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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: Fourthly, they differ in sequence. Faith is the beginning of life before
tribulation. (Hebrews 11.) Hope comes later and is born of tribulation.
(Romans 5.)
Fifthly, they differ in regard to their effects. Faith is a judge. It
judges errors. Hope is a soldier. It fights against tribulations, the
Cross, despondency, despair, and waits for better things to come in the
midst of evil.
Without hope faith cannot endure. On the other hand, hope without faith
is blind rashness and arrogance because it lacks knowledge. Before
anything else a Christian must have the insight of faith, so that the
intellect may know its directions in the day of trouble and the heart may
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