Skip to content

Add your phone number?

Optional. Nothing is sent unless you choose it.
The Historic Faith
Sign in
All Questions
Question 3
Paul’s point that “the greatest rewards are unseen and are still in the future” is tied to patiently awaiting them; where does modern Christianity unintentionally train believers to demand visible rewards now, and what does Romans 8 expose about that mindset?
Another way to ask: Where does modern Christianity train people to expect clear rewards right now, and what does Romans 8 say is wrong with that way of thinking?

Direct Answer The transcript doesn’t critique specific modern church practices, but Romans 8 (as Bercot teaches it) exposes the mindset that measures God’s faithfulness by visible results now. Paul ties salvation-hope to unseen future reward and to patience, even through affliction, which corrects a “results-now” expectation.

Support from Transcript:

  • Bercot says Paul “emphasizes that the greatest rewards are unseen and are still in the future.”
  • He quotes Romans 8: “hope that is seen is not hope…we wait for it with patience.”
  • Origen: salvation is promised, yet “still something hoped for, not something seen.”
  • Origen adds these glorious things are “often attained only through much affliction.”
  • Acts is cited: “We must enter the kingdom of God through many afflictions.”
  • Theodoret: don’t be cast down by “present distresses,” because the hoped-for good “are not seen with bodily eyes.”
Discussion Follow-ups When you feel disappointed with God, what “visible reward” were you assuming He owed you? How would patience look different if affliction is normal on the path to the kingdom?

Jumpstarter 3 of 10
Back Questions Next