“But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him” (1 Thess 5:8-10).
What did Paul mean when he spoke of the hope of salvation? This expression occurs only here in the Bible.
The expression the hope of salvation confuses people because the word hope in English refers to a desire, not a certainty. Therefore, many think that Paul is saying that we desire salvation from eternal condemnation but that we do not know whether we have it.
Many pastors teach that this is what Paul means in 1 Thess 5:8.
But that is not at all what Paul is saying. In this verse, He uses the words hope and salvation to mean something different.
The Greek word for hope (elpis) sometimes refers to a desire whose fulfillment is uncertain (Phil 2:23; 1 Tim 3:14).
In the NT, hope (elpis) often refers to something certain, but for which the time of the fulfillment is unknown (Col 1:27; 1 Tim 1:1; Titus 2:13).
In 1 Thessalonians, Paul is talking about the Rapture. Every chapter ends with a reference to it (1 Thess 1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:13-18; 5:23). Throughout 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Paul uses the words save (1 Thess 2:16; 2 Thess 2:10) and salvation (1 Thess 5:8, 9; 2 Thess 2:13) to refer to deliverance from the Tribulation wrath.i
The hope of salvation in 1 Thess 5:8 is the knowledge that Christ will return soon and bring us to Himself via the Rapture. But the timing is unknown. It could occur this year. It could occur many years, decades, or centuries from now. He will save us from the Tribulation wrath. We will not go through that terrible time. That is a helmet for us. It keeps our brains intact despite all the slings and arrows that Satan throws at us.
Chrweist.ii
__________
i For more details, see the discussion of those verses in The Grace New Testament Commentary.
ii Did you get that Rebus puzzle? We are in Christ.
