Saved By Gospel Dynamite
"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." (Romans 1: 16)
This passage destroys the Hardshell "Spirit Alone" or "No Means" paradigm of "regeneration," of being born again, of being called and quickened. The "gospel" has the power to "save." Hardshells deny this. They deny that it has power to save from spiritual death. It can help the one already saved, saving him from temporal pitfalls and earthly grief and loss, but it cannot save him to heaven or from the guilt of sin.
By their interpretation the gospel is not the power of God to save in the sense of quickening, regenerating, begetting, or eternally saving the dead sinner. One must be born again before he can hear and believe the gospel, say the Hardshells, and therefore the hearing and believing of the gospel can be no means in it.
The consequences of this view are several. First, it denies that the gospel has power to "save" in every respect, that it has power in itself to save from spiritual death, or to regenerate. Second, it denies that the gospel has power to save any and all, but only those of the elect who, by their own free will decision, choose for it to save them, temporally speaking.
Hardshells interpret "everyone who believes" as "everyone who is regenerated." But, for most of them, this presents a problem. Do they believe that EVERYONE of the regenerate is saved by the gospel? No. Yet, the verse says, using their own interpretation, - "the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to EVERY regenerated person." How will they answer this? Will they say that it is only potentially the power of God to all the regenerated or that it is actually? If they say actually, then they will be denying Hardshellism, which denies that all the elect will be both regenerated and converted. If they say potentially, then they believe the very idea they elsewhere condemn when combating "Arminianism." They condemn the idea that the gospel is potentially the power of God to save any and every person in the world.
God, gospel, power, salvation, and faith, all in the same sentence! What is the relation of each to the other? It takes divine power to save sinners, that is obvious. God is the Savior. Who does he save? He saves the believer. What does the believer believe? What is his faith? The Hardshells cannot tell us, yet they affirm that the one who is called a "believer," in Romans 1: 16, is one who is such before he has heard the gospel. He is not a "believer" in terms of the gospel. He is not a believer in the one true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is not a believer in the lordship of Jesus, but believes in other gods and lords. The Hardshells will say that this kind of "believer" was made so in regeneration. But, again, we ask them to tell us what this "believer" believes! Also, how can he say one is made a believer in regeneration but then say that there is no knowledge, revelation, or cognition in regeneration? Is the Hardshell regenerated infant a believer?
Romans 1: 16 sets the context for the entire book of Romans. Does this book deal with a temporal salvation for a small remnant of the elect, or with eternal salvation for all the elect? Whatever salvation is the theme of the book of Romans is the salvation first introduced in Romans 1: 16. To say the book of Romans deals with eternal salvation but Rom. 1: 16 does not, is to disregard context in bible interpretation.
Obviously the gospel is the potential power of God unto salvation to everyone unbeliever who hears it, but it is only actually the power of God unto salvation to those unbelievers who repent and believe. When Paul says "to everyone who believes," he means "to everyone who believes the gospel."
This verse is not saying that the gospel is the power of God to save the saved. That would be nonsense.
On this verse, the old Baptist theologian, Dr. John Gill, wrote:
"...it is the power of God organically or instrumentally; as it is a means made use of by God in quickening dead sinners, enlightening blind eyes, unstopping deaf ears, softening hard hearts, and making of enemies friends; to which add, the manner in which all this is done, suddenly, secretly, effectually, and by love, and not force: the extent of this power is,
unto salvation; the Gospel is a declaration and revelation of salvation by Christ, and is a means of directing and encouraging souls to lay hold upon it."
Paul uses no adjective before "salvation," which he would do if he were talking about a limited aspect of salvation, but speaks of salvation in the general, in all its parts. The normal, nigh universal, usage of the term "salvation," in scripture, respects eternal salvation from the guilt and consequences of sin. To affirm that the "salvation" of Romans 1: 16 represents an abnormal significance requires proof from the context to demonstrate it. But, Hardshells can offer no contextual reasons for denying that the "salvation" is the same salvation spoken about throughout the new testament. If Paul were a Hardshell he would be afraid of being called an "Arminian" and would not want to be misunderstood as affirming that the gospel was a means in eternal salvation and so he would have put a qualifier before the word "salvation." But, Paul was no Hardshell.
This salvation was the topic of the book of Romans and deals with that salvation affected by Jesus Christ for the redemption of sinners.
Jesus said that he was sending Paul to the Gentile world in order that the lost might be "turned from the power of Satan unto God," that they might "be turned from darkness to light," that they might be enlightened with a knowledge of Christ, that they might "receive the forgiveness of sins." (Acts 26: 18) This is the salvation that the gospel, as the power of God, produces.
The Greek word for "power" is "dynamis," where we get our word "dynamite." That is what the Gospel is when wielded by God on the hearts of his elect. It is spiritual dynamite to explode and break their hard hearts and to create in them a new heart. God's word is "fire" and a "hammer" (Jer. 23: 29). As a fire it can burn away the old sinful nature and as a hammer can easily break rocky hearts.
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