“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13

I’ve been reflecting on this verse the past few days and something occurred to me. Why didn’t Paul simply pray, “May the God of hope fill you with all hope”? Isn’t hope something we can simply ask God to give us? The more I think about this verse, the more I suspect that we’re seeing some of the pastoral wisdom Paul has gained over his years of following Jesus.

I think there are four essential aspects to Paul’s wisdom as he prays. First, virtues are developed in conjunction with each other. Hope is not an isolated virtue. Rather it’s dependent on other virtues. Paul prays for God to fill the Roman apprentices with all joy and peace so that they can have overflowing hope. One cannot have hope without joy and peace.

A second aspect is that all virtues are developed, not downloaded. Remember the movie, The Matrix? In one scene, Trinity requests a pilot program for a B-212 helicopter from her teammate Tank, who then downloads the program into her brain. Instantly, she’s able to fly the helicopter. Yeah, virtues don’t work that way. Virtues are grown and developed over time and through effort so they permeate our entire personality.

Paul knows this when he prays that the Roman apprentices are filled with all joy and peace. He’s not praying for a supernatural download. How do we know this? Because of how he discusses the process of growing joy and peace in his other epistles. For example, in 1Thessalonians Paul states:

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1Thessalonians 5:16-18

Joy is practiced continuously, along with continual prayer and thanksgiving as a foundational process of God’s will for our lives. No download. Rather the attitude and practice of joy is cultivated through continual thanksgiving and prayer.

And in Philippians, Paul outlines how peace is developed:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:4-7

God’s all-encompassing peace is developed as we practice joy and gentleness and as we replace anxiety with continual prayer and thanksgiving. (Notice the similarity to how joy is developed in 1Thessalonians.)

Paul then says the following:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8-9

Peace, along with all the other virtues, is developed through a process of intentional focus on our thoughts and practices. So when Paul prays that God fills the Roman apprentices with all joy and peace, he has this ongoing process in mind.

A third aspect is trust or faith. Paul prays for all joy and peace as the Roman apprentices trust in God. This trust is loyal interaction and cooperation with God in their daily lives as they practice everything discussed above. We are learning from Jesus how to be like him. We are being filled with joy and peace as he teaches us and we cooperate with and obey his wisdom.

The final aspect is crucial. Hope overflows by the power of the Holy Spirit. The interactive and cooperative trust the Roman apprentices have as they engage in growing in Jesus’ virtues is ignited by the power of God’s Spirit. Our effort alone does not result in virtues. That’s because we are incapable of self-transformation. Our efforts require the power of God’s Spirit to transform our entire person. And God’s transformative power is experienced over time through our daily efforts and trust in him.

Have you ever seen those videos of science demonstrations on social media? The demonstrator has different liquids in small separate vials. By themselves, they are inert. But when the demonstrator combines them in a beaker, they transform, sometimes explosively, into something that far exceeds the beaker. That’s what these four aspects of Paul’s pastoral wisdom are like. He combines them as he prays for the Roman apprentices, probably like he’s prayed for others throughout his ministry. And as God answers his prayer and the aspects converge and mix in the apprentices’ lives, transformation into Jesus’ character and power occurs in ways that far exceeds the beaker of their human lives.