“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Romans 1:16
How you read Romans 1:16 tells a lot about you. Which of the following best resembles how you interpret the text?
1. Christian
For I am not ashamed of the gospel (the death burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior), for it (the preaching of that gospel and absolutely nothing else) is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (not a superficial shallow mental ascent, but a complete dependence and trust upon Christ)
2. Charismaniac
For I am not ashamed of the gifts of the spirit, for they are proof of the power of God and proof of your salvation to everyone who believes…
3. Word of Faith Charismaniac
For I am not ashamed of pleading for money, for sowing your faith seed offering is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…
4. Roman Catholic
For I am not ashamed of Mary, the Pope, and the Mother Church, for they are the power of God and the only way to salvation to everyone who believes and receives the sacraments, attends meritorious masses, is baptized, keeps the law, does good works, purchases indulgences, endures purgatory, etc…
5. Jehovah’s Witness
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of the New Earth that we peddle door to door, for the Watchtower is the only ones who speak for God and is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes and exhaustively works their tails off for the Watchtower almost every waking hour of the day for their entire life to obtain Jehovah’s favor, which is not guaranteed…
6. Mormon
For I am not ashamed of the restored gospel, even though I am ashamed and embarrassed about our church history and the things our church prophets have said (that was just their opinion and they were not speaking for God when they said all those awful things) for the Melchizadek Priesthood which only we have is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes and follows the following conditions as outlined in Gospel Principles pages 303-304 (1997 edition): 1.) We must be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. 2.) We must receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. 3.) We must receive the temple endowment. 4.) We must be married for time and eternity.In addition to receiving the required ordinances, the Lord commands all of us to– 1. Love and worship God. 2. Love our neighbor. 3. Repent of our wrongdoings. 4. Live the law of chastity. 5. Pay honest tithes and offerings. 6. Be honest in our dealings with others and with the Lord. 7. Speak the truth always. 8. Obey the Word of Wisdom. 9. Search out our kindred dead and perform the saving ordinances of the gospel for them. 10. Keep the Sabbath day holy. 11. Attend our Church meetings as regularly as possible so we can renew our baptismal covenants by partaking of the sacrament. 12. Love our family members and strengthen them in the ways of the Lord. 13. Have family and individual prayers every day. 14. Honor our parents. 15. Teach the gospel to others by word and example. 16. Study the scriptures. 17. Listen to and obey the inspired words of the prophets of the Lord. Finally, each of us needs to receive the Holy Ghost and learn to follow his direction in our individual lives.
7. Universalist Unitarian
For I am not ashamed of the value found in all religions regardless of whether or not they conflict with one another on core issues , for whatever truth is for you, it is the power of God, gods, goddess, no god, or whatever you believe for a better world to everyone who believes or chooses not to believe.
8. Seeker-Friendly
For I am not ashamed of shameless church marketing, for the end justifies the means and pragmatism is the power of God for filling seats on Sundays to watch our awesome worship rock band followed by our hip and and oh, so cool pastor and we’re also giving away free gas cards to everyone who attends our local campus.
9. Liberal
For I am not ashamed of supporting any socialist cause or liberal issue, for a woman’s right to choose and a homosexual’s right to marry is the power of self-empowerment for salvation from the oppressive chains that the white, Anglo-Saxon, Capitalist, fascists have placed on the backs of everyone in this nation.
10. Emergent / Emerging
Romans? Is that in the Bible?
Related posts:
Hi Jay – Thank you for this post. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), I thought you might want to read my post about the temple endowment – see What is an Endowment?.
Jay,
Nicely done brother. Isn’t it amazing how one interprets that one passage reveals his or her Christian authenticity. Those in love with Christ and boast only in the Cross and Christ crucified are those the “mainstream” Christian community look at as backward and ignorant. However, our Lord told us that this would be the case so we should not be surprised when the unregenerate claim to be the real Christians while the regenerate are viewed as legalistic fanatics. In any case, great article brother!
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
Hi Mike,
Great that you stopped by. I enjoy your blog immensely. I can’t take credit for this post. It was written by the fine folks over at Defending Contending. There is a link at the bottom of the post to their article. I asked them permission to post this article on my blog because I too believe they did a fine job breaking the gospel down for many of the religious groups today.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Very well said. So true! Isn’t it wonderful how the Holy Spirit opens the ‘saints’ eyes to see the false. He takes good care of us!