Living God’s Way: The gospel proclaims hope

Carlton McPeak Guest Columnist In Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving to God for the Colossians, one of the things he mentions is “the hope laid up for [them] in heaven, of which [they] previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel” (Colossians 1:5). The Colossians had learned about this hope from Epaphras when he proclaimed the gospel to them. When Epaphras was preaching to the unbelievers in Colossae, he mentioned to them several things in which they could have a feeling of expectation or a desire for certain things to happen, things which Paul calls “hope.” Because Paul is writing to the saints at Colossae, he makes this comment specific to them. However, this “ho