towards others (both within the Christian fellowship and beyond it), and hope towards the future, in particular the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Similarly, ‘faith rests on the past; love works in the present; hope looks to the future’.17 Every Christian without exception is a believer, a lover and a hoper (not necessarily an optimist, since ‘optimism’ is a matter of temperament, ‘hope’ of theology). Faith, hope and love are thus sure evidences of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Together