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1 Thessalonians 1:3; 5:8 – Faith, Love, and Hope – The Trinity of Virtues
Faith, Love and Hope – The Trinity of Virtues
Certain words almost always go together. Say “The Declaration” and people think, “of Independence.” If “Its raining cats” it also raining “dogs.” It’s almost impossible to think of “Yankee Doodle” without “Dandy.”
When you hear “Good things come” what do you think of? “Good things come in small packages;” and “Good things come to those who wait.” There is a third phrase associated with those first three words, “Good things come in threes.” Of course for pessimists, “Bad things come in threes” too. The latter is silly superstition. When I was living in the country, when two people died, others got worried!
A rule for public speaking even has three parts: “Say what you’re going to say; say it; say what you said.” Applied to preaching, it is: Stand Up; Speak Up; Shut Up. Modern Western writing simplified composition having three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.
Speaking of writing, there is “The Rule of Three.” Apparently the human mind thinks things that come in threes are even funnier than in two or four. A series of three builds a progression and then on the third the comedian shifts gears, causing a mental surprise, because your mind has already started to form a conclusion. One writer suggested a good joke is like a train wreck, the rails tell you know where it is going, and the punch line is the wreck. I’ve had many punch lines that were train wrecks!
The Rule of Three applies to more than just jokes. Apparently the rhythm of three makes the saying more effective and easier to remember. Julius Caesar claimed: “I came; I saw; I conquered.” While Winston Churchill actually said, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat,” we normally remember it as “blood, sweat and tears.” One of Abraham Lincoln’s most memorable and quoted lines is, “Of the people, by the people, for the people” (the Gettysburg address). The Latin phrase, “omne trium perfectum” (everything that comes in threes is perfect, or, every set of three is complete) conveys the same idea as the Rule of Three.
Sets of three are everywhere. Life is divided into three parts: We are born; We live; We die. America’s government is divided into three separate but equal branches: Can’t Work; Don’t Work; Won’t Work. There are three primary colors: red, yellow, blue. The most successful movies often result in trilogies where the second one is the worst. And of course every argument can be ended by the game of three called “Rock, Paper, Scissors.”
The universe has three dimensions, time, space and matter. Time is divided into three: past, present and future. Space is divided into three: height, width, depth. Matter is divided into three: solid, liquid, gas. It has been said we exist in a trinity of trinities by divine design.
Romans 1:20 (HCSB) For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.
Even the Bible recognizes that three is important. According to Biblical numerology, three is the number of perfection which echoes the aforementioned Latin phrase. There are three time periods in the Bible: Patriarchal, Mosaical, and Christian. There were three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There were three kings in the United Kingdom. The gospel can be divided into three: the death, burial, and resurrection which took place over three days. Humans are tripartite creatures: body, soul, and spirit (1 Thess.5:23). This image mimics God, theologically called a Trinity; and individually, “The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.” Paul was caught into the third heaven which shows all of known reality is divided into three heavens: the sky, the universe, and the home of God.
One group of three that also is a word association is, “Faith, Hope, and Love.” C.S. Lewis calls these, “The three Theological virtues” (Mere Christianity, p.109). I like to call them “The Trinity of Virtues.” They even seem somewhat to echo the Trinity: God is love. Faith in Jesus saves. Even the Holy Spirit is associated with hope because we overflow with hope through the Spirit (Rom.15:3). But of course, just as God is one, each of these virtues could be associated with each and all of God.
How widespread in our culture is the phrase, “faith, hope, and love?” Those three words, usually in that order, are fairly ubiquitous. There is a website called faithhopelove-rwa.org. It is dedicated to romance writers with a Christian worldview. On the other end of the spectrum, there is even an episode on some show called Californication called “Faith, Hope, Love.” Sounds somewhat blasphemous, doesn’t it?! And no, I have no idea what it is about. Just hear, “faith, hope,” and our minds automatically go to “love.”
Faith, love and hope are an association of three words, a divine trinity of virtues. Faith, love and hope are the marks of a healthy, growing church as seen in 1 Thessalonians.
Faith, Love and Hope in the Bible
There are more verses than we could read that mention at least one of these virtues. The first time love appears is Genesis 22:2 where God speaks of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. Staying on theme, Isaac is described using the rule of three: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love.”
The first time “believe” appears, which is another translation of faith, is Genesis 15:6 speaking of Abraham being justified by faith.
Surprising to me, hope is not specifically mentioned until the book of Ruth; and there in a negative sense where Naomi is telling Ruth to go home because there is no hope that Naomi will have another son for her daughter-in-law to marry (Ruth 1:12).
There are too many verses which contain two of these virtues. One is Galatians 5:5, “For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.”
There are fewer sections where all three occur together. While “faith, hope and love” is the most common order of those three words in our usage, they are not the order most common in the Bible. All but one is by Paul unless you count Hebrews. There are five passages (that I have found) which have this trilogy of virtues, two in 1 Thessalonians:
- 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (HCSB) We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8 (HCSB) But since we belong to the day, we must be serious and put the armor of faith and love on our chests, and put on a helmet of the hope of salvation.
- Colossians 1:4-5 (HCSB) (4) for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints (5) because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel.
- 1 Corinthians 13:13 (HCSB) Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
- Hebrews 10:22-24 (HCSB) (22) let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. (23) Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (24) And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works,
One goal of this study is to go beyond a study of words. What we are going to do is make faith, love, and hope practical. We will do this by asking what does faith, love and hope look like? One way to do this would be to take each virtue and find several bible references to each, such as 1 Corinthians 13. Another way would be to find “living” (i.e., Biblical) examples of each. Naomi in Ruth would be an example of surprised by hope. Instead we are going to find one “living” example, the Thessalonians. In doing this, we will be reading how 1 Thessalonians is organized around these three virtues. This will give us a “live action” account of how faith, love and hope work in people just as real as we are. If we want a healthy, growing church, we will imitate the church in Thessalonica.
What’s the Relationship between Faith, Love, and Hope?
The fact they are grouped together several times suggests there is a relationship, an interworking dynamic, between this trinity of virtues. As said before, the more common order in the Bible is faith, love and hope. Here then is a question worth considering: Is it significant or trivial that in each case except one, when Paul is the author, faith is mentioned first, love is second, and hope is third? From our perspective, from human experience, does faith come first, then love, followed by hope?
To assist in answering that question, let’s look at Paul’s exception in 1 Corinthians 13. Love is listed last, and is called the greatest. One contextual reason for calling it the greatest is its connection to spiritual gifts. Another reason might be that both faith and hope will not exist in heaven. Only love is eternal.
- Romans 8:24-25 (HCSB) (24) Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? (25) But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
The order is different than 1 Thessalonians and Paul’s other epistles because in 1 Corinthians faith, hope, and love are contrasted to many other spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14). What is essential for us to understand is that each is considered an essential gift within Christianity. The other more glamorous gifts, such as tongue speaking, were inferior by nature and temporary by design.
To the Corinthians, Paul wanted to accentuate love to deflate ego. The apostle was trying to correct a wrong and damaging view of spiritual gifts by emphasizing the essential nature of love. Even faith without love is nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (HCSB) (1) If I speak human or angelic languages but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. (3) And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Now it is important, nay even essential, to know that Paul is not denigrating faith. Paul is echoing Jesus’ promise that if we have faith we can move mountains (Mt.17:20). Would Paul disagree with Jesus? He is just adding something not within the prevue of Jesus. Can I move mountains without love? Apparently, but without love I am nothing. Kind of humbling isn’t, because our tendency would be to say after moving a mountain, “Wow, look at me!” Too many of the Corinthians were saying, “Look at me!”
To the Thessalonians, the emphasis is on all three. However, notice how each section (and each chapter as it arranged for us), ends with the hope of the coming Jesus and our resurrection. Hope is not only the culmination, it is the emphasis.
Based upon the normal biblical order, it has been suggested that faith, love then hope is the natural (or supernatural) order. So from our perceptive, which comes first?
Faith comes by hearing and the hearing by the word of God (Rom.10:17). When we hear, what do we hear? The God loved us first, so we love Him (1 John 4:19). When we believe that God loves us, we have hope of living eternally with Him. There is no hope without faith; and there can be no divine love without faith. We can’t love God unless we first know He loved us.
Why might that be the natural order? That is the order of the gospel itself. Consider this. The life of Jesus produces faith (Jn.20:30-31). The death of Jesus produces love (Jn.3:16; 1 Jn.4:19). Jesus’ resurrection produces hope (1 Cor.15). That is a historical reason for the spiritual order that faith produces love which produces hope.
If there is a divine progression – first faith, then love, then hope – there are at least three goals.
First, is to increase all three virtues. To increase our hope for heaven we must increase our love for God and one another. To increase our love for God and one another, we must first increase our faith. How important is faith to loving one another? Have you noticed that right after Jesus told the apostles if someone sins against you seven times in one day, and repents, we must forgive; that after that declaration the apostles pleaded, “Increase our faith!” (Lk.17:3-4). It takes faith to love!
Our second goal is to learn how these three theological virtues actually work in our lives by looking at the Thessalonians.
Third, I want to test two theories: 1) that faith comes first, followed by love, then hope; 2) that while faith is first, and love lasts the longest and therefore is the greatest, that maybe hope is the strongest. Consider this: A man is held captive by the enemy. His love for his family sustains him. But what keeps him from giving in to the despair and giving up is the hope that he one day will see them again. Without that hope, he dies. I don’t know the origin of this quote, but it is powerful: “Man can live about 30 days without food, about 14 without water. Man can live 7 minutes without air – but not 1 second without hope.” That is why hope is the strongest. It is connected to the resurrection and therefore connected to the future. While love is eternal, it is our hope that there is an eternity that gives us our strength.
As evidence, notice the difference between the apostles before the resurrection and afterwards. Before they had faith, although it wavered. Before they have love, but it too gave out. Before did they have hope? After the resurrection everything changed. Why? Now they had hope and it is hope that gets us through the bad times. Fact for the day, “hope” is never mentioned in the NT until after the resurrection. The first time it is mentioned is in Peter’s Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:26).
Faith, Love and Hope in 1 Thessalonians
This trilogy of virtues occurs twice in 1 Thessalonians. Each is emphasized. Hope is emphasized the most through Paul’s teaching on the Second Coming of Jesus. So, is hope the strongest motivator? As said before, at the end of each chapter, Paul speaks of hope. It is the tie that binds faith and love. Even at the end of chapters dedicated to faith or love, Paul still ends those sections with hope. What I am going to attempt to do is point out what I believe is the organization of 1 Thessalonians which stresses these three gifts. This doesn’t mean that there is no mixture of themes, because there is. In fact, as said before, each section ends with hope, and it is impossible to entirely separate these virtues because they work together. Paul even combines faith and love in “the armor of faith and love on our chests” (1 Thess.5:8).
Here is what I believe is a thematic outline of 1 Thessalonians:
- Ch.1 – Introduction of Faith, Love, and Hope
- Ch.2 – Paul’s Example of Faith, Love and Hope
- Ch.3 – Work of Faith
- Ch.4 – Labor of Love
- Ch.5 – Endurance of Hope
If I am correct, this little letter is structured around these three virtues. The basic idea behind this lesson is “OK, you’ve told me, now show me, so I can imitate the Thessalonian Christians.”
Let’s read 1 Thessalonians 1-2.
WORK OF FAITH
Definition of Work
The word work/ergon means, “3. An act, deed, thing done….the course of conduct which springs from faith” (Thayer, p.248). The first definition I think also applies: “1. business, employment, that which any one is occupied; 1a) that which one undertakes to do, enterprise, undertaking” (Thayer, p.248). Faith, taking it to the world, and taking it to heart, is the business of church. The work of faith is about changing lives.
Description of Faith
We live in a world of senses, of what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled; and yet, the trinity of virtues cannot be sensed. These are metaphysical, not part of the hard sciences. One cannot objectively see faith, hope and love; one can only see their expressions, their “works.” That’s why “faith without works is dead” (Jms.2:26). That is why “… what matters is faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).
“Works” is such a denigrated word in modern Christianity, and undeservedly so. It is denigrated both by a misunderstanding of Paul in Romans and Galatians; and a misappropriation of man’s contribution to salvation. No work itself is worthy or powerful; but each work is an expression of something that is worthy: faith in an all powerful God. Understand that works can exist without the virtuous impetus, but the virtues cannot exist in the real world without works.
A virtue is a moral excellence. If faith is a virtue, and a virtue is a moral excellence, then why is belief moral and unbelief immoral? It is neither moral nor immoral, if faith is nothing more than accepting or rejecting a set of facts. Accepting 2+2=4 is amoral. If you don’t know it, you’re just ignorant. If you refuse to believe it, then you’re just stupid.
The morality of faith is a question asked by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity. I like how he phrases part of his query showing that faith is more than just the assimilation and acceptance of information: “If he were mistaken about the goodness or badness of the evidence that would not mean he was a bad man, but only that he was not very clever” (p.115). That forces us to ask if faith is nothing more than the acceptance or rejection of evidence. If it is, that makes for some very poor Christians, and might explain the lack of moving mountains in our lives. On the flip side, the view that faith is accepting facts as true without evidence is a false position. That is not Biblical. So faith does not believe without evidence. And faith is not just the believing of evidence. So how is belief moral and unbelief immoral? In a trilogy of answers, let me suggest what faith, real faith, mountain moving faith, forces us to do.
1) Faith is a virtue because of what faith forces us to accept about ourselves. You, and I, are morally failures. Bankrupt to the point where there is no lawful reorganization so we can pay our creditors. There is nothing in us worth purchasing our salvation, or even making a down payment. There is nothing, not even a spiritual penny that we can offer. That is why the very first beatitude is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Do we really believe that we are absolutely empty of worth because of our sin? Honesty probably is whispering, “I need to work on that.” Consider John’s attitude about untying the sandals of Jesus.
2) Faith is a virtue because of what faith forces us to accept about God. The Thessalonians accepted there was no God but the God of this insignificant, despised and unworthy people called the Jews. But denouncing polytheism and accepting monotheism is not so much a moral choice as it is a correct one. However, accepting the one true God forces us to make moral choices. We now must imitate the life of God incarnate who came not just to die, but to live. We must accept we are not God, not in charge of our lives, not sitting on that almighty throne.
3) Faith is a virtue because of what faith forces us to accept to do. Looking at the Thessalonian church we see a group of men and women, many just a few months old spiritually, suffering persecution because of their faith in Jesus and the one true God. Looking at the old idolatrous world’s ubiquitous intrusion on every aspect of life, they probably lost friends, jobs, property, marriages, children, influence, reputations, and sometimes their lives. What would cause someone to do this? While we see how hope plays a major role, it all begins with faith. We are willing to give all because we have faith in One who gave all. Because of the gospel we have accepted more than just a set of facts that make us worship on Sunday. Because of the gospel we have accepted more than just a set of new moralities. Because of faith we have accepted an entirely new world view that gives us the courage and fortitude to stand up for what we believe because we know is true and right.
Let’s read 1 Thessalonians 3.
LABOR OF LOVE
Definition of Labor
The word labor/kopos means, “3. Labor; b. intense labor united with trouble, toil; the labor to which love prompts, and which voluntarily assumes and endures trouble and pains for the salvation of others” (Thayer, p.355). As we can see from this definition, love is not easy, but it is worth it.
Description of Love
An old translation for love, found 24 times in the King James Bible, and twice in the two letters written to the Thessalonians, is charity (1 Thess.3:6; 2 Thess.1:3). Of course, the most famous place in the King James where charity is used is 1 Corinthians 13, used nine times. Agape love became known as charity because it was an act of helping the helpless with no hope of return. Ironically it was love with no hope. To donate charity nowadays means to give money, and is sometimes associated with another old word, alms.
One of the great learning tools for love, in 1 Thessalonians and all of the New Testament, is found in the definition and description of this virtuous attribute. It is not easy, and it is not motivated by a feeling, although feeling may be involved. Love is an action of the will, and by the will. We can will ourselves to love.
It is common among some to say love cannot be commanded, it is a response to God’s love and therefore an overwhelming of inevitable emotion within us to the good news. The analogy then is given that our wives would not be very happy with us if we told them we loved them because we have to. I definitely would not try that on your anniversary!
Like many falsehoods, like many lies, Satan has included some truths. Is love a response by us to God’s love? Absolutely. We love second because God loved us first (1 Jn.4:19). Are we overwhelmed by God’s love so as to response in kind? Absolutely again. So how is love more than just an emotional response? How is love as cold as a command?
The answer is found not so much in directing our love to God, but rather in obeying God in areas our will would rather not. This is seen in Jesus’ garden prayers. Just a couple of verses after John tells us that we love God because He first loved us, the Holy Spirit instructs John to write,
1 John 4:21 (HCSB) And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother.
Loving God is one thing. Loving you, loving everyone, loving even my enemies; now that takes a command. That takes a subjection of my will for God’s. Agape love is not “like;” and in fact liking and not liking someone can hinder us from loving them. To love means to seek their best, but when we like someone we often are acting out of self-interest. Being with them, doing things with them, make us feel good. Detrimentally, too many parents like their children more than love them. They try to be their friend, or want to spoil them.
So why should we love people we do not like? Why should we move our minds to action when our heart is not in it?
- First, it is commanded by God. Because God said so must good enough. But we want more, don’t we!
- Second, it imitates God. That is the highest motivation. God loved us while we were His enemies (Rom.5:8-10).
- Third, it helps others (Rom.12:20-21). Just because we do not like someone does not mean we should wish them harm, even if we sometimes hate them emotionally.
- Fourth, the best way to learn to like someone is to love them. Did you ever wonder if the command not to take vengeance because vengeance is God’s and that instead we must do good to our enemies, might be for our own good too? By doing so we are not allowing ourselves to be conquered by evil (Rom.12:21). By doing so we also become changed. So if you don’t like someone, start loving them. Do good for them until you like them.
- Fifth, it teaches others to love and like us; and who doesn’t want to be loved and liked?
- Sixth, it leads others to Christ; after all that is how God leads us to salvation.
I find this profound, and I hope you do to. We are told to love God. To love means to seek the best of the other. Therefore if we are commanded to love God, we are commanded to seek the best for God. What can we give God that He needs? Nothing, but we can give to God what He wants. And by giving God what He wants, we are giving God the freedom not to do what He doesn’t want. What’s best for God is not forcing Him to punish us for our sins, and instead to reward us for our faithfulness. That is why loving God pleases Him. He gets to do what He wants, and doesn’t have to do what He hates (Eze.18:23,32; 33:11).
Before reading 1 Thessalonians 4, let me share with you one personal hesitation as to whether this entire chapter is about the Labor of Love. It begins with bodily sanctification, that is, keeping ourselves sexually pure. Does that have anything to do with love? In 1 Thessalonians love is often expressed horizontally, between one another. Love is often considered an action; but here it is rather paradoxically an action of restraint and therefore a non-action. God’s sexual mores are the exact opposite of their old gods’ ways. We love one another by not tempting and fulfilling that temptation of moral promiscuity. We love by not transgressing and defrauding one another sexually, or one another’s family members, or in any other way (4:6). Therefore I suggest this text is teaching us that sexual purity towards one another, and each other’s family, is a labor of love. That’s in contrast to many fallen preachers and adulterers within churches. That is also such a contrast to today’s thinking where “If you love me, you will make love to me.”
Let’s read 1 Thessalonians 4.
ENDURANCE OF HOPE
Definition of Endurance
The NASB uses the word “steadfastness” which implies not giving in or giving up. The KJV translates the word as patience and our English word patience is etymologically related to pathos or suffering. Patience is often translated longsuffering. That dual description is very accurate. The HCSB and NET translate as endurance. That word captures both the tenacity of steadfastness and the pain of suffering patience. Just think of endurance races. An example is the Bad River Ultramarathon which is a 146 mile run that must be completed under 48 hours.
The word endurance/hupomone means, “1. Steadfastness, constancy, endurance; in the N.T. the characteristic of a man who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings” (Thayer, p.644).
C.S. Lewis said,
“Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next” (Mere Christianity, p.112).
This observation by C.S. Lewis fits in well with the concept that faith, love, and hope are all related to one another.
“It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither” (Mere Christianity, p.112).
According to Ray Steadman (http://www.raystedman.org/bible-overview/adventuring/1-thessalonians-hope-for-a-hopeless-world)
“An archaeological excavation team, working in this very city of Thessalonica, has turned up an ancient, first-century graveyard. And there among the pagan tombstones they found one which was inscribed in Greek with these words: ‘No Hope.’ But here, in a church in the midst of that city, there were those who had found the endurance based on hope; they were looking for the coming of the Son of God. That is what keeps the heart calm in the midst of perils and persecutions. That is what makes it possible to watch the world apparently coming apart at the seams and maintain quietness; God is in control, and he knows what he’s doing. And thus Paul encourages these Thessalonians with these words.”
Let me ask a simple question that might not be asked enough. Why are we hoping for heaven? Is it just to escape hell? While that is valid, it is very immature, isn’t it. One reason in 1 Thessalonians is that eternity is the end of this world’s sorrow, pain, and persecution. The Second Coming wasn’t a threat to get saved from hell; but a promise to be saved from persecution and a resurrection to a new and eternal life. But is that all? Is Heaven nothing more than escaping hell and earth? Considering the grouping of faith, love, and hope, maybe a better answer is found in looking at this grouping. The Holy Spirit put them together for a reason. We hope for heaven because our faith is in Jesus who came from heaven to save us from our sins. We hope for heaven because our love is in rooted in God who loved us enough to send His Son to die for our sins. We hope for heaven because it is the birthplace both of our faith and love. That’s why heaven is our hope. That’s why going to heaven is going home!
Let’s read 1 Thessalonians 5.
Conclusion
According to 1 Thessalonians 1:3, the work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope all are found “in our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is easy to place these three virtues into a box of human will power and personal responsibility. If I want more faith, hope and love, I just increase my efforts.
But is that the biblical picture? Pray for an increase in faith (Lk.17:5). “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily (Acts 16:5; cf. 2 Cor.10:15). Pray for an increase in love (1 Thess.3:12). Pray for an increase in hope. It’s the strongest of the three.
There is a free will aspect of this; after all, the apostles asked for an increase in faith. But the free will is found in freely giving up our will. People are commanded to have faith, showing again a choice. But it is far more than just willing enough will to believe more. The mistake is when we place these three attributes into just one box, forgetting that the spiritual life is a fellowship of giving and receiving, of submission and Servanthood. And it all starts with the greatest of servants in whom we have our faith, love, and hope. And so we end with the greatest rule of three; because our faith, love, and hope are in Lord Jesus Christ.
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