The Wednesday Word
The Power to Save
by
D.G.
Miles McKee
‘For
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone
that believeth’
-Romans
1:16 [KJV]
We
must be clear what the Bible is saying here. It is not saying that
the gospel leads to power. It is saying that the gospel itself is the
power of God unto salvation. This is essential to grasp if we want to
see the power of God in our churches and ministries.
Usually,
today, the gospel is treated as an ‘initial entry doctrine’. In
other words, the gospel is good only for those who are not saved. The
gospel, we are erroneously told, is merely to get lost sinners saved;
but once we are saved, we need to move on into the ‘deep things’
of God.
In the minds of many, the gospel is merely a
beginning. But Paul says in the previous verse: ‘So,
as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are
at Rome also’ (Romans
1:15).
To which ‘YOU’ is he referring? To which
‘YOU’ is he going to preach the gospel? He’s talking about the
believers in Rome who are ‘the
beloved of God, called to be saints’
(Romans 1:7). In other words, Paul fully intends to place the gospel
where it belongs … in the church.
He is writing to
people who are already saved, and he plans to preach the gospel to
them so that they will become ‘more saved’. Before I am accused
of heresy, let me explain what I am saying!
What
salvation means!
God
saves the sinner when he believes but also saves the believer while
he believes. The epistles are packed full of the gospel, but they
were not written to get the lost sinners saved. Rather, they are
written to believers that they might understand salvation and reap
its full benefits.
Paul writes, ‘Moreover
brethren, I declare to you the gospel … in which you stand, by
which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preached
to you – unless you believed in vain’ (1
Corinthians 15:1-2). In other words, believers will grow in grace as
they continue to keep the gospel in mind!
Saved
So,
what do we mean by ‘being saved’? Anyone who has salvation
is saved. But salvation is much bigger than justification.
Salvation has three tenses – past, present and future. Believers
have already been saved from the penalty of sin; they are presently
being saved from the power and pleasure of sin; and they will, in the
future, be saved from the very presence and possibility of
sin.
Among other things, salvation, in its fullest sense,
includes victory over sin, consecration, spiritual health,
freedom from guilt, freedom from bitterness, freedom from fear and
rejection, victory over Satan, reconciliation, redemption, adoption
and glorification. It is a complete package.
And how
do we experience and become partakers of this salvation? It is only
through the gospel … for the gospel of Christ is the power of God
unto salvation.
For too long, the gospel has been
relegated by many churches to the business of merely ‘catching’
the lost. We certainly commend all gospel centered efforts
at evangelism and, of course, we do ‘catch’ the lost with the
‘gospel net’ but the Bible way to clean the catch is to use the
gospel sword.
And that’s the Gospel Truth!
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