“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.””
The Gospel is Powerful in 2 Ways
THE INFORMATION OF THE GOSPEL: It’s incredibly wonderful information to know that God is no longer holding your sins against you and offers the free gift of righteousness and eternal life by grace through faith in Christ. But it doesn’t stop there, there are results of believing this truth.
THE RESULTS OF BELIEVING THE GOSPEL: The results of believing the Gospel are even better. He removes your old heart and gives you a new one that knows how to hear and follow him. God places his spirit in you. You become a new creature in Christ. After those things, you are actually righteous and holy because of the work of the spirit in you. You are empowered with graces to bless others. You are qualified for all the blessings of Abraham. God will never leave you or forsake you. He’ll lead and guide you into truth and blessing. The list just goes on and on.
Check out these resources that expound on your new creation identity and the promises that are now available.
The Good news that you are no longer obligated to God through law should be good enough news to your heart that you naturally obey him by faith. Obedience from the heart is still impossible without receiving a new one. God needed to perform surgery and make you a new kind of creature.
He cut out your diseased heart/nature and put in a new one, a spiritual heart transplant, if you will. He didn’t just cut out the disease, he replaced it with new living tissue, with eternal life flowing through it.
He gives you righteousness, so he can give you a new heart, so you can receive grace and live by faith in the freedom of the spirit.
I’ll talk more about what it means to “live by faith” in an upcoming article, for now, let’s look closer at this spiritual surgery God performed in you.
Romans 2:25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Paul is speaking to people familiar with the Law and the ritual of circumcision given to Abraham. His point in this passage is that circumcision of the flesh is good but something else needs to happen for a person to live in the newness of spirit that he’s trying to explain to them. He elaborates in his letter to the Colossians.
Colossians 2:11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
The word “flesh” in the phrase “body of flesh” is the Greek word SARX. Sarx has two applications. It refers to your physical body (flesh) AND it refers to the nature of man. God cut away your old nature and replaced it with the righteousness of Christ. You truly are a new creature!!
New Heart / New Life
It is absolutely vital that you know the effects of believing the Gospel, i.e. you get a new heart. You don’t have two natures fighting in you. You don’t have a black dog and a white dog barking at your heels in you. You are the righteousness of God in Christ! You are no longer a sinner by nature, you are a cleansed and justified child of the living God!
Jesus didn’t die to open the door to Heaven for you. He didn’t die for you and then say “I hope you make it.” He did something in you to ensure your eternal salvation, he changed you.
Knowing the Gospel isn’t just knowing that Jesus died for you, it’s knowing and living in the power of its effects. Those effects are your new life in him. The results of believing the Gospel are largely overlooked by most Christians. Too many Christians don’t understand what God did in them when they were born again.
I’m convinced that if more believers actually believed in the power of the spirit in them we would be a much more effective influence for his kingdom in this world. We would live in the power of this new life. We would see his blessings manifest more often in our lives.
I want that! I want to experience the promises of this new life, don’t you?
Unfortunately, your body still remembers what it’s like to be dead and enslaved to sin, but if you can renew your mind to the new work that God has done in you, you will actually be a slave to righteousness and obey God by faith from the heart. Don’t worry, he’ll supply enough grace to do so. He doesn’t supply grace for you to obey, obedience is just the byproduct, he supplies grace for you to live in the new kind of life he provides.
I want to help you do more than just know the Gospel, I want to help you live in the power of its results! Please stay tuned to this series for practical ways to live by faith in the newness of life that God offers in Christ.
