The Power Of God

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. 

Romans 1:16 

How is the gospel of Christ the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes? In order for us to understand this, we must understand what it is to be without power, and without salvation. We began, ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’ Because we did, we were ‘by nature the children of wrath.’ In that state and condition we had ‘no hope’ and were ‘without God in the world.’ This was for us a position of powerlessness. More than that, we were powerless to change ourselves, or our situation. ‘Dead in trespasses and sins’ is dead indeed with the accompanying powerlessness that being dead entails. Thus the gospel makes the difference between death and life. How does this gospel come to have its effect? Christ is the answer. As Paul relates in Ephesians, ‘But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.’  Paul declares in our text what he describes in Ephesians. The gospel, of which he is not ashamed, is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes. He even provides faith as a gift. ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.’ Whereas we lack power to affect our own salvation, He does all that is necessary to empower us even to believe. Thus salvation is, from start to finish, the work of God. If we believe, it is the result of the power He has given us to believe. Therefore, we glorify Him and magnify Christ.  

Our Great God and our Savior, 
we rejoice that Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith. 
We praise You that those that come to Him, 
he will not cast out. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning