The Gospel - Power for Salvation

Romans 1:16

In v15 Paul declares himself eager to preach the Good News to the people of Rome. Why so eager? Because he is "not ashamed of the Good News". Our language, unfortunately, makes the opposite of "ashamed" to be "proud" and we are taught that pride is a sin, but surely there is a pride - an unashamedness, that is right and wholesome.

I am not proud of my own flimsy righteousness but I can be proud of the Gospel. It is Good News not to be hidden but to be declared, not to be whispered but to be proclaimed. I can afford to be open about the Good News of Jesus as long as I am living in the good of it. Only when the light of God's glory shows up the darkness of my own unrighteousness will I be ashamed to declare the Good News.

Paul's reason for his unashamedness is that the Gospel "is the power of God for Salvation". Perhaps it is amazing that those whom God has chosen and placed his grace upon from before the beginning of time should need to be preached to in order to find salvation but that is the way that the Father has ordained it to be. I notice that it is not just the way of salvation but it is the power for salvation. The dunamis ! The word power does not here mean authority but the moving force. Dunamis , after all, is the root of the word "dynamite". It has been said that the evangelist's task is to blast out the rocks from the quarry which the apostles and pastors are to build into the Temple. The Good News is the dynamite that does the blasting, directed by the power of the Holy Spirit. What a reason, then, that Paul had to be unashamed of the power for salvation to all who will believe.

I Corinthians 1:17 - 18

Paul argues that human wisdom would empty the Cross of its power. It is not wise to speak of the Cross, of "butcher-shop religion", of blood. It is foolish. In Paul's day the cross was associated only with the death of the lowest criminals. Sensible preachers would play down the fact that their "founder" had been executed as a common criminal. The praching of the Cross would only put people off. But the message of the Cross, while it may be foolishness to the lost, is the very dunamis of God to us who are being saved.

I Thessalonians 1:5

This verse shows where this power, this dunamis has its source. It is not in words. It is not in the preaching - for I could preach for hours on the Cross of Christ and make no impact if my preaching is not backed by the Power of God. Our gospel came not only with words but with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. So, then, without that deep conviction the Good News is of little effect. Without the Holy Spirit even the conviction is not enough for the Holy Spirit provides the power to turn conviction into dynamite to quarry the stones for the Living Temple of the Living God.