The Power of God
The Gospel: God’s Power for Salvation
SCRIPTURE:
Romans 1:16-17 CSB - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
OBSERVATION:
The book of Romans had a profound impact on three men (not just three, but many—including you and me, if we let it): Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Wesley. All three were transformed as they read Paul's letter.
Augustine converted to Christianity in 386 AD. After reading Romans, he began teaching that “even the worst sinners can become true saints.”
Martin Luther, after reading Romans—especially Romans 1:17, “The just shall live by faith”—said,
Romans 1:16-17 CSB - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
OBSERVATION:
The book of Romans had a profound impact on three men (not just three, but many—including you and me, if we let it): Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Wesley. All three were transformed as they read Paul's letter.
Augustine converted to Christianity in 386 AD. After reading Romans, he began teaching that “even the worst sinners can become true saints.”
Martin Luther, after reading Romans—especially Romans 1:17, “The just shall live by faith”—said,
I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, He justifies us by faith. Therefore, I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise... This passage of Paul became to me a gateway into heaven. - Martin Luther.
Martin Luther would go on to start what is known as the Reformation—the Protestant movement that began in his heart.
John Wesley, “a failed minister and missionary,” went in 1738 to a small Bible study where someone read from Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans. Wesley said,
John Wesley, “a failed minister and missionary,” went in 1738 to a small Bible study where someone read from Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans. Wesley said,
While he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ—Christ alone—for my salvation, and an assurance was given me that He had taken my sins away, even mine. – John Wesley.
John Wesley was saved that night in London. He would later found the Methodist Church.
APPLICATION:
Today, many remain ashamed of a gospel centered on a crucified Savior.
APPLICATION:
Today, many remain ashamed of a gospel centered on a crucified Savior.
Paul knew that “the gospel—the good news of Jesus Christ—has inherent power. We do not give it power; we only stop hindering the power of the gospel when we present it effectively.” – David Guzik.
The gospel is certainly news, but it is more than information—it has inherent power. “The gospel is not advice to people, suggesting that they lift themselves. It is power. It lifts them up. Paul does not say that the gospel brings power, but that it is power—and God’s power at that.” – Leon Morris.
The gospel is certainly news, but it is more than information—it has inherent power. “The gospel is not advice to people, suggesting that they lift themselves. It is power. It lifts them up. Paul does not say that the gospel brings power, but that it is power—and God’s power at that.” – Leon Morris.
Augustine, Luther, Wesley—and many others—came to understand that it is not salvation by works that saves you and me, but salvation by the power of God unto salvation.
The good news is that God is still setting captives free! Paul’s argument—that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and that the just shall live by faith—continues through chapter 7. He clearly shows that trying or doing anything other than this leads to everything laid out in chapters 1 through 7.
He concludes his argument at the end of chapter 7 and at the beginning of chapter 8.
Romans 7:24-25 CSB - What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.
Romans 8:1-4 CSB - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law's requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Walk in the power of the Gospel—it still sets us free from this body of sin and will continue to do so. Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ, we have been saved!
Remember, we were just as guilty and wretched as those who do not yet know Christ. So share the good news with them and let the power of God work in them.
PRAYER:
Thank You, Jesus, for saving me. Thank You for the power the Gospel brings to change my life. Continue to display Your power of salvation through the Gospel, and help me to speak it, live it, and know it clearly—so that others may see and be saved.
The good news is that God is still setting captives free! Paul’s argument—that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and that the just shall live by faith—continues through chapter 7. He clearly shows that trying or doing anything other than this leads to everything laid out in chapters 1 through 7.
He concludes his argument at the end of chapter 7 and at the beginning of chapter 8.
Romans 7:24-25 CSB - What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.
Romans 8:1-4 CSB - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law's requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Walk in the power of the Gospel—it still sets us free from this body of sin and will continue to do so. Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ, we have been saved!
Remember, we were just as guilty and wretched as those who do not yet know Christ. So share the good news with them and let the power of God work in them.
PRAYER:
Thank You, Jesus, for saving me. Thank You for the power the Gospel brings to change my life. Continue to display Your power of salvation through the Gospel, and help me to speak it, live it, and know it clearly—so that others may see and be saved.
The gospel is not just good news—it is God’s powerful, life-transforming message that saves, sets free, and brings righteousness to all who believe.
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