- Power
Romans 1:16 The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation for every one that believeth.
We have found almost 500 promises in the Psalms and the “red” words of Jesus; now we turn to the promises that God gives through Paul’s Epistles. Will we find hundreds more? Paul’s promises, as all the promises of Scripture, relate to the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel is itself a manifold and variegated promise and it is also the means by which the promises come to us.
Here is the promise: The Gospel is Power. It is the power of God providing salvation to those who believe in Christ. The word power in this verse means strength, ability, force, dynamism and explosion. The Gospel is able to do things; it can make things happen, particularly salvation. The Gospel of Christ has the power to save us from the extremely strong forces of Sin, Death, and the Devil. These Enemies are the strongest forces in the universe, far stronger than any power or strength or arms that you or I can muster; but the Gospel is an even greater force; it is the power of love. The enemies are defeated; one little word (gospel) can fell them.
In this world during this life we are the weakest of all creatures in the face of the evil powers. But we believe the Gospel and thus we have a stronger power. This Word, received and given, is able to sustain us, bring victory, and overcome in every circumstance of life. We need this power; we need to hear this gospel; we need to believe this word and promise; we need it often; we need it spoken with clarity; we need it in our ears and in our hearts. We can never get tired of hearing it; we will never get bored with it; we cannot get used to it (“Oh, I heard that before.”) It is new and fresh and powerful enough to overcome every sin and guilt and temptation and threat and fear and doubt.
We just apply it, that is, “believe.” Not only is the gospel the power to save those who believe, it is also used by the Holy Spirit to create faith to believe it. The Holy Spirit (God Himself) desperately wants us to use that power, so He gives us the faith to believe and apply it to life. The human being is deceitful and creative, and he creatively sins in new ways every day and lies about it. Confess and believe the Gospel daily for it is the power of God unto salvation. It is stronger than our deceptions.