"But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But, if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." (Romans 8:24-25)
This hope is salvation, it is a faith pregnant with anticipation and it is the anticipated time when Jesus will return and fulfill His promises.
The idea here is that we have been saved—that is not in doubt—but we have not yet experienced the full force of that salvation. I read this example: We are like the homeowner who has been told that her house is worth ten times what she paid for it. She knows that she has, at least on paper, entered the ranks of the affluent, but she does not yet feel affluent.
She cannot take her equity to the store to make purchases unless she sells or mortgages her house, and she is not ready to do either of those things. Nevertheless, she enjoys knowing that her future has brightened because of the appreciation of her house, even if she cannot cash in on it quite yet. In like manner, we have been saved, even if we will experience the full force of that salvation only in the future—in eternity.
Paul’s word denotes not so much a quiet acceptance as a positive endurance. Salvation is past, present and future. It is past because we were saved the moment we believed. It is present because we are in the process of being saved, this is sanctification.
But at the same time, we have not fully received all the benefits and blessings of salvation that will be ours when Christ's new Kingdom is completely established. That's our future salvation. While we can be confident of our salvation, we still look ahead with hope and trust toward that complete change of body and personality that lies beyond this life, when we will be like Christ. (1 John 3:2). --Life Application Study Bible.
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