I’ve noticed a lot of hits for my article: The Difference Between Faith & Hope and thought it would be appropriate to revisit the subject. I’m not surprised to find many Christians confused about this subject—as I read through my old article, I felt refreshed and encouraged myself.

Faith and Hope can be a little tricky, especially if you’re just starting out in your walk with God. With the sudden rise of Christian hip hop, there are thousands of people converting and taking an interest in Christianity every day now. Basic information like faith, hope, love, joy, peace—these are things we need to be rooted in if we want to have a deeper, more genuine relationship with Christ.

So, what is Faith? What is Hope?

Let’s look at Hebrews 11:1 NIV Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Do you see that? Faith is confidence in what we hope for—that means faith and hope work together, you’ve got to have both to be an effective Christian.

Now let’s define hope.

If you type hope into Google it will tell you it is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Hope can also be defined as a feeling of trust.

I love that trust is included in this definition because when you search for Hope in the Bible you will get a definition closer to trust than simply expectation.

Let’s look at Jeremiah 14:22 Do any of the worthless idols of the nation bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.

When you look at the way hope is applied in this verse, you can see both definitions of the word. Our hope is in you can mean that one’s expectations are placed on the Lord—an expectation to be provided for, to be kept safe, to be healed. But it can also be understood to mean that one’s trust is in the Lord—I trust that the Lord will provide for me, keep me safe, and heal me.

If you study the Bible in Hebrew, you’ll realize there is not a singular word that can truly encompass the Hebrew understanding of Hope. In fact, the Hebrew Bible uses a couple different words to describe hope and each one has a separate understanding depending on the context of the situation.

The word batach means trust with a secondary meaning of hope, while the Hebrew word qawah means to eagerly wait or hope strongly. In the verse above [Jeremiah 14:22] we see a word used that is a Hebrew noun formed from the root qawa. In this English translation we simply plug in the word hope, but in the Hebrew version it is actually a word which denotes hope in the sense of trust.

I hope I haven’t confused you at all; it is vitally important to study and understand the Bible in your native language as well as in Hebrew and Greek—the original languages of the Word. My point here is to demonstrate the weight each word in the Bible carries.

You need hope to have faith, but you also need a sense of trust to have hope.

Faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

Hope is a feeling of expectation or a sense of trust in the Lord.

Now let’s rewrite Hebrews 11:1 and plug in the Hebrew and English definition of hope.

Faith is the confidence of our expectations and trust in the Lord, and assurance about what we do not see.

So, what’s the big difference between faith and hope according to the Bible?

Hope is an expectation or trust placed in the Lord.

Faith is the confidence in those expectations or the confidence in the trust we have in God.

You trust [hope] that the Lord will heal you, but it is your faith—the confidence in that trust established with God—that brings forth the manifestation of your healing.

You expect [hope] the Lord to provide for you, but it is your faith—the confidence in that sturdy expectation—that brings forth the manifestation of your provision.

Faith and Hope can be a little confusing, some Christians even mix them up—but that’s ok. The important thing to take from this is the understanding that both faith and hope are cultivated by spending time with Christ. Time in prayer, time in his Word, time in worship and praise. When you spend time getting to know your Father, His wisdom and knowledge will be revealed to you. When you spend time getting to know Christ, your faith and hope and trust and confidence will have no choice but to increase.

I hope you learned something from this article, be sure to subscribe below to stay updated with other articles and information. Check out our archives to find a library of Christian studies, like The Difference Between Faith & Hope and How to Have Faith. Be sure to read my latest post: God Is A Person

Until next time, God bless!