The Power of the Gospel

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ “ (Rom. 1:16-17. Hab. 2:4)

This good news is about the Lord Jesus Christ and God’s purpose in him. Where believed, it is a good news message with power. Its power is in the content of this message that reveals the righteousness of God. This power inspires those who believe to actually begin to live the grace and truth that is the righteousness of God.
The Lord Jesus is the fullness, the perfect expression, of his Father’s grace and truth (John 1:14-17). This is truth in the larger sense of God’s character, His faithfulness to His word of promise, and His always being true to Who He is. In His grace and truth revealed in His Son, He condemns our sin, and yet forgives and empowers us who believe in His Son to begin to overcome our sin.

In his letters to the Galatians and to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul stresses the power of his inspired message about Christ and his cross. “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God . . .and the wisdom of God.” (I Cor. 1:17-31)

“Not with wisdom of words” should cause us to pause and ponder about our own preaching. Do we rely solely on rational argument and on our correct explanations of the Bible in contrast to error? Do we thus rob our teaching of the gospel of Christ of the power to change the hearts of our hearers and empower them to live for him? To avoid that, Paul says, “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (I Cor. 2:1-5). He sums up the essence of his Christ-centred message and its power, saying, “But we have the mind of Christ” (I Cor 2:16).

That the Apostle Paul expected the power of this message of the cross of Christ to change the lives of disciples is seen in his reproofs and warning in I Cor.4. These enthusiastic, but inexperienced disciples, all of them baptized within the previous three years, were glorying in themselves - in the diverse gifts of the holy spirit given to them and in their knowledge. They were puffed up (like strutting roosters) against each other (4:6-7; 5:2. 8:1). “I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power”, Paul writes, “for the kingdom of God is not in word but in power (I Cor. 4:18-19).

These striking words about the kingdom of God describe the moral power of the word of the kingdom and of its king. They remind us of the words of the Apostle in writing to the Romans on the controversy about eating meat from the market that had been dedicated to idols, “for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit” (Romans 14:17).

Paul’s words to the Corinthians about the kingdom of God have a similar meaning. When he came to Corinth again, Paul wanted to see, not how much they knew, nor how much more knowledgeable and gifted with spirit powers some were than others He wanted to see expressed and clearly evident in their attitude, words and deeds the power of the gospel. The purpose of the revelation of the grace of God that brings salvation, Paul tells Titus (and us), is to train us to live righteously in the present age, and to purify for Jesus Christ a people of his own, zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).

The Lord Jesus and his apostles clearly are confident that the gospel that they preached has the power to break the complete hold that sin (our pride and passions) has on us. As the Lord Jesus says, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32).

The chief of sinners, the Apostle Paul, who acknowledged that he was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent (violently arrogant) man, speaks humbly of the mercy he obtained. “And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (I Tim.1:12-16). In Paul, Jesus Christ was showing his perfect patience as a pattern to those who believe on him for everlasting life.

The power of Jesus Christ’s grace and love toward him profoundly changed the Apostle Paul’s thinking and behavior. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). To Paul, the Lord’s loving giving of himself was done for him personally, as well as being the pattern of his patient loving of all those who believed in him.

Again, Paul writes, “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge thus; that if one died for all then all died; and he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again” (II Cor. 5:13-15). The “word of His grace”, as Paul called the gospel he preached, has constraining power to move us to live for our Lord Jesus Christ. This word alone has the power to free us from our slavery to sin.

Everywhere--in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and in the Americas, men and women live in slavery to sin. Many people in those huge continents live under the illusion that they are free or that they can be given freedom to make decisions to do what they want to do. Yet, most people who have these precious freedoms are actually slaves to the desires of the flesh and the mind (Eph. 2:1-10; Titus 3:3-7).
The reality of sin and man’s slavery to it is all too evident in the great troubles that plague all peoples beyond any human remedy. The gospel of Christ alone can free people who respond to its message and choose to live under his rule from their hopeless bondage to sin. Only the future rule of the Lord Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God on earth will bring His righteousness and true peace to our wicked and violent world.

In Romans chs 3 and 4, the Apostle Paul shows how we are justified (counted righteous by God), as Abraham was, if we believe in His Son. God sent Christ Jesus to be, by his sacrifice, a mercy seat— a meeting place where we can find forgiveness of our sins from Him. For, in his conquering of sin, though tempted as we are, Jesus upheld God’s just condemning of man’s sin. In Jesus, God provides mercy, a basis for His forgiveness that is in harmony with His truth. Now, His forgiveness is extended to those who believe in Jesus (Heb. 2:24-18. Romans 3:21-30).

Forgiveness of our sin by God, the blessing experienced by David and Abraham on the basis of their faith (Rom 4), is meant to transform our hearts, minds, and lives. This blessing is for all families of the earth in Abraham’s seed, the gospel preached to Abraham. (Gal.3:6-9)

The Apostle writes in Romans 5, that this blessing of forgiveness totally changes our relationship with God. Guilt and fear are gone. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and access to the power of His grace by our faith in His Son. Now we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, a hope giving meaning to our tribulations and power to endure and be trained by them.

These blessings of forgiveness and hope come from God showing His own love toward us in Christ’s dying for us. Based on that love, we now have confidence that we shall be saved through his life (Romans 5:1-11). This lovely chapter goes on to show how much more powerful in its work in us is the grace of God in Jesus Christ than the wilfully sinful mind we all have inherited from Adam.

However, there is a real danger that we can take God’s gracious gift to us in Christ for granted and just go on sinning, doing our own thing, relieved that we are now forgiven. We may still not really be living for our Lord. This the Apostle addresses powerfully in Romans 6:1-14.

Or, maybe we have changed a lot, but still are drawn to one favourite sin—worldly entertainment or gambling or liquor. ‘This weakness’, we may say, ‘the Lord will surely forgive.’ Paul shoots down this wrong, but attractive idea in Romans 6:15-23. Choosing to do a particular sin, strengthens the hold of sin on us. Our calling is to battle with every sin, with a constant, prayerful dependence on the Lord’s grace and help.

“But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:17-18). The huge difference between our former slavery to sin and our becoming slaves to righteousness is this: Slavery to sin is inherent in our nature and made stronger in us as we obey it. Slavery to righteousness is a process learned by the devotion of our hearts, minds, and lives to the Lord Jesus. Only in such devotion can sin’s power in us gradually be overcome.

In Romans 7, the Apostle honestly describes his battle against sin in himself. We can all identify with that description. “Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Paul continues in ch 8, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.”

Paul’s lovely words in Romans 8 emphasize our being in Christ Jesus, his spirit being in us, and our being led by the spirit. God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to put sin in the flesh to death. He did this so that the righteous requirement of the law (love of God and love of neighbour) might actually be fulfilled in us. He has destined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. As He delivered up His own Son for us all, “how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” “Yet in all these things (severe trials of our faith) we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” In this lies the power of the gospel.

The Apostle Paul writes to the Colossians about the “mystery” hidden from previous generations, but now made known to His saints. This mystery “is Christ in you, the hope of glory”. “So, naturally we proclaim Christ! We warn everyone we meet, and we teach everyone we can, all that we know about him, so that, if possible we may bring every man up to his full maturity in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:26-29). May we all grow into that maturity by daily and hourly tapping into the mighty power of the gospel of Christ so that it works in us.

Let us heed Peter’s urging to add key, practical qualities to our faith so that we “may not be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” and to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Peter 1:2-8. 3:17-18).

Happy Guyanan Sunday School scholars being brought up “with the loving discipline the Lord himself approves, with suggestions and godly advice” (Eph 6:4 Living Bible Version).

Bro Robert Green (Canada)