Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and Christ Jesus our hope;
Christ Jesus our hope ... The absolute unity between the Father and the Son, as in so many New Testament references, shines in this.  As dark and evil crises gathered ominously over his head, and as Paul contemplated the threatening evils that would assail the beloved church, he loved to contemplate Jesus Christ as the one glorious hope that made all of the suffering and hardship, all of the trials and sorrows, both worthwhile and bearable.