Romans--Paul's letter of hope

May the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope!. This prayer of Paul to the God of hope for an exuberance of hope on the part of his audience occurs at a very strategic point in the letter to the Romans. It brings the main body of the letter (Rom 1:18-15:13) to a hope-filled climax. It thus serves as one of the best of several indications that the theme of hope has been a major concern of Paul throughout the letter. Indeed a close reading of the entire letter to the Romans discloses an unmistakable tone of hopefulness. The word for hope occurs at several structurally significant places in the letter. And Paul seems to be making a conscious and concerted effort throughout the letter to arouse and increase the hope of his Roman audience. These and other preliminary hints have led us to attempt an in-depth investigation of the theme of hope in Romans. We wish too undertake the following theological-exegetical exploration of Romans not only for the sake of gaining a deeper insight into the important Christian virtue of hope but also for a better understanding of the letter as a unified whole. The theme of hope is particulary revelant for the situation of the church and mankind in the modern world.