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WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? (1 OF 26)

by Jonathan McLeod

Scripture: Romans 1:1-17
This content is part of a series.


What Is the Gospel? (1 of 26)
Series: Romans:The Gospel of God
Jonathan McLeod
Romans 1:1-17


[The gospel] is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).

THE BOOK OF ROMANS

Martin Luther believed that their was no greater book in the Bible than the book of Romans:

This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.

But Luther didn't always feel this way about Romans:

I had...been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But...a single word in chapter 1...stood in my way. For I hated that word ''righteousness of God,'' which...I had been taught to under-stand...is the righteousness [with which God] punished the unrighteous sinner.

What caused Luther to go from hating the word ''righteousness'' in the book of Romans to loving everything about Romans?

[Read Romans 1:1-17.]

The book of Romans is a letter. It was written by the apostle Paul around A.D. 57. It was written to believers in Rome. The theme of the letter is the gospel.

Paul writes, ''[I have been] set apart for the gospel of God'' (v. 1); ''I am eager to preach the gospel to you'' (v. 15); and ''I am not ashamed of the gospel'' (v. 16). But what is the gospel? The word ''gospel'' means ''good news.'' But what's the good news?


SALVATION

The gospel is ''the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes'' (v. 16). The gospel is about salvation. Salvation from what? Verse 18 says, ''The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.'' We are guilty of unrighteousness. We need to be saved from the wrath of God. The wrath of God is his hol ...

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