The Proclaimer

The Power Of God

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).

There are many powerful things in this world.  We have all seen the devastating power of a tornado as it literally levels whole communities.  Certainly the force unleashed by the atomic bombs at the end of World War II is clearly visible.  But such things wane by comparison to the power of God – the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Nothing else is capable of saving the soul of man.  Nothing else is capable of converting the ungodly to the service of God.  It is for this reason that Jesus told His apostles,  “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned” (Mark 16:15, 16). 

It is salvation that the gospel offers to all that will believe.  To reject the gospel is to reject the “good news” that Christ died for our sins and to reject salvation itself.  “Power” and “salvation” are reciprocally related, for it takes power to save.  Only the “power of God” can save us from the destructive, damning power of sin and death.  But just as “power” and “salvation” are related so also are the “gospel” and “believing.”  Only as one believes the gospel message can the power of God save him.  And so this pair of correlatives forms a unit: the gospel that works faith is the power that saves the believer.

But we must understand that it is the gospel that is God’s power to save.  To substitute something in place of the gospel is to substitute the loss of salvation.  If the gospel is diluted or altered in any way we remove its power to save.  It is for this reason Paul says, “If any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema.  For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God?  Or am I striving to please men?” (Gal. 1:9, 10). 

Many today dilute the power of the gospel by rejecting baptism.  The gospel Jesus told His apostles to preach throughout the world was not one of “faith only,” but included baptism, for “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).  Salvation from past sins only comes through faith in Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God who died for our sins, was buried and was raised from the dead that we might stand justified in God’s sight.  Paul says, “For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26).  But then he tells us how we become sons of God through faith, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ” (v. 27).

Baptism is simply an act of faith through which we reach the cleansing agency of the blood of Christ.  “Or are you ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3, 4).

The power of God to save through the gospel has not diminished, for the gospel is just as powerful today as it was in times past.  But if you refuse to believe and be baptized the gospel cannot save you today any more than it could save those who rejected it in the first century.  If you have not obeyed the gospel, “Today if ye shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Heb. 3:15).

                                                                                           -- Clark Dugger

The Proclaimer