, and one that arises to rule over the Gentiles: on him shall [the] Gentiles hope." (Ver. 8-12.) It is plain here that we approach the same twofold line as we have seen from the beginning, where Jesus is viewed as Son of David according to flesh, Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead. He had been made a minister of circumcision for God's truth in order to confirm the promises made to the fathers; but also that the Gentiles should glorify God for mercy. For the one there were definite covenant grounds on which God entered with Israel: not so with the others, who were dealt with in pure grace. To some the latter may seem vague and insecure as compared with the former; but this only because God is feebly known. In fact His grace flows without limit when the people who had the promises rejected Him in whom alone they can be made good; and as there is no limit to the mercy of God, so there is no question of claim, competency, or desert in our own. Thus, while it did not become the Gentile believers to slight the Lord's connection in flesh with Israel, it was of great moment for the Jewish believers to note that the ancient oracles testified of that further outgoing in mercy when the truth was overlooked by, and unbearable to, self-complacent unbelief. The Psalms, the Law, and the Prophets bore concurrent witness to that mercy toward Gentiles which the Jew found it so hard to allow, save on conditions exalting to the first man instead of to the praise of the Second. None goes so far as to teach the one body of Christ in which all distinctions should disappear. This was the mystery kept hid from the ages and ages. But prophecy did declare mercy to Gentiles, and joy with Israel, and Messiah their object of hope as well as Governor. The first citation is general; the second joins them in gladness with Israel; the third asserts the universality of the nations' praise; the fourth speaks distinctly of Messiah's ruling Gentiles and of their hope founded on Him. The apostle makes no comment: the suggestion was plain, the bearing on the actual state at Rome full of instruction to such as had ears to hear, clenching his previous exhortation. He was led only to add the prayer, "And may the God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope by [the] power of [the] Holy Spirit." (Ver. 13.) Thus He who saves the believers already justified to have peace with Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ is entreated as "the God of peace" to fill them with all joy and peace in believing. Settling points of conscience however wisely could effect no such result; whereas, when hearts are thus filled with divinely-given happiness, not only do questions disappear without controversy, but the power of the Holy Spirit vouchsafes abounding hope, instead of a fleshly contest between the past prestige of the Jew and the present privileges of Gentile saints. He who goes forward with the revealed future in view will desire that whatever he does now, even in such matters as eating or drinking, may be to God's glory, not occupying those who are to share it with debates, but diffusing the joy and peace which fill himself in believing.

This hope is a living and sure hope, it will never fail us, we rely upon the sure word of our God, the God of hope, and lo, we are filled with all joy and peace in believing, and abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost (v. 13). Our joy is greater than our sorrow, our hope lifts us above all trying circumstances, our groanings are lost in our glad praise. We anticipate the coming glory. The God of hope is our God, and He is moving onward to the fulfilment of His purposes of love; nothing can thwart Him or postpone those purposes beyond His appointed time, but apart from us, whom He has chosen in Christ, they cannot be fulfilled; we are necessary to God's great scheme of blessing. He has bound us up in the bundle of life with Christ and His glory, and ours is an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. As our faith lays its firm grip upon the Word of God and our hope stretches out to the glorious future, joy, peace and hope are ours. How surpassing all other knowledge is this knowledge of God as the God of hope, and He is our God.

The blessedness of these prophetic scriptures leads Paul to speak of “the God of Hope.” Had these prophecies not a voice to fill with hope the souls of Gentiles once “without hope, without God in the world”? “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.” Doubtless there is as much voice here for the stricken remnant of Israel as for the stranger — Gentile. Was all hope gone now that the Messiah had been rejected by Israel? Did the godly feel the pathos of it all in hearts that adopted Jeremiah's language — “My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord”? Let them then rejoice in this, that our God is “the God of hope” — able to “fill” us “with all joy and peace in believing.” His blessed counsel of divine power and grace give us no excuse for the slightest discouragement, but the title rather to “abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Why, alas, do we not respond more fittingly?

The Holy Ghost who dwelleth in us is the other Comforter, the Paraclete — the One who manages everything in us, even as Jesus is the Advocate, or Paraclete, above, and manages everything for us up there. We are filled with joy in the Holy Ghost, we abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost, and are taught to cry, "Come, Lord Jesus." It is by His gracious ministry that the word which testifies of Christ is often brought to remembrance so suitably to our heart's need, that we are comforted when cast down, or gently reproved when inclining to that which is evil in His sight. It is by His effectual working that the personal glories, accomplished redemption, triumphant work, fitness and fulness of Christ, are brought 'home to our souls for comfort and blessing. He is the power of our fellowship with the Father and His Son, and the helper of our infirmities in prayer. He is ever attracting us to Christ, drawing us up to where He is, and setting our minds on things above. He glorifies Christ, and takes of the things of Christ and shows unto us, and teaches us as to ourselves that in us, that is in our flesh, dwells no good. He is always associating our souls with Christ; as another has said — "He never leads a man to say, Thank God I'm made so good, But turns his eye another way, To Jesus and His blood."

Is this our mind? I again ask. Are we still prisoners of hope, refusing to let anything chance the expectant attitude of the soul? The Holy Ghost is given to us, not to change that, but to strengthen it. His very presence does but nourish present dissatisfaction of heart, and the longings of hope and desire. He causes the saint to "abound in hope," and gives breadth and compass to the cry, "Come, Lord Jesus." Spirit of truth, the other Comforter, as He is, He does not show Himself for the Bridegroom, nor propose to make His refreshings "the marriage supper of the Lamb." The energy of hope, the desirings of the soul after our still unmanifested Lord, only speak the Spirit's presence in us the more clearly and blessedly. It is His very design and workmanship. He draws us forth to hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Let us then thankfully receive the word of God as an infallible standard by which to judge, and know that the power and capacity by which we can do it is the Spirit of God dwelling in us, revealing these things to our new man, so as to act on our conscience, and guide our feet into the way of peace, and to reveal to us the glory of that fulness which makes us abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.