I was thinking about a verse in Romans this morning and one word stuck out. Now since I do almost all my study in the King James Version the word that was used meant something else to me in English than it does in Greek. After spending some time pondering the difference I came away with a new perspective.
Rom 5:3-4 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: KJV
Look at the word “experience.” When I think of it my first thought is something I have gained by learning, or a skill that I have mastered… accomplished by doing something, by practicing. The Greek word Paul used does not mean that. Dokima means in an active sense, a proving trial, or inactive it means approved, a tried character.
The first use is dokimen, which means “produces proven character.” The second use is dokime, which means “proven character produces hope.” Listen to the Phillips translation and the difference will be clearer:
Rom 5:3-4 This doesn’t mean, of course, that we have only hope of future joys – we can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and troubles. Taken in the right spirit these very things will give patient endurance; this will in turn will develop a mature character, and a character of this sort produces a steady hope, a hope that will never disappoint us.
In Paul’s life, everything that he experienced only heightened the joy he had in the certainty of his faith and calling in God. In his second letter to Timothy, he taught us that:
2 Tim 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. KJV
Our “patience” (endurance) through trials is what proves us or makes us approved. Our patience is proof of a tried character; proof that we have been approved. And that is what produces in us a “steady hope.” A hope, as Phillips says, “that will never disappoint us.”
We do not rejoice in trouble because trouble feels good—we rejoice because of what God produces through it. Pressure produces endurance, and endurance produces something deeper than experience. It produces a life that has been tested and proven true. This proven character then gives birth to hope—not a weak hope, but a confident expectation in God. And this hope does not disappoint us, because God confirms it by pouring His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Our trials lead to steadfast endurance that produces maturity of character and a sense of being approved by God, which increases our hope… all because we have been justified by the grace of God in Christ. That is the steadfast hope that will never disappoint us.
Our “experience” is the proof that we have been tried and approved. Just like Job, we need to understand that in our trials we are being proved and approved by God, giving us an even greater expectation, a greater hope that God will reveal Himself to us in a fresh new way. This is what it means when the Word says that God is working within us.