{23} For we are saved by hope: but {f} hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

(23) Sixthly, hope is necessarily joined with faith: seeing then that we believe those things which we are not yet in possession of, and hope does not refer to the thing that is present, we must therefore hope and patiently wait for that which we believe will come to pass.

(f) This is spoken by the figure of speech metonymy, that is, hope, which stands for that which is hoped for.

People's New Testament

8:24 For we were saved by hope. Were saved when we became Christians, not that we had received all the fruits of salvation, but were enabled to hope for all, even for the redemption of the body. In hope would be a better rendering than by hope.

For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? Hope grasped the full salvation, though not yet attained. We do not hope for what we have, or see.

Wesley's Notes

8:24 For we are saved by hope - Our salvation is now only in hope. We do not yet possess this full salvation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. For we are saved by hope-rather, "For in hope we are saved"; that is, it is more a salvation in hope than as yet in actual possession.

but hope that is seen is not hope-for the very meaning of hope is, the expectation that something now future will become present.

for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?-the latter ending when the other comes.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:18-25 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. How vastly different are the sentence of the word and the sentiment of the world, concerning the sufferings of this present time! Indeed the whole creation seems to wait with earnest expectation for the period when the children of God shall be manifested in the glory prepared for them. There is an impurity, deformity, and infirmity, which has come upon the creature by the fall of man. There is an enmity of one creature to another. And they are used, or abused rather, by men as instruments of sin. Yet this deplorable state of the creation is in hope. God will deliver it from thus being held in bondage to man's depravity. The miseries of the human race, through their own and each other's wickedness, declare that the world is not always to continue as it is. Our having received the first-fruits of the Spirit, quickens our desires, encourages our hopes, and raises our expectations. Sin has been, and is, the guilty cause of all the suffering that exists in the creation of God. It has brought on the woes of earth; it has kindled the flames of hell. As to man, not a tear has been shed, not a groan has been uttered, not a pang has been felt, in body or mind, that has not come from sin. This is not all; sin is to be looked at as it affects the glory of God. Of this how fearfully regardless are the bulk of mankind! Believers have been brought into a state of safety; but their comfort consists rather in hope than in enjoyment. From this hope they cannot be turned by the vain expectation of finding satisfaction in the things of time and sense. We need patience, our way is rough and long; but He that shall come, will come, though he seems to tarry.