For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17 NIV).
The Gospel is “Good News.” The Gospel is not about an impending judgment and even though it includes deliverance from judgment. The Gospel is the gift lavished upon all who would believe in God’s favor through His Son our Lord. This favor explodes in amazing grace, taking us as are, unholy and unworthy, and making us holy and worthy.
Thus the Gospel is not just a thought, an intention, or even simply an action of salvation. The Gospel is the “Good News” alive through Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ alive through the Holy Spirit becomes the all-encompassing, all-securing, and all-delivering power conquering all bondage and separation coming from all sin in the past while overflowing with enabling strength in the present eventually taking us as believers into eternity. The power of the Gospel is living by faith in a relationship with Jesus Christ who was and is and is to come … “The Gospel.”
It is not something to be ashamed of. Instead, it is something to proclaim to a world desperately longing for good news. Becoming an empowered follower of Jesus Christ requires living beyond just the knowledge of the Gospel into daily living by faith in the “Gospel.” The good news that empowers our daily living must be a faith lived out in an abiding and trusting faith in the “Good News.”
