There is No Hope Like Theological Hope
St Paul’s discussion on what love is and what love is not – “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous…” – found in the 13th chapter of First Corinthians concludes with a statement that puts love in perspective. This statement, after defining what love is and what it is not, places love above hope and even above faith: “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1Cor 13:13). It is not uncommon for an emphasis to be placed on faith, especially given the rallying cry ‘salvation by faith alone’ of the so-called reformation. If salvation is by faith alone, then St Paul is wrong in saying that love is superior to faith. St James would be wrong in saying “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?… So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead… You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder” (James 2:14,17,19). Even Jesus’ own words are nullified by the error of salvation by faith alone: “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers’” (Mt 7:21-23).
The error of salvation by faith alone is nonetheless seductive to many Christians. This is especially true for us Americans because of our penchant for shortcuts and our affinity for reductionism. To be clear, however, we are not saved by our works apart from faith. We can say that we are saved by Christ alone and by grace alone because there is no salvation through anyone or anything other than Jesus (Acts 4:12) and because salvation is an unmerited gift: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God – not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:8-10).
Given that faith, hope, and love remain and are essential to our salvation, it should not be surprising that these theological virtues would be under attack. Faith, hope, and love are called theological virtues because they have God as their object. Our faith is to be placed in God. Our hope is to be in His promises. Our love is to be directed toward God. Yes, we can have faith, hope, and love in our fellow man, but God must come first and foremost. One can have faith that a spouse is loyal and supportive. One can hope that a mechanic will properly fix their car or air conditioner as promised. One can love their neighbor, even people they don’t like. But people can be unfaithful, untrustworthy, and unloving. People will tend to fail us and betray us, but God simply won’t.
Indeed, satan implied to Adam and Eve that God was unfaithful and untrustworthy when he tempted Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit, saying “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:4-5). It should hardly surprise us that the world does much the same. We saw this in the recent pandemic. People were told to place their faith in one and only one medical intervention with the promise that this would prevent transmission of the disease and bring us more rapidly to the point of reaching so-called herd immunity. Does anyone remember herd immunity? Does anyone use this phrase today? Was it achieved? Herd immunity is no longer discussed not because it was achieved in the U.S. but because, nearly 5 years into the pandemic, Covid is still circulating with a current test positivity rate of nearly 15% according to the CDC.
It is understandable that people placed their faith and hope in modern medicine given the fear that was generated. But the number of people that are getting the latest boosters is a small fraction of the population. It is no wonder. If people followed CDC recommendations, they would be on their eighth or ninth shot, an unprecedented number of vaccines in the history of vaccines. Soon faith in the government health organizations, big pharma, and doctors in general will cease to be and so will trust in their guidance. But God remains worthy of faith, hope, and love yesterday, today and forever.
—Fr Booth