信与望

最近因为罗马书第五章关于“患难生忍耐， 忍耐生老练（character)， 老练生盼望” 而对盼望（hope) 做了一些研究。查了信（faith)与望(hope）的区别：

信与望不同却也相关。不同是因为哥林多前书13：13，“如今长存的有信，望，爱”， 相关是在希伯来书11：1“信是所望之事的实底”。 （Faith is confidence in what we hope for ）

Faith is a complete trust or confidence in something. Faith involves intellectual assent to a set of facts and trust in those facts. (信是对某事的完全的信任和相信。信包括理智上对一系列事实的承认和对这些事实的信任）

Biblical hope is build on faith. Hope is the earnest anticipation that comes with believing something good. Hope is a confident expectation that naturally stems from faith. Hope is a peaceful assurance that something that hasn't happened yet will indeed happen. Hope must involve something that is as yet unseen. （圣经中的盼望是建立在信心之上的。盼望是因相信某种好的东西而有的强烈的期待，是因相信而自然产生的一种期待。盼望是一种确信如今没有发生的将来一定发生。）

Jesus said He is coming again. By faith, we trust Jesus' words and that leads to hope that we will one day be with Him forever. Jesus was resurrected from the dead, "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep". that is the basis for our faith (相信耶稣是建立在相信这个事实之上的）。 Then we have Jesus' promise: "because I live, you also will live". That is the basis of our hope. (盼望是建立在相信耶稣之上）

The relationship between faith and hope can be illustrated in the joy a child feels when his father tells him they are going to a an amusement park tomorrow. The child believes that he will go to the amusement park, based on his father's word-- that is faith. At the same time, that belief within the child kindles an irrepressible joy-- that is hope. The child's natural trust in his father's promise is the faith; the child's squeals of delight and jumping in place are the expressions of the hope.

类比于这个故事的是那次我们在Jasper National Park看星空。我知道神有这样的大能，就是将乌云挪走，让银河展现，这是我对神的认识的事实上而产生的神可以做到的信心。 也有我对神良善慈爱的认识上而产生的神愿意这么做的信心。这个信心就给我一个盼望就是晴空的出现。与那个小孩子不同的是我没有得到父亲的明确的话语。现今的生活中很多的事情都缺失这个环节，有时神会给我们sign，有时没有，就要用信心来跨越到盼望。

Faith and hope are complementary. Faith is grounded in the reality of the past; hope is looking to the reality of the future. Without faith, there is no hope, and without hope there is no true faith. （信心和盼望是互补的。信心是建立在过去的事实上，盼望是期待将来的事实，没有信心就没有盼望，没有盼望就没有真正的信心）

回到罗马书中的盼望，盼望是有目标的。圣经中有非常多的话语和确据让我们有明确的盼望，如盼望神的荣耀，盼望复活和得救，盼望同得安慰，盼望神的公义，盼望神的拯救。

在患难之中的盼望的目标或内容是取决于患难的内容的，而且可以有近期的得神帮助的盼望，也有将来得荣耀的盼望。这一切的盼望的源头是对神的信心，这对神的信心是建立在神的爱浇灌在我们心中的这个事实上。“盼望不至于羞耻，因为所赐给我们的圣灵将神的爱浇灌在我们心里”。