Gospel Power

Romans 1:16-17

"For 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.'"

1:16-17 is the theme and the thesis statement of Romans in summary form. It summarizes Paul's theology as a whole.

"These two verses have an importance out of all proportion to their length." Leon Morris on Rom 1:16-17.

"The gospel is not advice to people, suggesting that they lift themselves. It is power. It lifts them up. Paul does not say that the gospel brings power, but that it is power, and God's power at that." Leon Morris on the gospel's inherent power.

1. The word translated "for" or "because" is used three times in 1:16-17. How would you explain this?
2. Why was Paul not ashamed of the gospel (16a)? See 1 Cor 1:18; 2:4-5; 4:20; 2 Cor 4:7; 6:7; 12:9; Eph 3:7; 1 Th 1:5. How do Christians sometimes show a lack of faith in the power of the gospel?
3. What is the condition, universality and restriction for salvation (16)? What are the 3 tenses of salvation (Eph 2:8; Tit 3:5; 2 Tim 1:9; 1 Cor 1:18; 2 Cor 2:15; Phil 2:12; Rom 5:9-10)? Why can't we save ourselves (Eph 2:1, 4-5)? How does faith happen (10:17, 11-14)? How might faith be misunderstood as a work on our part?
4. What does the gospel reveal? Explain the "righteousness of/from God" (1:17; 3:21-26; Phil 3:9) in three ways?
5. How do you react when you think of the righteousness of God being imputed to you through the power of God? What feelings, if any, rise up in your heart? What response, if any, ought this to evoke in our souls?
6. Explain "by faith from first to last" (NIV), "from faith to faith" (NASB), "from faith for faith" (ESV), "from start to finish by faith" (NLT)?