Romans 1:16-17 is a precious truth for believers for several
reasons, but I want you to notice something about it that perhaps you’ve missed
before. Paul writes, “16 For
I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For
in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is
written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Paul says that the gospel is “the power of
God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Notice Paul does not say, “the gospel is the power of God for the
CONVERSION of everyone who believes.”
Tragically, that’s the way many people understand this verse. The gospel is the power of God that converts
sinners into saints. That’s certainly
true, but that is not what Paul says.
The gospel accomplishes far more than that. It is the power of SALVATION to everyone who
believes. Paul never equate conversion with salvation. Conversion is one element of salvation –when
the sinner initially trusts in Christ, repents and is given new life
or--regenerated. But the gospel doesn’t
just do THAT—it saves people and when
Paul speaks of salvation, he is speaking of the
entire redemption process from our election to our glorification. Paul tells the Corinthian believers in First
Corinthians 15:1-2, “1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the
gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and
by which you are being saved, if you
hold fast to the word I preached to you…” The gospel Paul preached is the
power of our salvation by which we are
being saved—present tense and the condition is if they are holding fast,
treasuring the gospel he preached to them.
The gospel is saving you NOW as you work out your salvation in fear and
trembling. First Corinthians 1:18 says the same thing. “For the word of the cross [the
gospel] is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The gospel is the power of God for those who are being saved. Do you look to the gospel as the power of God
for you to live in Christ? If not, then
it’s no wonder you feel frustrated.
It’s the message of the gospel that, when believed in our
head AND heart—when it’s internalized, it provides the power of truth that sanctifies us. The main point of confusion for most
believers is that in-practice they base their justification—their standing with
God on their sanctification—their performance of the Christian life. The exact opposite is true—our
sanctification—our growth in holiness-- should always be based in our
justification, what Jesus has done to make us holy. Maybe it will help us to think of it like
this. Mike Bullmore says justification
is “pregnant” with our sanctification and
justification produces sanctification in our lives little by little as we by faith apply the truth of the gospel
to our lives. To put it another
way, the Holy Spirit is the fire in our hearts we need to live for Jesus, but
what many believers miss is that the
truth of the gospel is the fuel the Spirit ignites to empower the life of
the believer and (to complete the illustration) the match that connects the
Holy Spirit’s fire to the gospel is faith
.(period) I'm adding it for the end of your blog post as you left it off. But I am also adding it because I agree "period" (i.e., absolutely). But, I know I have a long way yet in trying to grasp the essence of how Christ alone is my justification for salvation. I do tend to want to believe it rests on those things I separate from and those things I do (e.g.,read my Bible,go to church, not gossip . . .
ReplyDelete