“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).
What was the origin of the gospel? The central point of the gospel is Jesus Christ. Paul calls it the “gospel of Christ” (Rom. 15:19; 1 Cor. 9:12, 18; 2 Cor. 2:12; 9:13; 10:14; Gal. 1:7; Phil. 1:27; 1 Thess. 3:2), “the gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1; 15:16; 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Thess. 2:2, 8; 1 Tim. 1:11), and “the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:8; 2:14), but he insists and defends the fact that the is only one gospel (2Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6-8).
What is the power of the gospel? Rome boasted of their authority and the fear they infused in the empire through their abuse of power. Paul had already been in other heathen cities like Corinth and Ephesus and trusted that this gospel of Christ could also transform lives in Rome.
What is the result of the gospel? It is the powerful action of God to save, liberate, forgive, transform, and restore, not only for the Jews and Gentiles but for everyone, and all times.
Salvation in the Bible has three time frames:
Past: On the cross and by His death Jesus saved us from condemnation of sin. Sin condemns us to death, but the death of Christ leads us to life.
Present: He saves us from the guilt of sin when we repent and confess our faults, and He gives us the peace and forgiveness.
Future: When the Lord comes to establish His indefinite kingdom, He will save us from the presence of sin:
“Old things have passed away; behold,
all things have become new” (2Cor. 5:17).
The power of the gospel liberates and rescues. It liberates from slavery, darkness, perdition, from sinful self-indulgence and deliberate spiritual ignorance. It resues the creature from the final punishment for their sin, reusing them for eternal life.
Alfred Nobel patented dynamite in 1867 with peaceful goals. His idea was to use it as a revolutionary system for construction, allowing for the division of rocks, to dig tunnels, or to make it easier to build railways more efficiently, without the need for so much manual labor.
When he died in 1896, Nobel left an inheritance equivalent to 256 million dollars to establish the Nobel Prizes, which would be given to those who have made great contributions in a broad area of knowledge and progress. The greatest prize would be given to those who accomplished the best work for the brotherhood of nations and today is known as the Nobel Peace Prize.
The gospel is God’s power that dynamites our sins.
We are all called to receive the Nobel Peace Prize as a gift.
God bless you…