Double-dipping

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 has never been popular. Paul, the church’s first missionary and traveling evangelist, proclaimed a message that enraged the Jews and was ridiculed by the Gentiles. Paul knew well how unbelievable and how heretical the message sounded, because that is exactly how it had sounded to him when he first heard it.

Paul, though, had seen the gospel’s effect. He had been radically changed by the power of God through the gospel message. That arrogant, legalistic, angry Saul, who had encountered the living Jesus, no longer lived. He was no more. In his body, there lived a brand-new creation. His life was a living authentication of the truth of the gospel.

Far from feeling ashamed of the gospel, Paul was so proud of it that he could not hold back. He had seen its effect over and over: the power of God brings salvation to everyone who believes on Jesus Christ. In the message, real righteousness is revealed—righteousness that God imparts, not the righteousness that the old Saul and many of his peers were trying to achieve by their own best efforts. This was a righteousness received by faith in who Jesus is and what he has done.

The gospel promises that the power of God will produce in you and do for you what you can’t possibly accomplish for yourself: what Christ has done for you means that your sins are forgiven and you are in right standing with God. Who Christ is in you means that the power of God is at work to produce the righteous life he desires you to have.

What Christ did for you and who Christ is in you—this is real righteousness revealed.

Lord, thank you for such a full salvation purchased at such cost.

To be in Christ—that makes you fit for heaven; but for Christ to be in you—that makes you fit for earth! . . . The one makes heaven your home—the other makes this world His workshop.

Major W. Ian Thomas(1914–2007), English writer and theology teacher