The Gospel: Salvation

Romans 1:16

¹⁶ 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.

As we have o noted, Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel. He had confidence in his message, and he gave us several reasons that explain why he was not ashamed. Paul’s supreme passion was to see men saved. He cared nothing for personal comfort, popularity, or reputation. He offered no compromise of the gospel, because he knew it is the only power available that can change lives for eternity.  In verses 16-17, Paul uses four key words that are crucial to understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ: power, salvation, faith, and righteousness.  We have looked at the first of those words, power.  Now we will look at the second: Salvation.

(Verse 16) - Surely the greatest manifestation of God’s power is that of bringing men to salvation, of transforming their nature and giving them eternal life through His Son. We learn from the psalmist that, despite their rebelliousness, God saved His chosen people “for the sake of His name, that He might make His power known” (Ps. 106:8). As God incarnate, Jesus Christ manifested His divine power in healing diseases, restoring crippled limbs, stilling the storm, and even raising those who were dead.

Unto salvation - This word means complete deliverance from sin and death, and all the foes and dangers that beset man. It cannot imply anything less than eternal life. If a man should believe and then fall away, he could in no correct sense be said to be saved. And hence, when the apostle declares that it is the power of God unto salvation “to everyone that believeth,” it implies that all who become believers “shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” (see 1 Pet. 1:5), and that none shall ever fall away and be lost. The apostle thus commences his discussion with one of the important doctrines of the Christian religion, the final preservation of the saints. He is not defending the gospel for any temporary object, or with any temporary hope. He looks through the system, and sees in it a plan for the complete and eternal recovery of all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. When he says it is the power of God unto salvation, he means that it is the power of God for the attainment of salvation. This is the end, or the design of this exertion of power.  Paul uses the noun some nineteen times, five of them in Romans, and he uses the corresponding verb twenty-nine times, eight of them in Romans. As we noted, the basic idea behind the term is that of deliverance, or rescue, and the point here is that the power of God in salvation rescues people from the ultimate penalty of sin, which is spiritual death extended into tormented eternal separation from Him.

Some people object to terms such as salvation and being saved, claiming that the ideas they convey are out of date and meaningless to contemporary men. But salvation is God’s term, and there is no better one to describe what He offers fallen mankind through the sacrifice of His Son. Through Christ, and Christ alone, men can be saved from sin, from Satan, from judgment, from wrath, and from spiritual death.

Regardless of the words they may use to describe their quest, men are continually looking for salvation of one kind or another. Some look for economic salvation, others for political or social salvation. As already noted, many people look for inner salvation from the guilt, frustrations, and unhappiness that make their lives miserable.

Even before Paul’s day, Greek philosophy had turned inward and begun to focus on changing man’s inner life through moral reform and self-discipline. William Barclay tells us that the Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus called his lecture room “the hospital for sick souls.” Another famous Greek philosopher named Epicurus called his teaching “the medicine of salvation.” Seneca, a Roman statesman and philosopher and contemporary of Paul, taught that all men were looking ad salutem (“toward salvation”). He taught that men are overwhelmingly conscious of their weakness and insufficiency in necessary things and that we therefore need “a hand let down to lift us up”

Salvation is a term that has lost much of its original meaning in current English usage. In part, this may be due to overuse in former times, compounded by popular but imprecise application among various religious groups. Because of this, it is important to exercise care in exploring its range of meaning for the biblical writers. It is an extremely important term in the Bible; thus, further neglect can only lead to considerable theological loss.

The term for salvation in the OT can connote, in keeping with its root meaning of ‘broadening’ or ‘enlarging,’ the creation of space in the community for life and conduct. More often than not, this is created with divine help, particularly in circumstances where God’s people face an adversary (e.g., Exod. 14:13-14, 30; 15:2; 1 Sam. 7:8; 2 Sam. 22:28; 1 Chron. 16:35; Neh. 9:27; Pss. 7:1; 17:7; 18:1-3; 54:1; 59:1-2; 106:43-48; 116:1-6; 118:5-14). God rescues and delivers from the situation of opposition and peril to one of recovered spaciousness, prosperity, and well-being. This meaning of the term is expanded to include deliverance from other forms of conflict, particularly in matters of the people’s relationship to God. Such a field of reference draws on other terms such as ‘redemption,’ ‘atonement,’ ‘reconciliation,’ ‘pardon,’ ‘expiation’ (cf. also ‘peace’ and ‘righteousness’). The goal of such deliverance is the establishment of God’s reign among his people and the other nations of the world (e.g., Isa. 49:25-26; 52:6-10; 55:1-5; Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32; 37:23-28). Particularly the apocalyptic writings anticipate the arrival of this reign (e.g., Isa. 24-27).

The NT writers, apparently following the lead of Jesus himself, appropriate this specialized usage of salvation to designate the establishment of God’s end-time Reign. In doing so, they identify God’s intent to ‘save’/‘rescue’ (the meaning of the Greek root) with the person and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth (e.g., Luke 19:10; also 14:16-24; 15:3-10; 18:10-14; Matt. 10:6-8; 15:22-28; 18:12-14; 21:28-32). Jesus’ name comes from the Hebrew root meaning ‘salvation,’ and thus God the Savior and Jesus the Savior become (as in other ways) inextricably linked (e.g., Matt. 1:21; Luke 2:11; also John 4:42; Acts 5:31; 13:23; Phil. 3:20; 2 Tim. 1:10; Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6; 2 Pet. 1:1, 11; 2:20; 3:2, 18; 1 John 4:14).

The meaning of the term ‘gospel’ (‘good tidings’) is the essence of salvation (Rom. 1:16-17; 10:9-10). The traditions about Jesus record various accounts of Jesus’ acts of delivering people from forms of physical, spiritual/psychic, and demonic/cosmic bondage to a condition of restored wholeness and soundness (e.g., Mark 1:40-45; 2:1-12; 5:1-20, 34; 10:52; Luke 7:50; 17:19; John 9; 12:3-7). ‘Saved’ life is thereby seen in the context of a life that is ‘redeemed’ in relation to God, oneself, and others in community.

For these NT writers, the death and resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate focal moment for the dawn of salvation (e.g., 1 Cor. 15). Drawing on the sacrificial images and institutions of ancient Israel, early Christians associate Jesus’ death with that of the Passover lamb as ‘atonement’ (John 1:29, 36; 6:51; 1 Cor. 5:7; Heb. 9:24-26). The ‘on our behalf’ formula appropriates the efficacious significance of Jesus’ death for those who receive it by faith as a gift of grace (e.g., Mark 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:6; Titus 2:14; Mark 14:24 and parallels; 1 Cor. 15:3-7; Eph. 2:5, 8). It means ‘reconciliation’ (Rom. 5:1-11; 2 Cor. 5:18-20). It brings ‘regeneration’ and a new conscience/consciousness. It encompasses the whole cosmos (Rom. 8:19-23; Eph. 1:10; Col. 1:19-20). The resurrection points, moreover, not only to present significance (Rom. 13:11-14; 1 Cor. 15:1-2) but also to future deliverance from impending judgment and wrath (1 Thess. 1:9-10; also Mark 13 and parallels; Rom. 1:18-2:11; 5:9-11; Phil. 3:20; Titus 2:13).

The apocalyptic vision mentioned above (e.g., Isa. 24-27) is appropriated with certain qualifications to underscore the deliverance motif and that of life and well-being in the future Kingdom of God (e.g., Luke 13:28-30; 22:29-30; 23:43; 1 Cor. 2:9-10; 11:26; 1 Thess. 4:16-17; Rev. 21:1-22:5). Other traditions stress more the language of inheritance and the certainty of sharing the eternal life of Jesus’ resurrection (e.g., Rom. 8:12-17; 1 Thess. 5:9; Heb. 1:14; 5:9; 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:5, 9; also John 4:14; 7:37-38; 10:10). The emphasis remains throughout the nt on the exclusive nature of the connection between Jesus’ destiny and the promise of salvation (e.g., Acts 4:11-12; 5:31; Heb. 2:3). The consummation of salvation exceeds human ability to grasp it (1 Cor. 2:9-10); in the present, the gift of the Spirit is a foretaste of what is promised and hoped for (Rom. 8:23; 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14).

Salvation through Christ is God’s powerful hand, as it were, that He has let down to lift men up. His salvation brings deliverance from the spiritual infection of “this perverse generation” (Acts 2:40), from lostness (Matt. 18:11), from sin (Matt. 1:21), and from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9). It brings deliverance to men from their gross and willful spiritual ignorance (Hos. 4:6; 2 Thess. 1:8), from their evil self-indulgence (Luke 14:26), and from the darkness of false religion (Col. 1:13; 1 Pet. 2:9), but only for those who believe.

I must remember that the essence of the Gospel is salvation and salvation alone.  This is what I need to preach and teach as the center of the Gospel message.