This word—salvation—has become a religious cliché that many people associate with the initial born-again experience.
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16
Those who have been exposed to evangelical Christianity often believe that salvation is an experience—a one-time occurrence where you get your past sins forgiven. It continues on indefinitely, and we grow in it, but there’s a definite beginning place—an experience where you pass from death to life. Although this is true, it’s incomplete. Biblical salvation isn’t limited only to this initial born-again experience where we get our sins forgiven.
Salvation is everything Jesus purchased for us through the atonement. Sozo—the Greek word from which “salvation” was translated the vast majority of times in the New Testament—means more than just forgiveness of sins. It’s also healing, deliverance, and prosperity.1 Sozo—salvation—is an all-inclusive word that summarizes everything that Christ provided for us through His death, burial, and resurrection.
Sozo was also applied to healing a number of times in the New Testament. James 5:14-15 vividly illustrates how salvation includes both healing and forgiveness of sins:
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save [sozo] the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Salvation is a package deal. It’s not only forgiveness of sins, but it also includes healing, deliverance, and prosperity. Therefore, when the Scripture says that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, it’s not just talking about how to be born again and have your sins forgiven. It also means that the Gospel—the grace of God—is the power of God unto healing, unto deliverance, unto prosperity—unto everything that comes to us as a result of being born again. It’s talking about your relationship with God.
Do you need to be healed? The power for healing is in the Gospel. Do you need to be prospered financially? The power for financial prosperity is in the Gospel. Do you need to be delivered from the power of demonic influence, from depression, from yourself, or from something else? The power for deliverance is in the Gospel!
You might be thinking, But I’ve heard the Gospel and I still need healing in my body. I don’t believe we’ve truly understood the Gospel. It’s more than just understanding that Jesus came to the earth to set us free. It’s also understanding how God set us free through Jesus coming to the earth. It’s how we relate to God based on grace (what Jesus did) instead of performance (what we do).
Satan tries to get us to earn the things of God, to make ourselves our savior, to put our faith in what we’ve done instead of faith in Christ as our only means of receiving from God. This is his biggest weapon against us!
The devil cannot effectively discredit God. Anyone who has had an encounter with the Lord, and has any sense at all, knows that God is beyond being impugned in any way. He’s perfect and faithful. All His promises are true. It’s not even an issue.
So instead of coming right out and telling people that God doesn’t heal (prosper, deliver) today, Satan deceives them into thinking that they must do something in order to earn God’s provision. This causes them to doubt the Lord’s willingness to use His ability on their behalf. Instead of relating to and receiving from God based on His grace, goodness, and mercy, they try to earn God’s gift through human effort. Can you see how this lie is contrary to the Gospel?
I’ve had many people come up to me in prayer lines, asking, “Why aren’t I healed? I’ve fasted, prayed, and studied the Word. I pay my tithes and go to church. I’m doing the best I can! What does God demand?” A person like that has just told me why they aren’t healed. They didn’t point to what Jesus did for them. They’re pointing to what they’ve been doing for Jesus. Most people believe that God moves in their lives proportional to their performance. That’s just not true!
This is what Paul was preaching against. He wrote this letter to a group of people who were being influenced by Jewish thought. This Jewish mindset was based on the concept that you had to keep the law, do all these things, and only if you were holy enough would God accept you. In other words, this was a religious system preaching: “God is God and you’re a sinner. He’s angry with you. Unless you repent, there will be no mercy for you!” It was a religious system of thought that used the preaching of God’s wrath to turn people from sin through fear of punishment.
Then Paul came along and said, “I’m not ashamed of the Gospel!” This word gospel has become such a religious cliché that many who embrace it today don’t even really know what it means. But in Paul’s day, they knew exactly what he was saying. He was talking to people who were literally trying to scare the devil out of people through fear of wrath and punishment. That was their total approach to God. Into this mindset walked the apostle of grace, saying, “I’m not ashamed to tell people about the goodness, grace, and mercy of God. The Lord loves us in spite of who we are and what we’ve done.” Now that’s good news!
Of course, the religious folks of Paul’s day thought this was terrible. “What he’s preaching is heresy! People need to recognize and relate to God based on how sorry they are. We are nothing but worms in His sight—no good!” This is really a deception. “God is angry with me. I have to improve and do all these things.” Wrong! On the surface it looks like they’re really turning from self, but in reality it’s actually making that person’s relationship with God dependent on themselves—how much they’ve done for the Lord, how holy they are, how much they’ve denied themselves, how good they are. This is actually a very self-centered, self-dependent way of approaching God.
Paul came along and talked about God’s goodness and grace. He said to just receive by grace. It’s the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. (Rom. 2:4.) The only way we can turn from self-reliance is by putting all of our faith, dependence, and hope in God’s goodness, mercy, and grace.
It’s the Gospel that has power in it. Our holiness and efforts to perform won’t set us free from guilt and condemnation. We need to humble ourselves and say, “Father, I can’t do it. I need a Savior. I come to You and throw myself upon Your goodness, mercy, and grace.” That’s what breaks the dominion of sin over us.
Since most people relate to God based on fear instead of love, no doubt the immediate response of those Paul was writing to would’ve been, “But you can’t do this! People have to know how ungodly they are. How will they turn from their sin unless they understand God’s wrath?” Paul answered this question by saying:
The wrath of God is revealed [not going to be, but already is revealed] from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath [past tense] shewed it unto them.
Romans 1:18,19
God’s wrath has already been revealed intuitively inside of every person. Each individual has within them an intuitive knowledge of God’s wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. So, when someone wonders, If I just tell people about the goodness of God, what will make them understand that they are sinners in need of salvation who need to turn from sin? Paul’s answer was that they already knew. In their hearts, people already know that they aren’t God, but sinners in need of salvation.
The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
Even the people who have lived in the most remote parts of the earth and have never had anyone preach the Gospel to them will be accountable to God when they stand before Him someday in eternity. Why? Because they had this intuitive knowledge that there is a God and they’re separated from Him and in need of salvation. They’ll be “without excuse.” Many Old Testament scriptures agree.
I saw this truth vividly illustrated as a soldier in Vietnam. Outside of my brigade headquarters, there were three very old temples standing side by side. Since there was only about a foot between each of them, the three taken together appeared as one larger temple. At the time I saw them, trees were growing out of them and parts were falling down through the effects of weather and lack of use. When I asked about them, someone told me that these temples predated the introduction of Christianity to Vietnam by at least 500 years. However, these people worshiped a god that was manifest in three persons. This relates to what Christianity calls the Trinity. I’m not saying that these people worshiped the true God or that they had a true revelation of Him. But this does show this intuitive knowledge of the Godhead that Paul was referring to in verses 18-20.
Many of my fellow soldiers in Vietnam professed to be atheists. They tried to deny this knowledge in their hearts that they were sinners. One such fellow barged in on one of my Bible studies and ruined it. He threw lofty intellectual questions at me that I couldn’t answer. He left laughing and took all the people with him. It looked like I was a total loser in that situation.
While he was grilling me, I kept saying, “I don’t know the answers to all of these questions, but I know in my heart that God is real. And I know that you know in your heart that God is real. You’re just trying to deceive yourself.” He kept answering, “Nope, there is no God. I have no conviction, no awareness of God.” He maintained that front all the way out the door.
However, within thirty minutes he came back into that chapel where I was sitting and began to cry. Between tears, he blubbered, “I want what you’ve got. I know there’s a God!” You see, when the bombs began falling and the bullets started to fly, I’d hear those same guys who called themselves atheists scream out to God for mercy at the top of their lungs. The old saying rings true: There are no atheists in foxholes!
What Paul said in Romans 1:18-20 is true. Every person has this intuitive knowledge of God. Sure, they may get into some type of mind game and try to sidestep it. But ultimately, the truth is that this knowledge has indeed come to them.
For the rest of Romans, chapter 1, Paul began explaining how these people—who have this intuitive knowledge of God’s wrath—end up living the way they do. It’s a progression.
Because that, when they knew God [this intuitive knowledge], they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Romans 1:21
Their hearts became hardened toward the things of God. Then, from that point, there were progressive steps further away from Him. In their foolishness (v. 22) they worshiped animals (v. 23), dishonored their bodies (v. 24), and became idolaters (v. 25). Because of this God gave them up to “vile affections” (v. 26) and a “reprobate mind” (v. 28). The rest of Romans 1 shows progressive steps they took away from God.
The point is that you don’t have to literally bombard people with their sin and the fact that they are a sinner on their way to hell. Deep in their hearts they already know it because of this intuitive knowledge. You may need to spend some time on that issue in order to make your point and strike that chord in their hearts, but not like the legalistic Jewish approach that condemned people and put many restrictions and bondages on them. Paul was saying, “That’s not the true approach.”
It’s the Gospel—the nearly-too-good-to-be-true news that God has provided salvation for us by grace—that empowers men to receive the forgiveness of their sins, the healing of their bodies, the deliverance from Satan’s oppression, and whatever else they need. We don’t need to convince people they are sinners and get them condemned. They already know that and feel condemned. We need to show them the way out of the mess they’re in. That’s what the Gospel does!
