“And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” Romans 5:4 NLT 

Footsteps #292. Perseverance develops character(v4). ‘Character’ was the Greek word used for heating precious metals to purify them. God uses sufferings to rid His children of spiritual impurities. Those who persevere will be cleansed. 

We do not achieve strength of character in the everyday world by whining and complaining in the face of difficulty. That is the road to weakness and flabbiness. Strength comes from meeting problems head-on in a faith relationship to God through Jesus. (c.f.James 1:12). 

The final link in the chain of vs3-4 is that character produces hope. That thought brings Paul full circle back to Rom.5:2, in which he noted that believers “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (NIV). He will continue in v5 with the thought that hope in God will never disappoint us. We can rejoice even in suffering because our God will never let us down.  

Biblical hope is not a wish list. For Paul, hope is assurance. Hope employs not the slightest doubt. When he speaks of the “blessed hope” of the Second Advent, he is not suggesting that event is merely wishful thinking that might not take place. No! The Advent was a certainty. The question was not if it would take place, but when. 

That is why he can tell the Romans in v5 that hope will not disappoint them. Of course, he is speaking of Christian hope rather than hope in general. Human hopes are liars. Those who have placed their faith in Christ will not be disappointed.  

The apostle goes on to say that we have hope as Christians “because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” “Poured out” literally means “to flood”.  

Love is an interesting word in Paul’s writings. We often think of John as the apostle of love, but of 116 appearances of the word in the NT, Paul is responsible for two-thirds of them. He knows that at the bottom of the entire plan of salvation is the love of God, who so cared about the world that he sent His Son. That love not only dispatched the Son but guarantees our salvation.