Romans 1:15-16   Continued    ( posted 2-4-11 ) 

"  So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. “

I want to discuss a few more things about these verses before I go on to verse 17.

Let’s continue.

I want to focus more on the phrase;

“ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; “

The Greek word “ soterian “ translated “ salvation “ means deliver, health, rescue, safety, save, saving. It is important to know that the Greek word “ soterian “ also means saving - that is, an ongoing process…saving.

The question in most people’s minds is - “ Why do I need to be saved and what do I need to be saved from”?

God put in every human being the conscience awareness of the need for God. The first man and woman, Adam and Eve knew their need for God even before sin came into their life. Since sin came into their life and separated them from God for all eternity, the conscience awareness of the need for God became more enhanced.

Unless a person has calloused his or her conscience, which many are capable of doing, any human being understands the need for God to rescue them from being separated from God for all eternity.

Many philosophies have substituted this conscience awareness of the need for God with the invented myth that God accepts us as we are and because He is such a good God, He will eventually allow every human being into Heaven even without each person putting their faith in God’s only plan of salvation and entrance into Heaven…Jesus Christ His Son.

We have a choice.

We can believe that myth or believe Jesus. Jesus said we need Him and we need to be saved.

We will study this later but Paul said clearly that all human beings are made aware of all this.

“   For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. “      Romans 1:18-19

Consequently, no human being has an excuse for not believing in God’s only plan of salvation and how to make it to Heaven.

When a person ends up in eternal hell he or she will know why he is there…and the demons there will constantly be reminding them nonstop for all eternity because they know why human beings end up there, even though eternal hell was initially prepared for the devil and his angels.

The point is, according to the Bible, no one will be able to say they did not know about their eternal destiny and why they are there. If you notice in the story Jesus told about the rich man and the beggar, the rich man was not at all surprised to find himself in eternal hell.

This will be true for every human being who ends up there.

If we have not calloused our conscience we will remain aware of our need for God and our need to be saved.

What we are saved from is our sins that separated us from God for all eternity and saved from spending eternity in hell.

According to the Bible, Jesus is the only person who can save us from our sins and save us from eternal hell. By believing in Him, Jesus will save us from all this.

This is why Paul said;

“ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; “

When a person acknowledges his need to be rescued from his or her sins and repents of his desire for sin because of being conscious toward God, and believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ, then Jesus forgives our sins, cleanses us with His blood, and sets us free from sin to live for Him. Hell is no longer a fear since he has been delivered from going to eternal hell because of his faith in Jesus.

Notice Paul said;

“ to every one that believeth; “

Salvation is available to all human beings…not select ones.

Nowhere in the Holy Bible does it teach that salvation is only for people who God pre-selected to be saved.

Salvation is for whosoever will.

The church tradition of “ chosen “ does not guarantee salvation to anyone.

Israel was and still is God’s “chosen” but yet most of them are still not saved.

This is why Paul said;

“ Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. “     Romans 10:1-4

Even Jews must believe in God’s only plan of salvation and entrance into Heaven even though they are God’s “chosen”.

Being chosen for the follower of Jesus is done by God through foreknowledge, not random pre-selection.

Church tradition doctrine of the famous “chosen” and random pre-selection teaches a person is automatically saved without repentance and without faith in God’s only plan of salvation…Jesus. It concludes that if a pre-selected person should die before making it to the altar, he or she would still be automatically saved, not because of repentance and faith in the gospel as Jesus taught, but rather pre-selection, which is contrary to what Jesus taught.

My friend, if salvation was already pre-selected then there would be no need for Jesus at all, nor would there be the need to repent and believe the gospel and God needlessly put it in all human beings to know God’s only plan of salvation and be given the chance to believe…as Paul said;

“ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; “

Descendents of the 16^th century philosopher of predestination and eternal security are divided amongst themselves, as some cling to his philosophy of eternal security but reject his philosophy of predestination.

In either case, both philosophical views as taught today is merely used as a license to sin.

To the contrary, the Bible teaches to commit one’s heart and life to Jesus if he or she claims to follow Jesus and to follow His example, and to come out from among the world and be different from the world.

Predestination and eternal security does not teach this.

Rather it condones sin and it does not matter, since a predestined person and eternally secured person is automatically going to make it to Heaven no matter what he or she does or believes.

As I stated earlier, the Greek word meaning for salvation includes the definition of “saving” which is also a continuous process.

A change in this process can happen and it is known by the Biblical term…”apostasy.”

A Calvinist follower pastor once said about salvation - “ However, there is the issue of apostasy.”

Apostasy, a term Jesus, Paul and Peter used goes against the church tradition philosophy of predestination and eternal security.

I will continue with verse 17 in the next study.

Wayne Brown