Background
When the apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome, he had not yet been to Rome. However, it is likely the church there would have heard about Paul and his ministry. In this letter to them Paul explained systematically the Christian doctrine. Indeed, the book of Romans is the most systematic and clear representation of Christian doctrine in all the Bible.
The gospel has power to save everyone
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
The Bible says that everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s standard. That is why everyone is in need of God’s salvation.
Rom 3:22 There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
However, the good news is that the gospel has the power to save everyone. Whether we consider ourselves a good person or whether we have done something that even we are unable to forgive ourselves, we still do not meet God’s standard of salvation.
The gospel has the power to save without human effort
Rom 3:22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe… 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God’s method of salvation does not require that we have to work for it. Rather, it is freely and graciously given to all those who would believe in Jesus i.e. to believe in the redemptive work of Jesus when He died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin.
The gospel has the power to deal with our sinful nature
Rom 6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
The gospel did not just deliver us from the penalty of sin when we die, it is able to continuously deliver us from the power of sin in our present life. Even Christians who are saved have to struggle with sin in our daily lives but when we are saved we have also died to sin. That means sin no longer has a bondage over us. Someone has said that non-Christians sin because they have to but Christians sin because they want to. There is truth in this statement. Non-Christians continue to be under the bondage of sin. That is why they can’t get themselves out. Christians are no longer bound by sin. If we continue to sin it is because we did not resolve to get out of it.
Even the apostle Paul struggled with sin. However, he was thankful that Jesus, through what He had done on the cross, is able to deliver us from the bondage of sin.
Rom 7:21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!