The gospel transforms believers into people who live righteously in the present world with anticipatory hope of Christ's return, proclaiming the gospel's good news with authority and boldness until then.

In this passage, Paul connects the instructions for how Christians are to live (2:2-10) with the why and how. The hope of the gospel transforms Christians before God. It also transforms how Christians live in this present age. The hope of the gospel is the fundamental truth that defines what the church is and how the church is to live in this world.