Romans 1:16,17 - Gospel Power of Salvation & Faith.
Rom 1:16 (KJV) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:17 (KJV) For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith
to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
The theme of the entire book. [NIV SB]
Martin Luther and John Wesley, two of church history's towering figures,
came to Christ through Romans 1:17. [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary]
If salvation is the result of God's power poured out on us through the
gospel message, we would do well to understand just what it is that we
received when we accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. According to
Scofield's note on this verse, salvation implies deliverance, safety,
preservation, healing, and soundness: deliverance from Satan's power and
hold on our will; safety from spiritual and physical harm; preservation for
our new spiritual life; healing in our hearts, minds, and body; and
soundness in our emotional and spiritual walk. It is only as we come to
understand and appropriate these wonderful truths about who we are now, that
we will be able to live out what God has already made us to be! What areas
in your life need deliverance, safety, preservation, healing, and/or
soundness? List them and ask God to make real to you what He has already
provided for you! [In His Time; Walk With Wisdom]
The gospel; its source is God, its nature is powerful, its purpose is
salvation, its scope includes everyone, its limit is faith, and its result
is righteousness. [Jamieson, Fausset, And Brown Commentary]
"The Gospel" (1:16). The word means "good news." The Christian Gospel is
about Jesus (its content) and reveals God's gift of righteousness (its
significance). It brings salvation (its outcome) to all who believe (its
invitation). [Victor Bible Reader's Companion]
The gospel of Christ, the Good News, is the message of salvation that has
life-changing power. [Life Application SB mod]
The gospel is the way in which God exerts His power for the salvation of
men. Wherever the gospel finds believing hearts it is a divine power by
which all the obstacles to man's redemption are removed. [SDA Commentary]
The gospel's inherent glory comes by virtue of its being God's life-giving
message to a dying world. [Jamieson, Fausset, And Brown Commentary]
Salvation is in three tenses: (1) The Christian saved from the
guilt and penalty of sin (2) The Christian saved from the habit
and dominion of sin And (3) the Christian saved at the Lord's
return, from all the bodily infirmities that are the result of sin and God's
curse upon the sinful world [Scofield SB]
Salvation has three facets: past salvation from the penalties of sin (Luke
7:50; Eph. 2:8); present salvation from the power of sin in the daily life
(Rom. 5:10); and future salvation from the actual presence of sin (in
heaven; 1 Cor. 3:15; 5:5). This salvation comes to everyone who believes. We
receive and experience it through faith, [Ryrie SB]
Salvation has past (forgiveness), present (power to live a godly life), and
future (resurrection transformation) aspects. Faith in Christ is the key to
experience every aspect of salvation-from first to last. [Victor Bible
Reader's Companion]
Power is dunamis. This is not, as some would have it, the explosive force
(dynamite) of God, but rather the unquenchable energy that enables Him to
transform human beings from within. The Gospel is the power of God-power
that flows to all who believe, to deliver us from every ruinous consequence
of our sin and make us spiritually healthy at long last. The God who imputes
righteousness to the believer enters the believer's life! United to Jesus by
a work of the Holy Spirit and empowered by that same Spirit, the Christian
who lives by faith rather than law is actually enabled to live a truly
righteous life! (chaps. 6-8) Ultimately, in the resurrection, God's
transformation will be complete and every taint of sin will be removed.
[Victor Bible Background Commentary]
I've heard the Gospel referred to as the "dynamite" of God. But the analogy
really doesn't work, or reflect the concept of this text. A better analogy
is to an appliance with an electric cord. Push your vacuum as hard as you
can, and if it's not plugged in, it won't pick up dirt. Or stir egg whites
with your electric mixer, and if it's not plugged in, no meringue. In the
same way, work at saving yourself as hard as you want. But if you are not
plugged into God's source of power for salvation, nothing will be gained.
The Gospel plugs us into the one and only source of salvation power. If you
and I are plugged into Jesus, the power of God will save us for sure. [The
365-Day Devotional Commentary]
The just shall live by faith. Just by faith, there is faith justifying us;
live by faith, there is faith maintaining us; and so there is a
righteousness from faith to faith. Faith is all in all, both in the
beginning and progress of a Christian life. It is all along from faith to
faith, as <2 Cor. 3:18>, from glory to glory; it is increasing, continuing,
persevering faith, faith pressing forward, and getting ground of unbelief.
(Matthew Henry's Commentary mod)
The righteousness of God is received by faith, and when received, results in
ever-increasing faith. As faith is exercised we are able to receive more and
still more of the righteousness of God until faith becomes a permanent
attitude toward Him. [SDA Commentary]
When he saves us he gives us faith--a relationship with his Son that helps
us become like him. Through the faith he gives us, he carries us from death
into life (John 5:24). [Life Application SB]
The righteousness of God is the restoration of right relations between man
and God. [Ryrie SB]
To be justified is to enter into a new relationship with God, a relationship
of love and confidence and friendship, instead of one of distance and enmity
and fear. . . . The man who is just is the man who is in this right
relationship, The whole work of Jesus was that he had enabled men to enter
into this new and precious relationship with God. Fear was gone and love
had come. The God whom men had thought an enemy had become a friend.
[Barclay Commentary]
Belief in the content of the Gospel is only part of its meaning. Above this
it means trust or personal commitment, to the extent of handing over one's
self to another person. Though belief does involve response to a truth or a
series of truths, this response is not mere intellectual assent but rather
wholehearted involvement in the truth believed. To believe in Christ is to
commit oneself to him. To trust Christ is to become totally involved in the
eternal truths taught by him and about him in the NT. Such total involvement
brings moral earnestness, a dedication and consecration apparent in every
aspect of life. [Wycliffe Bible Commentary]
Without salvation, we have no spiritual life. Without it, we have no
righteousness. Without it, we stand guilty and condemned before the holy
God. There is no hope for any person aside from the by-faith salvation that
God offers us in Jesus! [Victor Teacher's Commentary]
He has stooped in Christ to lift up fallen humanity, not just from the
morass of sin into which we have plunged, but up and up until, cleansed and
transformed, we will fully share His moral character. [Victor Bible
Background Commentary]
The medicine prepared will not cure the patient if it be not taken. (Matthew
Henry's Commentary)
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