Thomas Aquinas, on Rom 8:24

“For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen, is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he hope for?”

“Then when he says, "for we are saved," he proves what he had said with the following reason: hope is concerned with things not seen in the present but awaited in the future. But we have been saved through hope; therefore, we wait for the completion of salvation as something future. First, therefore, he presents the minor premise, saying: "for we," the apostles and the rest of the believers, "are saved by hope," namely, because we hope for our salvation: "we have been born anew to a living hope" (1 Pet 1:3); "hope in him at all times, O people" (Ps 62:8). Second, he presents the major premise, saying, "but hope," i.e., the thing hoped for, "that is seen," as though possessed at present, "is not hope," i.e., not something hoped for, but something possessed. For hope is the expectation of something future: "wait for me, for the day when I arise" (Zeph 3:8). Third, he presents proof of the major, saying, "for who sees that which he hopes for?" As if to say: hope implies a movement of the soul toward something not possessed. But when something is already possessed, there is no need for one to be moved toward it. And it should be noted that because hope somehow springs from faith, he attributes to hope something that belongs to faith, namely, that it is concerned with something not seen: "faith is the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11:1).”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

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