When used within the New Testament, it is a joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. For Paul, Christian hope rests on God’s eschatological act of salvation in Christ…. Christ’s resurrection marks the beginning of the messianic age, the presence of the Spirit is evidence that the end has begun and Christian hope waits for the complete manifestation of the kingdom of God at the Parousia. In Paul’s letters the church is addressed as an eschatological community of hope: grounded in God’s act of salvation in Christ, living in the power of the Holy Spirit and moving toward the full realization of the purposes of God…. Hope is the source of present strength for believers because it is grounded in what God has done in Christ, is experienced in the power of the Spirit and moves toward the glory that is to be revealed.
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5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,