What is the power of salvation? by Ps Michael Podhaczky

What did Paul believe to be the power of salvation and does it affect the church today?

¹⁶ “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 to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written (Hab 2:4), ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Rom 1:16-17 ESV).

If we believe in this same Gospel of Christ, we also need to have faith that it holds power to save and transform lives today. It is important to remember that the power is in the supernatural Gospel of Jesus Christ, and not in the methods of presentation of the Gospel. This is because it was given by the supernatural God and is about this God, not methods of delivery.

So, if the power is not in the evangelistic programs or methods, nor even in an evangelist, then we need to trust the power of the Good News. It has its own inherent, God-implanted, dynamic power that is present, and it is this which transforms a person. It is not our overprotective or kind and nurturing behaviour of people that will cause the seed of the Gospel to grow in the heart of a person, though caring for others is still an essential aspect of the gospel. From the moment the God-given seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is planted in a life, it has its own power to germinate, sprout and grow (in its own time). The problem is that at times, we do not trust the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We think that we know best and dig the seed up with our meddling, overwatering, or try to get it to germinate, or sprout or grow according to our methods and timetable. A timely word here would be, “Stop, leave it alone and let the Holy Spirit do His supernatural work with the seed of the gospel!” Remember the words of Paul on this matter,

⁶ “(Paul said) I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So neither they who plants nor they who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:6-7 ESV).

Pause in His presence for a moment and think this over…