Romans 1:16-17

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.  

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written the righteous shall live by faith. 

The first 17 verses of this epistle serve as an intro to the epistle and divides in three parts:

1. Paul’s salutation (1-7)
2. Paul’s introduces himself (8-15)
3. Paul introduces one of the most significant themes of this letter: justification by faith (16-17)

Taken together: Power and Salvation:

The gospel has the power, authority, jurisdiction, and dominion to save us from sin and death and to enable us to live a life of freedom in Christ IF WE BELIEVE. 

• what has power over your life? 
• What has jurisdiction and authority over your life—whatever drives you is what has authority over you. 
• The power that Paul writes about has the miraculous ability to transform for good. False authority or power in your life has the ability to transform for destruction

Three areas of Focus concerning the gospel or good news: 

1. A Gospel of Righteousness
2. A Gospel of Power
3. An Effective Gospel