What does it mean that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16)?

These two verses are the key verses of the Epistle. The great words of the doctrinal part of the Epistle are found here. Righteousness and Faith are these words; Paul declared that he is not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. It cannot mean, what it is often said to mean, that Paul was not ashamed to confess Christ. It means that he had the utmost confidence in the Gospel of Christ; he knew it would not make him ashamed; he was not ashamed of it because of its intrinsic character. The world sneered at the Gospel he preached "for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness" (1 Corinthians 1:18). He knew that in the Gospel was embodied the highest wisdom, that God Himself was its author, that it came from God and leads to God; he knew that through the Gospel the Greek, the Jew, the Barbarian could be saved out of the horrible pit and the miry clay and become a child of God and an heir of God. He was not ashamed of it for "the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation." What weighty words these are! The power of God is needed to save man. And that power God has, to save the vilest sinner through the Gospel of Christ. God is omnipotent, but in one thing God is powerless, He cannot save sinners apart from the Gospel of Christ, for the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. The spurious Gospel of today, which denies the Cross of Christ and the blood, which substitutes character, good works or something else for faith in the Work of Christ as sin-bearer, has no power to save. God cannot save in any other way than the way made known in the Gospel of Christ, who died for our sins. And what is salvation? It includes the whole of Christ's redemption work. It includes Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification. Saved from the guilt of sins; saved from the power of sin; saved from the presence of sin. Salvation from wrath and eternal damnation; salvation from the power of darkness and sin's awful dominion; salvation unto eternal glory. The word includes all the sinner needs. The cross of Christ has supplied every need. If man had to do something with it and could help along in his salvation, it would be an imperfect and insecure salvation. But God being the author, it is His salvation and thus (Acts 28:28) it is a perfect salvation, a salvation which is both deliverance and safety forever. (Philippians 2:12 "Work out your own salvation" is often quoted as meaning that we must work to be saved and to stay saved. It means that we are to work out with results the salvation which is ours by faith in Jesus Christ.) And this salvation is to any one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Faith is the means of obtaining this salvation. Of this we shall hear more in the third and fourth chapters. Furthermore, in the Gospel "the righteousness of God" is revealed. This great word will receive our closest attention in the annotations of the third chapter. Here we briefly state that the Gospel of Christ makes known that the very righteousness of God, which condemns a sinner, is now on the side of the believing sinner. it is revealed from faith to faith, which means that it is not on the principle of works, but on the principle of faith.

And he gives his reason: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith." That is, it is the power of God unto salvation, not because it is victory (which at the beginning of the soul's career would only give importance to man even if possible, which it is not), but because it is "the righteousness of God." It is not God seeking, or man bringing righteousness. In the gospel there is revealed God's righteousness. Thus the introduction opened with Christ's person, and closes with God's righteousness. The law demanded, but could never receive righteousness from man. Christ is come, and has changed all. God is revealing a righteousness of His own in the gospel. It is God who now makes known a righteousness to man, instead of looking for any from man. Undoubtedly there are fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, and God values them — I will not say from man, but from His saints; but here it is what, according to the apostle, God has for man. It is for the saints to learn, of course; but it is that which goes out in its own force and necessary aim to the need of man — a divine righteousness, which justifies instead of condemning him who believes. It is "the power of God unto salvation." It is for the lost, therefore; for they it is who need salvation; and it is to save — not merely to quicken, but to save; and this because in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed.

In verse 16 the apostle began to establish the character of the gospel: God Himself, who acts with power when man is totally lost. Therefore, where the gospel is brought, God no longer asks anything from man; He does not demand works as a way of straightening things out between him and God. God acts; His power is working for the benefit of man. Not to help him, but to save him, for this power is for salvation. Faith is the means whereby one secures salvation, which is for both Jew and Greek. for oneself. The law, given to Israel, is therefore set aside as a means of salvation, and faith has taken its place.

However it might be, he was ready, and that because of the value of the gospel — a point which leads him to state both the value and the character of this gospel. For, he says, he was not ashamed of it. It was the power of God to salvation. Observe here the way in which the apostle presents everything as coming from God. It is the gospel of God, the power of God to salvation, the righteousness of God, and even the wrath of God, and that from heaven — a different thing from earthly chastisement. This is the key to everything. The apostle lays stress upon it, putting it forward from the commencement of the epistle; for man ever inclines to have confidence in himself, to boast of himself, to seek for some merit — some righteousness, in himself, to Judaise, to be occupied with himself, as though he could do something. It was the apostle's joy to put his God forward.

Thus, in the gospel, God intervened, accomplishing a salvation which was entirely His own work — a salvation of which He was the source and power, and which He Himself had wrought. Man came into it by faith: it was the believer who shared it, but to have part in it by faith was exactly the way to share it without adding anything whatsoever to it, and to leave it wholly the salvation of God. God be praised that it is so, whether for righteousness or for power, or for the whole result; for thus it is perfect, divine. God has come in, in His almighty power and in His love, to deliver the wretched, according to His own might. The gospel is the expression of this: one believes it and one shares it.

The gospel is still the power of God unto salvation. The same power which raised Christ from the dead brings sinners to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. It gives spiritual life to the dead, imparts peace to the tormented conscience, delivers from the love of sin and unholy associations, and makes the soul happy and at rest in the presence of God. Thus a vast change is produced. You may, perhaps, have seen a drowning man just taken out of the water in a state of senselessness and inanimation. The anxious bystanders feel for the pulse in vain; they place their ears to the mouth, and watch and listen with breathless silence for that bosom once more to heave a sigh; they move the eyelids, but all sense of light seems extinguished; they call aloud, yet not a single feature moves in response. But powerful remedies are used, and in a little while the apparently lifeless form moves, the features beam with happy intelligence, and fully manifest every faculty of vigour and animation. How great the change! How powerful the remedies! What a vast alteration in the person! Yet this is but a feeble illustration of the power of the gospel of God in those who pass from death unto life.

Observe then that the gospel is preached for salvation, not to improve man in the flesh but to save him; not to help the efforts of nature religiously, but to bring him to God; for the obedience of faith not of all nations, but among all nations; it is not therefore preached to better the world, nor to convert the world, but it is the power of God unto salvation to individuals, to everyone that believes. Now the power of God unto salvation is very specific in its meaning, a large expression; for while the freeness of the grace of God is shown in its blessing to every one that believes, fulness is set forth in not stopping short in its blessing of planting the saved one bodily in the presence of God in heavenly glory. We know that we are "called unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus," and that "he suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust that he might bring us to God." (1 Peter 5:10; 1 Peter 3:18.) Not but that it is quite correct now to speak of believers as "saved," for we have the salvation of our souls now by faith, as scripture says, "Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." But we wait for salvation in its full sense, "The redemption of our body," "the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time," when in spiritual bodies, suited to heavenly and eternal glory, and conformed to the image of the Son, we shall be in full possession and enjoyment of this great salvation.

The gospel then is the power of God unto salvation, because in the cross of Christ the foundation was laid in righteousness for its accomplishment, according to the eternal purpose and grace of God, to give life and righteousness in Christ Jesus to every one that believeth. We have therefore, by the power of God in the gospel, deliverance from the wrath to come, remission of sins, present possession of eternal life, justification by the blood of Christ, peace with God, sonship, the gift of the Holy Ghost, hope of glory and much more. As the Father has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light, we must wait for God's Son from heaven, for then we shall know the full power of God to us in this great salvation. Our hope then is glory. We do not hope for righteousness, for, as we have seen, the gospel reveals that Christ is our righteousness; but we hope for that to which righteousness established in the accomplished work of Jesus entitles us, even glory. "We, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." (Gal. 5:5.) "We look for the Saviour who shall change this body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working, whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." (Phil. 3:20-21.) Then "salvation" will be fully consummated; and in this sense we can say, "Now is our salvation nearer [not surer] than when we believed;" because, as time rolls on, it hastens the blissful period of our Lord's return. Well has an apostle called it, "this great salvation." It will not then be only salvation from the guilt and dominion of sin, the salvation of the soul, and deliverance from the wrath to come; but salvation from this old creation and its belongings, from a body of frailty and infirmity, changed in a moment, and bodily translated into the presence of God and the Lamb for ever. Then, in uncreated light, we shall see His face; then we shall realise fully what we now apprehend so feebly, and sound forth so faintly, that "the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." H. H. Snell.

Observe then that the gospel is preached for salvation, not to improve man in the flesh, but to save him; not to help the efforts of nature religiously, but to bring him to God; for the obedience of faith, not of all nations, but among all nations. It is not therefore preached to better the world, nor to convert the world, but it is the power of God unto salvation to individuals, "to every one that believeth." Now the power of God unto salvation is very specific in its meaning — a large expression; for while the freeness of the grace of God is shown in its blessing to every one that believes, fulness is set forth in not stopping short, in its blessing, of planting the saved one bodily in the presence of God in heavenly glory. We know that we are "called unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus," and that He "suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." (1 Peter 5:10; 1 Peter 3:18.) Not but that it is quite correct now to speak of believers as "saved," for we have the salvation of our souls now by faith, as Scripture says, "Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." But we wait for salvation in its full sense, "The redemption of our body," "the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time," when, in spiritual bodies, suited to heavenly and eternal glory, and conformed to the image of the Son, we shall be in full possession and enjoyment of this great salvation.

The gospel then is the power of God unto salvation, because in the cross of Christ the foundation was laid in righteousness for its accomplishment, according to the eternal purpose and grace of God, to give life and righteousness in Christ Jesus to every one that believeth. We have, therefore, by the power of God in the gospel, deliverance from the wrath to come, remission of sins, present possession of eternal life, justification by the blood of Christ, peace with God, sonship, the gift of the Holy Ghost, hope of glory, and much more. As the Father has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light, we wait for God's Son from heaven; for then we shall know the full power of God to us in this great salvation. Our hope then is glory. We do not hope for righteousness, for, as we have seen, the gospel reveals that Christ is our righteousness; but we hope for that, to which righteousness established in the accomplished work of Jesus entitles us, even glory. "We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." (Gal. 5:5.) We look for the Saviour who shall change this body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working, whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. (Phil. 3:20-21.) Then "salvation" will be fully consummated; and in this sense we can say, "Now is our salvation nearer [not surer] than when we believed;" because, as time rolls on, it hastens the blissful period of our Lord's return. It will not then be only salvation from the guilt and dominion of sin, the salvation of the soul, and deliverance from the wrath to come; but salvation from this old creation and its belongings, from a body of frailty and infirmity, for we shall be changed in a moment, and bodily translated into the presence of God and the Lamb for ever. Then, in uncreated light, we shall see His face; then we shall realise fully what we now apprehend so feebly, and sound forth so faintly, that the gospel "is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." "My hope is built on nothing less Than Christ the Lord my righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame; But wholly lean on Jesus' name; On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand."

First, he says, "It is the power of God to salvation". God is its source. It is not man coming to God with his works, but God approaching man with salvation. We can understand God's power to judge a guilty sinner, but the marvel of the gospel is that it reveals God's power to save a sinner who deserves to be judged.

Secondly, it is God's power to save "every one" that believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. Man comes into the blessing of the gospel by faith, and "to have part in it by faith was exactly to share it without adding anything whatsoever to it, and to leave it wholly the salvation of God" (J.N.D).

As to the gospel itself, he was by no means ashamed to speak of it, even to those who lived at Rome. What though this proud city was the centre of all earthly power, the gospel was God's power. Rome's power was to bring people into its empire by forced submission: God's power was for the salvation of every believer, by means of the gospel, bringing them into His kingdom and under His sway in grace. In it, God reveals His righteousness for the benefit of all who exercise faith in Him. What a mercy it is that we need not be terrified at the thought of the righteousness of God, seeing that it secures the salvation of everyone who in his heart believes the gospel (vv. 14, 17).

No wonder then that the apostle was not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. And the gospel is not, as is so often thought, a mere display of mercy irrespective of God's moral glory; for therein is revealed God's righteousness by faith unto faith. The law was God's just claim on man; the gospel is the glad tidings of salvation as the fruit of Christ's death and resurrection, and therein of God's undertaking for man and delivering him that believes. It is God's, not man's, righteousness, and hence is is revealed to faith, so as to be as open to the Greek as to the Jew, faith (not law) being the only source and way and principle of blessing for a lost sinner.