The fourteenth description of covenant love in I Corinthians 13 is that charity “hopeth all things” (verse 7). Hope is one of those Christian virtues that is often overlooked in the context of marriage. Many books have been written on the topics of faith, love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. But hope is one of the keys to a bright and victorious marriage.

What is hope? No need to wonder what hope is as God has given His own definition of hope in His Holy Word. Romans 8:24–25 teaches “hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doeth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Hope is waiting. Hope is expecting what is not yet—but what is surely coming!

The Greek word used here by Paul for “hope” is ἐλπίζω (elpizo). It is an expectation—a realization that what is promised is not yet here but certainly assured. The word hope is often used in a limited and unbiblical way. When someone says, “Well, I hope so,” then that often means that the person is unsure about something. A man might say that he hopes he gets a new job that he has applied for at work. A child might exclaim, “I hope we can go fishing on Saturday!” A woman might comment, “I hope that my favorite fruit stand has peaches on sale this weekend.”

All of these hopes are actually expressed uncertainties and are subject to the changing whims of circumstances. In the Bible, hope is grounded in promise based on an unchanging God. Hope is assured. 

The New Testament uses these adjectives to describe hope. According to II Corinthians 1:7, hope is “stedfast [steadfast].” In Titus 2:13, our “blessed hope” is fixed upon the “glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” In Hebrews 6:11, our hope is resting upon “full assurance,” and also in Hebrews, we have a “better hope” than anything offered in the old covenant (7:19)! According to I Peter 1:3, our hope is a “lively hope” that lives because of Christ’s resurrection. 

So, in light of these verses and more, how does hope apply to marriage? Why did Paul write that true love “hopeth all things”? 

Covenant love is fixed upon the steadfast hope of sanctification

Covenant love recognizes that one’s spouse is not yet mature, but that God is maturing, sanctifying, and perfecting both husband and wife unto the day of glory. When disappointment arises in a marriage, love continues in hope of the steadfast assurance that God is still about the work of sanctification. 

Love keeps on hoping that God will bring reconciliation when a marriage is torn apart by strife. When a husband falls into moral failure, a wife can hope in God’s forgiveness and that He will restore purity and victory. When a wife succumbs to depression or bitterness, a husband can hope in God’s promise to lift up the brokenhearted and bring restoration. Charity hopeth all things. There is no pit so deep that hope is not even deeper and greater. 

Covenant love is fixed upon the living hope of glorification 

A sobering reality is that every marriage eventually will end in physical death. Even the happiest, brightest, and most loving marriage is destined to be torn asunder by the curse of sin and death. At the marriage altar, when a husband and wife pledge mutually “till death do us part,” the phrase is a reminder that one day, sooner or later, one of them will have the sorrowful duty to resign the other into the arms of the Lord Jesus on the deathbed. 

Charity hopeth all things, even in the face of death. True covenant love keeps on hoping, with the “lively hope” that Peter described. Indeed, the couple will meet again someday in the glorified state, although no longer as husband and wife, but as spiritual saints rejoicing in the presence of their risen Lord!