All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95), published by The Lockman Foundation

The world, controlled by Satan and his hosts, will stop at nothing to prevent people from listening to, and understanding, the truths of the Lord Jesus. This is even truer today than it’s ever been. Deceptions abound, distractions abound, and believers in the Lord Jesus are not exempt from these dangers. The westernized culture in which most of us live constantly bombards us with useless information that is intended to prevent us from carefully understanding the truth of Scripture, so that we can know the Lord and His will more.

Aside from obvious distractions and lies, the great danger of the world’s messages consists most of all in its corruption, and addition to, the truths of Scripture. This is because the enemies of Christ know that the full and unadulterated truth is the only thing that will bring sinners to salvation, and saints to increasing conformity to Christ’s image, and to greater impact on the world. It’s been said by many wise Christian leaders that one of the greatest disputes among professing believers today isn’t the authority of Scripture, but its sufficiency. The question is, is the truth of Scripture sufficient to teach us all we need to know about the essential truths of the universe, about God, and about ourselves? Scripture is clear in many places that it holds all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and is able to make all believers competent for every good deed (2 Ti. 3:16-17).

Unfortunately, many believers don’t appreciate the vital importance of understanding, believing, and practicing God’s Word, as well as its exclusive power to change people’s hearts, minds, affections, and lifestyles. Scripture is clear that the Lord has imbedded in His messages all the power and information that’s necessary to save people’s souls, and to renew their minds in righteousness and holiness, according to the true knowledge of God. What’s more is that many believers deny the importance, power, and value of God’s Word in their everyday conversation. Too many believers neglect to bring the truth of Scripture to every conversation, so that they can either be used by the Lord to convict sinners, or to encourage their brethren to greater love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24-25).

In this article, we’ll take a survey of the apostles’ teaching on the power of God’s Word, as primarily expressed in the gospel, and how believers should treat it to accomplish the Lord’s purposes for their service of others.

The Basic Truths of the Gospel Message

What is the gospel? It’s the good news of the Lord Jesus, concerning His identity, His life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and our responsibility to Him. Paul the apostle sums it up in the fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, and verses 1-4 like this:

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . .”

The first thing I want you to notice is that Paul explicitly says that the gospel is the instrument that directly saves those who believe it. Inherent in the gospel is God’s power to change minds and hearts, so that the affected person puts his trust in the Lord Jesus. Paul says this very thing in his letter to the Romans, declaring,
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel; for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes . . .” (Ro. 1:16a)

Paul couldn’t be much clearer here – the gospel is the power that God uses to bestow salvation on all who truly believe it. Therefore, it’s no wonder that he considered it the message of first importance (v. 3).

And what is the content of the gospel? Paul puts it very simply, but packed in his words is a wealth of essential truth. The first subject of the gospel is Christ, which literally means “anointed One.” As the anointed One, Jesus is God the Father’s specially appointed representative, Redeemer, Mediator, and King. As the only One who could represent God to us, and us to God, so as to reconcile us to Him through His infinitely valuable suffering and death, God sent His eternally existent, and co-equal, Son to earth to become the man, Jesus Messiah. As the anointed One, He was completely empowered by the Holy Spirit to begin the work of redemption through His miracles and teachings, and to then consummate it through His death on the cross.

The second main element of the gospel is that the Anointed “died for our sins according to the Scriptures”. When Paul says that He died for our sins, he means that He died because of our sins. And what are sins? Crimes against God. As such, we are condemned for them, and deserve God’s punishment, which is eternal death, or separation from everything good. The good news is that the Anointed suffered that death for our sins. In other words, He suffered and died in our place, taking that punishment that we deserve for our sins. God the Father treated Jesus as if He had committed our sins. The reason this was necessary is because God hates sinners, and must punish those who rebel against Him and misrepresent Him. But it’s also necessary because God is loving and compassionate, and wants to forgive people, and make them His children. Thus, in order for God to forgive us, the justice due to us must be satisfied. This satisfaction was made for all who trust in Jesus when He died for our sins. With the debt of our sins being paid, and God’s hatred against our sins being appeased, He can now justly forgive all who repent and ask His forgiveness because of Jesus.

But there’s a final necessary facet of the gospel that can’t be neglected. After dying, the Anointed rose from the dead on the third day afterward. By doing so, He proved that all He said about Himself was true, and also initiated the life of the new creation, or eternal life, by which He’s able to grant eternal life to all who receive it from Him. The way He began this was by ascending into heaven after He arose, through His spiritual life of eternity, in order to enter into God’s heavenly presence as our representative, to exercise control over the universe through the Holy Spirit, and to receive the authority to grant the life of the Spirit to all believers. To reiterate, it’s necessary that the gospel include the Anointed One’s resurrection, since it proves that He truly paid for our sins, and that He’s the Giver of God’s peace, and the eternal life that we all need if we’re to know God, and live with Him in the age to come.

The Power of the Gospel Message to Save

As we’ve briefly mentioned, the gospel isn’t only good news for condemned sinners, but is also powerful in its application by the Spirit to transform hearts. In other words, one of its many abilities is to save sinners from their sinfulness, and therefore from God’s wrath. It does this by changing minds, and by enabling sinners to repent and believe in Jesus, through the Spirit’s power.

James the elder expresses this same thing we saw Paul describing in James 1:21, where he urges,

“. . . putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”

A major difference with Paul’s previous descriptions is that here, James is addressing this saving promise to believers. So here we see that the gospel isn’t only able to save unbelievers, but is also able to save believers. The main implication of this is that the gospel not only introduces salvation, but that it also sustains and completes salvation. This is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15 that the gospel only has saving power for believers if they “hold fast” to it by continuing to believe it.

Thankfully, the gospel not only saves believers, but it also gives them the ability to be saved. Because sinners, by nature, are unable and unwilling to trust God’s promise of salvation, God Himself must be the One to grant repentance and faith to them. And He does this by changing their minds and hearts through the gospel, as empowered by the Spirit. Peter explains the transformative power of “the implanted word” in these words:

“. . . you have been born again not of seed which perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Pe. 1:23)

What does it mean to be “born again”? It means to be given new, spiritual, and eternal, life, so that one is no longer a depraved, wicked, rebellious child of the devil, but a holy, righteous, and obedient child of God. It means to be born into God’s family as one of the image-bearers of Jesus.

But what instrument does God use to give birth to spiritual children? Again, it’s what Peter describes as “imperishable” seed, which is God’s “living and enduring word”. It’s “living” because it has the ability to impart life to spiritually dead sinners, and its enduring because it will never leave the hearts of those who are born again through it.

But in order for the word to accomplish this, it must be used by the Holy Spirit in turning people’s affections and desires from self-love to loving God. Paul makes this clarification in relating how he knows that the Thessalonian Christians were saved by God in his first letter to them:

“. . . for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction . . .” (1 Thess. 1:5a)

Notice the distinction he’s making between the bare message and its powerful effects. Many times, Paul had preached the gospel to people, and it did nothing to persuade them to repent and trust in Jesus. But this time, with the Thessalonians, his preaching was powerful, granted the Holy Spirit to them, and fully “convicted” or “convinced” them. So, according to the Lord’s sovereign purpose, He chose in this instance to use the gospel as the vehicle to grant the Spirit and faith to the Thessalonian unbelievers. In order for the gospel to act as God’s power for salvation, He must choose to use it to grant salvation.

One of the clearest verses in all of Scripture that declares the gospel’s power to grant faith in Jesus to unbelievers is Romans 10:17, where Paul proclaims,

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

This verse couldn’t be clearer, especially if read in its immediate context. Faith in Jesus comes from hearing “the word of Christ,” or the gospel. And as Paul famously says in Ephesians 2:8,

“. . . by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God . . .”

So much for the gospel’s power to save sinners. What about its power to improve saints?

The Power of the Gospel to Sanctify

As we already saw, God’s Word is the eternal seed that initiates the new life of God’s children in sinners. But Peter goes on to picture it as the milk that nourishes the growth of God’s children when he urges,

“. . . like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation . . .” (1 Pe. 2:2)

Note well Peter’s reference to salvation. The growth that God’s Word promotes is “in respect to salvation” or literally into salvation. Put another way, Peter is describing salvation as not a one-time event, but a condition that can be increased. And the way that believers’ salvation is increased is through the food of the Word.

Paul describes this reality more vividly in his description of Christ’s purpose for giving up His life for His body:

“. . . so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word . . .” (Eph. 5:26)

The first purpose Paul gives for Christ’s sacrifice for His people and bride is to “sanctify” them. This word literally means “set apart,” and here refers to setting apart the body of Christ from the world and sin, and into the family of God and righteousness. And how does He directly achieve this? By cleansing His body “by the washing of water with the word.”

Thus, in addition to nourishing believers, God’s Word, primarily as expressed in the gospel, cleanses believers from sins and false beliefs. In so doing, it’s fulfilling the Lord’s request of the Father that He would sanctify His disciples “in the truth” (Jn. 17:17).

Having seen that God’s Word purifies and grows believers, what are the specific ways in which this works out in everyday life? Although it should be obvious to most believers that personal Bible study is essential, what is often more neglected is the use of God’s Word in the relationships of believers among themselves. And yet the teaching of the apostles is clear that one of the main ways that believers are transformed by the renewing of their minds is through their interactions with their brethren.

The Speaking of God’s Word Among Christ’s Body

In Paul’s foundational outline of the proper functioning of the body of Christ, he climaxes his narration in these words:

“. . . speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head . . .” (Eph. 4:15)

By stating this, Paul is teaching that one of main ways that believers individually, and assemblies corporately, grow in Christlikeness is by speaking the truth. Although the Greek literally says “truthing” or being truthful, the most significant application is obviously communicating the truth through our speech.

In the context of the weekly assembly of the saints, Paul incorporates the power of the gospel and its teachings in another description of believers speaking the truth to one another. The relationship between believers’ treatment of the gospel, and their communication of truth to one another is instructional:

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness . . .” (Col. 3:16)

Now, first we must understand what it means for the message about Christ to “richly dwell within you”. The imagery is of the essential truths about Christ, His work, and His teachings living within believers to such an extent that they thrive, influence, and grow in their hearts. It means to devote oneself to the message, to delight in the message, and to depend on the message to tell one the realities of life, and the right way to live. Paul promises that if Christians do this, then they’ll wisely “teach and admonish [or warn] one another”. Specifically in the context of the gathering of the saints, he says that such teaching will most significantly be done through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

But there’s more to communicating the truth to one another than simply speaking or singing it. Paul gives detailed instructions for how believers must speak in Ephesians 4:29, where he enjoins,

“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”

Pay attention to the strictness of the Lord’s requirement for our speech. We must utter no “unwholesome,” or rotten, word. Instead, all of our speech should be “good for edification,” or “building up” in accordance with the need we see. And what is the end goal of all our speech to our brethren? That it will give “grace,” or “benefit,” to them who hear. It is through this benefit, according to our brother’s or sister’s need, that the truth we impart to them will build them up, and encourage them to grow in godly character and conduct.

What about you? Are you letting the message of Christ live abundantly within you, so that it is a regular part of your speech? Are you deliberate in your conversation with brethren, so that you can tell them exactly what they need to hear? Are you quick to listen to them, and patient to listen to them, so you know specifically what condition they’re in, and what their spiritual needs are? We must arm ourselves with God’s Word, and especially the gospel, since the writer of Hebrews says,

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12)