All hope has two related characteristics – it is held prior to the thing hoped for and it always looks forward to something in the future. We might hold a hope that is vague or detailed. We might hold a hope that is unlikely or certain.

In addition, hope is usually based on something. We will have some reason for a hope that we hold. That reason might be good or bad. But we don’t hold a hope without there being a cause for us to have that hope.

Today we are going to look at the particular hope that Paul talks about in his letter to the Roman church. What it hopes for, what it is based upon and how this particular hope changes us and our view of the world.