Romans 8:24

We are saved. Rather, “we were saved.” It is significant to notice that sometimes Paul says literally, “you have been saved” (Eph. 2:5, 8), sometimes literally, “you are being saved” (1 Cor. 15:2), and sometimes “thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9; cf. v. 13). For the Christian believer, salvation is an experience or condition that has already begun. But it must also be presently maintained in the daily experience. And it does not reach complete fulfillment until the coming of Christ.

When by faith a man becomes a child of God, he may be said to be saved. Compare “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved [literally, “were being saved”]” (Acts 2:47). However, when the Christian is newborn, salvation has only begun. He must look forward to a life of continual growth and transformation and to the future complete deliverance. For the Christian who may be tempted to suppose that his salvation has become a certainty and that he may therefore relax his watchfulness and self-examination, it is well to remember the testimony of the saintly apostle Paul himself, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9:27).

By hope. The Greek may also be rendered “in hope.” Usually Paul represents faith rather than hope as the channel of salvation (see ch. 3:28; etc.). Consequently, many commentators and versions favor the translation “in hope,” which may well have been Paul’s intention. However, either translation makes good sense in this particular context. Hope, though distinguished from faith (1 Cor. 13:13), is yet inseparable from it. It is hope that sets salvation vividly before the believer and so leads him to strive, by faith, to obtain it.

Hope that is seen. In this case Paul is not referring to hope as a feeling, but to the object of hope, that is, the thing hoped for (cf. Acts 28:20; Col. 1:5; 1 Tim. 1:1). When the thing hoped for is already present before the eyes, it ceases to be an object of hope. It is of the essence of hope that it does not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen (cf. Heb. 11:1).

Hope for. A man does not go on hoping for something that he now sees and possesses.