The Doctrines of Faith, Hope, and Love
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, October 1, 2025 (Donate)
And now abide faith, hope, love,
these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13, NKJV)
Faith, hope, and love are core doctrines of Christianity. In
other words, they are very important. They are often spoken of and
explained individually but they are coalesced together because of their unified
connection (e.g., 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 5:8).
How important are they? Consider for a brief moment that if someone
don’t have faith in Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and
resurrection, then that person is not saved. See the importance yet? And yet,
love is greater than faith!
Let’s dive into these important doctrines.
Faith
Scripturally, the doctrine of faith is the “substance of things hoped for”
and the “evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), producing obedience (obey
what God says), perseverance (not swayed to walk away), and spiritual fruit
(growing spiritually the knowledge of God and sharing it with others).
Faith is more than a mere nod or approval to revealed
truth in the Bible. It means you cling to that truth in Scripture and live by
it. You don’t just say “you agree” but live your life as if you don’t agree—that
would be a false faith—or technically “a lack of faith”. Faith changes the way
you live your life.
Faith is a divine principle planted in the soul by
the Spirit of God. Yes, faith comes from God and His Word—which is the Holy
Spirit speaking (Romans 10:17; Ephesians 2:8-9). Thus, true faith connects the
believer to Christ and rests on Him for justification (from our sins),
sanctification (growing in holiness), and eternal life.
Faith has both (1) a doctrinal and (2) a practical side: one
must believe what God has spoken, and also rely personally upon
Christ for salvation. Furthermore, the Christian faith is not a blind faith.
Instead, it is a logical, defensible faith unlike all other worldviews and
religions that fall short due to inconsistencies, arbitrariness, and cannot
account for truth, logic, morality, and knowledge in the first place. Those who
deny the Christian faith outlined in Scripture are doing so via a blind faith
in relying on man’s fallible and sinful opinions to lead them into false,
inconsistent faiths.
There is also a difference between saving faith from historical
or temporary faith. Saving faith
trusts God’s promises through Christ alone, and bears fruit and endures. Temporary
faith (also called temporal faith) may only acknowledge facts or feel stirred
for a season. Temporary faith is superficial and lacks genuine conversion
power, lack of personal commitment and doesn’t persevere.
Hope
The doctrine of hope is the gracious expectation of promised blessings. Hope
is connected to faith. It is because of our faith in what God has said that we
look forward to promises extended by God that have not yet happened. Of course,
many of these are eternal blessings with eternal life.
Hope rests not on uncertain desires but on the sure
word of God, anchored in Christ’s resurrection and the fact that He now intercedes
for us to the God the Father.
Hope purifies the believer, strengthens in trials, and
directs the heart toward heaven. This is how hope helps us live a live that is
godly thinking on and doing the things of God. Although, it differs from faith
in that faith receives what God has spoken, while hope anticipates what
He has yet to fulfill.
Christian hope looks beyond temporary good things in this
life to eternal glory, guarding against despair and worldly entanglement. Hope
must be grounded in God, not man; otherwise it is but a vain confidence. In
Scripture, hope is portrayed as “an anchor of the soul, both sure and
steadfast” (Hebrews 6:19).
Love
There are various forms of love. In short, we love because God
loves us and fills us with His love.
The doctrine of love, which includes charity, is the highest grace. It is
the fulfilling of the law, and the bond of Christian perfection. It springs
from God’s own nature—“for God is love”—and flows into the believer’s heart by
the Holy Spirit.
This love embraces God as supreme and extends to mankind
universally, even to enemies. Recall Christ said that we are to love our
enemies.
“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you. (Luke 6:27, NKJV)
Without love, other gifts or duties are empty (1 Corinthians
13). Love shows itself in our patience, humility, forgiveness, and
self-sacrifice, making the Christian resemble Christ.
While faith receives and hope anticipates,
love endures forever, being the essence of eternal life in Christ. So,
Scripture exalts love as “the greatest of these” (1 Corinthians 13:13), the
crowning virtue that harmonizes faith and hope in godliness.
The main four types of love (in the Greek New Testament) often discussed are
agapē, philia, storgē, and eros.
Agape (ἀγάπη)
It is the
highest and most selfless form of love, often called “divine love.” It seeks
the good of others regardless of merit, feelings, or reciprocity. This type of
love is also demonstrated by God’s love for man through Christ’s sacrifice on
the Cross (John 3:16; Romans 5:8).
Agape is different from the other types of love in that it is
unconditional, sacrificial, and rooted in God’s character rather than human
emotion.
Philia / Philadelphia (φιλέω / φιλαδελφία)
Often called Philadelphia is brotherly love or affection
shared among friends and within the family of faith. This is why the city of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania’s motto is the “city of brotherly love”!
Philadelphia is the friendship love that has a kind warmth,
companionship, and mutual delight. It is found in passages like Romans 12:10
(“be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love”). It obviously has
distinctions from agape in that it emphasizes friendship affection based on
relationship, not a pure selfless sacrifice.
Storge (στοργή)
This love is the natural, familial love—affection between parents
and children or among close relatives. It is evident throughout Scripture
through examples of parents, children, siblings, and so on.
Even so, it
is rarely named in Scripture directly, but appears in compound form (e.g.,
“astorgos” which means “without natural affection,” Romans 1:31, see also 2
Timothy 3:3) which condemns the breakdown of family love in a sinful world.
It differs
from agape and philia by being instinctive and rooted in family
bonds rather than choice or covenant.
Eros (ἔρως)
This is the love that many think of and want to watch romance
movies about! Eros is romantic or sexual love between a husband and wife.
Although the word itself does not appear in the New Testament.
The concept of this love, however, is acknowledged in Scripture in
the context of marital intimacy (Song of Solomon; 1 Corinthians 7). We also
find something like this love in ancient Roman culture called Ludus. It
is a Latin word meaning playful or flirtatious love that could lead to Eros.
Eros is unique because it is passion-driven and physical, whereas agape
is spiritual and sacrificial, and philia is relational friendship.
Scripture also mentions philautia (self-love, usually
negative) and commends xenia (hospitality). These next three are not discussed
as often but are worth mentioning and delineating.
Philautia (φιλαυτία) – “love of self”
It is found in 2 Timothy 3:2, describing the state of sinful men
at a particular time: “men will be lovers of themselves.” Philautia disintegrated
into a self-centered love. Sadly, it is quite common in our culture today.
Uniquely about this love is that is typically negative in
Scripture, referring to selfishness or self-centeredness, rather than healthy
self-respect. It is what happens when sinful minds take love and distort
it. It is inwardly focused, whereas biblical love (agapē, philia) is
outward and self-giving.
The positive aspect of this love is self-preservation and respect
for one’s own body and needs. The problem is when this type of love is overextended
to be an unhealthy self-centeredness.
Xenia (ξενία) – “hospitality” or “love for strangers”
Although not specifically named in Scripture this love was conceptually in Scripture. It is a strong cultural type of love representing your community. It refers to kindness toward outsiders as you represent your nation, tribe, city, etc.
A good test of this in the modern sense would be sports. This love would be displayed when a home team hosts a visiting sports teams and their fans to their stadium, field, or arena! Do you welcome them in Christ's love or taunted them in an unchristian-like fashion?
In the Old Testament, sojourners visiting and staying in
your area were to be treated well and laws were lovingly in place to prevent
them from being mistreated, harassed, and cheated.
Xenia, or hospitality love, is also commanded in the New Testament as well (e.g.,
Hebrews 13:2; Romans 12:13; 1 Peter 4:9).
Conclusion
Faith, hope, and love are core doctrines. Faith comes under
attack with false and blind faiths in sinful cultures. And love also comes
under attack in our broken and wicked culture. And even though there are a lot of
forms of love, and they can be corrupted by sinful minds and we need to be
aware of it.
Although not discussed above, eros in today’s sexualized
culture has become a problem leading to lust, adultery, and other sexual
deviancies instead of its intended bond between a husband-wife. Philautia
can easily become a self-centered warped love. Philadelphia has been sinfully warped
in to homosexual lusts.
True forms of love must be guarded based on what God says in His Word.
When love is distorted, the sin abounds. Love needs to be modelled after
Scripture and what God clearly says. Love is patient and love is kind. And God
exhibited that love perfectly in His example to us through His son Jesus Christ
and His sacrificial love on the Cross.
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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist
since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website.
He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker,
writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers
News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.
Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in
2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a
501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in
churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children.
