Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 95 No. 3, 2025.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.95.3.7
From Old Testament Hope to New Testament Hope
Domagoj Runje
orcid.org/0000-0002-6244-362X
; Catholic Faculty of Theology University of Split, Split, Croatia
Abstract
Given that the Christian Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments, it is customary, when exploring a particular concept, to examine it within both biblical contexts, observing their similarities and differences. The paper discusses a concept of hope that threads together the beginning and the end of the Christian Bible. Starting with God, who hopes and gives hope through the very act of creation, the author focuses on biblical figures who are distinctively associated with Jesus Christ, who not only fulfilled every hope, but is himself the embodiment of hope. In him, the promises God made to Abraham are fulfilled, the work of liberation entrusted to Moses is completed, and the Kingdom of God has come, foreshadowed in the Old Testament by the kingdom of David, a man after God’s own heart. Alongside Abraham, Moses, and David, a prominent place is also given to the righteous Noah, through whom not only humankind but all other creatures on earth were saved from destruction in the flood. Christian discourse on hope cannot exist without Christ, the incarnate Son of God, who died, rose, and ascended into heaven, from where he is awaited in glory as the blessed hope of his Second Coming. Thus, in him, both God’s promises to humanity and God’s hopes for humanity are fulfilled. The sure hope founded on God’s promises is achieved in Christ, however it also continues and is ultimately realised in the new heaven and the new earth.
Keywords
hope; promise; fulfilment; Christ; God; Bible
Hrčak ID:
336769
URI
Publication date:
29.10.2025.
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