Apr 26 - 40 - Romans 1:16

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

Romans 1:16

Bible Rank: 40

 

This is arguably the most important Bible verse in the last 500 years. 

 

Why?

 

Because this is the verse that launched the Reformation. 

 

Martin Luther grew up in an age when people were taught to be afraid of God. God was painted as angry and unforgiving. And the only hope for salvation was living a perfect life -- no sins, no transgressions, no failures. 

 

And it was hopeless, because "we all sin and fall short of God's glorious standard." Martin Luther found that last line in chapter 3 of Romans, along with the crystal clear assurance that we are justified by grace through faith rather than a hopelessly slavish dependence on works. 

 

Those verses confirmed what Luther found in Romans 1 -- today's freeing verse -- that the Good News (the Gospel) comes to all who ... do what?

 

It's not act perfectly, live perfectly, achieve sinlessness (an impossibility, though it should be our goal); rather, the Good News comes to all who accept the love, sacrifice, and reality of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We call this belief. It is simply, wonderfully, victoriously, trusting in him. 

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who wants to relaunch

the freedom of the Reformation

and the clarity of the Gospel

in a world that lacks clarity

and therefore freedom