Sense: hope (feeling)
n. — the general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled.
The hope of the righteous is gladness, but the expectation of the wicked comes to nothing.
Proverbs 10:28 (LEB)
The concept of hope has a few different senses. We can talk about hope as a feeling—this is a pretty common way to think of hope. But hope can also be focused on a real thing—an object of hope that is desired. Hope can also refer to the grounds of feeling hopeful. In Proverbs 10:28 the writer uses two of these almost side by side. The first instance is equated with gladness, so this was marked in the Bible Sense Lexicon as “hope (grounds).” The righteous can hope because of gladness. (We can infer that this gladness is due to right living in God’s way.) The second instance of hope, however, is a different sense—this is “hope (feeling).” In this phrase, hope is not equated with anything. It also doesn’t refer to any reason for hope, so it must be hope (feeling). In this way, the hope felt by the wicked will not be fulfilled—it comes to nothing. In this simple verse from Proverbs, we see the gladness of a righteous life contrasted to the unfulfilled desire of wicked living.
What is the Bible Sense Lexicon?
Sense of the Day is based on content from Logos’ Bible Sense Lexicon, which organizes biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words by meaning based on a variety of semantic relationships. Sense of the Day provides examples of senses in context, along with insight into their application for theology and interpretation.
The Bible Sense Lexicon is a Logos dataset available in Logos 5 Gold and higher base packages. If you’re enrolled in the Logos Academic Discount Program, you can also find the Bible Sense Lexicon in the Biblical Languages base package. Take your studies even further by exploring semantic domains, engaging the biblical text like never before.
Learn more about the Bible Sense Lexicon.
Al Sosa says
June 14, 2014 at 3:59 pmGreetings,
I do have the thought that hope is not really just a feeling anymore than love or faith. The note above seems to indicate this.
Feelings are more a physical and biological response of the body and mind toward an external or internal trigger or situation.
Divine virtues are more deeper than feelings. Faith, hope and love are not merely feelings, but more the expressions of a divine and ontological reality that the Holy Spirit has deposited in the heart. It is a work of the Spirit and our response to it. We can have hope in sorrow.
Hope being a fruit of the Spirit is not merely a feeling of a desire that will be fulfilled or that everything is going to be alright, this definition is more toward ‘happiness’; rather, it is more an inner knowing that produces peace beyond feelings. You can have hope and not necessarily feel it, but know it. Again, you can have hope in sorrow and troubles.
In looking at Ephesians 1:18 and Romans 8:20 & 24-25, we see that here hope is not a feeling. It seems to be a patient waiting for something you know you will receive because it is written in the Word of God. It is more a patient waiting than a feeling. Jesus is the Hope of righteousness. The hope to which the Lord has called us. . . (not feeling). We hope for things we wait for.
I’m not dismissing the notion of feeling, I think it’s more a waiting, expectation, and honestly, sometimes this does not necessarily produces feelings of joy, especially when you wait for something that needs attention. Patience is the relationship with hope.
This is my humble opinion!
I hope (have an expectation that). . . this makes sense. 🙂
Blessings to all. . .
Eis Cristos
Al Sosa