Romans 1:16 and the cross of Christ

Romans 1:16:

"For 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."

It is sad that we have people today that will find verses that do not contain any mention of the cross and automatically assume that it can be omitted to the lost when leading that person to trust Christ. Many times such verses are spoken to the already saved. In Paul's epistles, I already shown that Paul preached only Christ crucified to the lost (see blogs 'Crossless gospel and Acts 9' and 'What Gospel Do You Preach?'). However, these people prefer to focus on scattered verses and will tell you believing in 'a' Jesus that gives eternal life is all that is needed. We are indeed dealing with a perversion of the gospel other than what Paul gave.

In Romans 1:16, you will see that salvation is to "every one that believeth" and such people I mentioned will point out that the gospel of Christ is to every one that believes and not to everyone that believes in the cross. They might shout, "Where is any reference to the cross mentioned?" Paul is not addressing the lost here but actually his wording is consistent as to how he uses it elsewhere to refer to the cross of Christ. Look again at Romans 1:16:

"For 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."

Now the words in bold is what you need to be looking at here as we now compare to the language of Paul elsewhere. Paul said in 1st Corinthians 1:23-24:

"But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

Is this gospel of Christ that is the power of God unto salvation the same as "Christ the power of God" found here in 1st Corinthians 1:24? Is the message of Romans 1:16 about "gospel of Christ...the power of God" the same message that is preached to the Jews and Greeks as found here in 1st Corinthians 1:23? What message did Paul say was preaching?


"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (1st Corinthians 1:18).

Question, what message stated in verse 18 is the "power of God"?? It is plainly stated that the "preaching of the cross" is that power of God unto salvation to those that believe.

I have repeatedly pointed out the dangers of isolating verses here and there. You can make the Bible teach that baptism is required for salvation by isolating verses such as Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38. The Bible was never meant to be a promise box. You don't open up your Bible and point to a single verse and say, "This one applies to me" without first getting the full picture. If we were that careless then maybe some of us would drink poison or handle deadly snakes as talked about in Mark 16. Pauline Scripture is plain that the cross of Christ must be preached to the lost as anything other is another gospel. It is sad as to how we must defend now the cross against some of those that claim to believe in free grace.

What is the gospel of Christ? What is the power of God unto salvation? It is Christ crucified!!!!! Anything less is no gospel at all. PREACH IT AND NEVER BE ASHAMED OF IT!