The Power of the Cross: Introduction
And though evangelism unaccompanied by healing and miraculous gifts is anything but substandard, it does seem biblically abnormal to overlook or ignore, as some evangelicals do, the way Jesus, the apostles, and the Early Church evangelized with preaching accompanied by use of miraculous gifts and healing.
Pursuing a Biblical View of God’s Power
The epistles contain more than forty references to the power of God (Greek dunamis). Passages like Ephesians 6:10 command us to seek God’s power in order to serve Him and live for Him: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” Many other passages like the following show that God’s power is central to proclaiming the gospel, ministering the Word of God, and growing spiritually:
Rom. 15:18-19, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.”
I Cor. 1:17-18, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
I Cor. 2:4-5, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”
I Cor. 4:20, “The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.”
Eph. 1:18-20, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.”
Eph. 3:16-17, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
Eph. 6:10-11, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
I Thes. 1:5, “Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.”
As Christians, we face growing darkness in society today—the exponential disintegration of the family and the increase in sexual brokenness, rape, and violence; rising child abuse; increasing teenage violence and murder; the spread of gangs from urban to suburban areas; the rise of New-Age occultism, witchcraft, and Satanic ritual practices; heightened spiritual battles and conflicts which many pastors and their congregations attest to today. In the face of all this, we need God’s power in the Church more than ever today—we need all God wants to give us to do all that he intends His Body to do in living for Christ and reaching our communities with the gospel.
Category: Pneuma Review, Spirit, Spring 2006
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