For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
What does Romans 8:24 mean?
The sufferings of the saints strike no deeper than the things of time, last no longer than the present time, are light afflictions, and but for a moment.
Key themes
Read with
Keep this verse inside Romans 8:23-25 and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on Romans 8:24
Most commentators have understood this as meaning that we have as yet attained salvation only in hope; that we have arrived only to a condition in which we hope for future glory; and that we are in an attitude of waiting for the future state of adoption. But perhaps the word "saved" may mean here simply, we are kept, preserved, sustained in our trials, by hope. Our trials are so great that nothing but the prospect of future deliverance would uphold us; and the prospect is sufficient to enable us to bear them with patience.
Key words
- saved
-
We who have received the firstfruits, who were in a lost perishing condition, and by nature no better than others, than the Gentiles, are saved by sin and wrath to come by Christ, with a spiritual and everlasting salvation.
Context in Romans 8
Show chapter context
Romans 8 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as justification and Abraham. Romans is Paul’s fullest sustained exposition of sin, grace, righteousness, faith, Israel, the Spirit, and transformed life in Christ. Read this chapter with the wider themes of justification, grace, and faith in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
Related topics
Explore by topic
A collection of passages on hope under pressure, future inheritance, resurrection expectation, and confidence in God’s final faithfulness.
Passages on trusting God, receiving Christ, persevering without sight, and the relation between faith and lived obedience.
Central texts on sin, grace, faith, Christ’s saving work, and the Bible’s announcement that salvation is received rather than achieved.
Key passages on God's unmerited favour, the grace of Christ, salvation by grace through faith, and how grace transforms the way believers live.