The Riddleblog

The Preached Gospel Summons Us to Faith in Christ

An excerpt from“Not Ashamed of the Gospel” Season Five/Episode Five (Romans 1:16-17)

The message of the cross is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel summons all who hear it to faith in Jesus Christ. Those who believe when the gospel is preached to them manifest what Paul calls the “obedience of faith.” The gospel saves those, but only those, who believe [trust] in Jesus Christ. Paul is not addressing the exceptional cases here–for example, such as what happens to children of believers who die before coming to faith, or the thief on the cross, and so on. Paul’s point is that the gospel summons us to believe it when we hear it. Those who obey that call and believe are “saved,” while those who are summoned but who do not believe will face the wrath of God on the day of judgment. It is correct to say that those who reject the gospel when it is preached to them, disobey God and remain under his judgment unless and until they trust in Christ.

In his wonderful little commentary on Romans, Anders Nygren, makes a very important point, well worth our consideration.

The gospel and faith belong together inseparably. Therefore we may not speak of faith as something which could exist apart from the gospel. Faith is not a state of the soul which man must have, that by its aid he may receive the gospel. It is the gospel which is primary, which creates faith and awakens it in us. When one hears the gospel and is conquered by it, that is faith. Faith is not prior to the gospel and independent of it. It [faith] arises only through one’s meeting with the gospel [1].

Nygren’s point is that saving faith arises only in connection to the preaching of the gospel. Faith is not our contribution to our salvation, nor is faith the one work God requires of us in order to be saved. Rather, as a demonstration of his power, God creates faith in our hearts through the preaching the gospel just as when he created the universe from nothing.

To read the rest, follow the link below

Blessed Hope Podcast, Pauline Studies, Reformed ResourcesKim RiddlebargerSeptember 7, 2026Faith in Christ, Romans 1:16-17Comment

An Exposition of Article Twenty-Two of the Belgic Confession: The Righteousness of Faith

Many evangelical Christians understand the biblical teaching that we are saved by grace through faith and that we are not saved by our good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). And yet, many of these same Christians think of faith as that one thing God requires of us so that we might be saved. Faith is something which God sees in us and which he is compelled to reward. But properly understood, faith is not a work we perform. Faith receives what God freely offers. And what does God freely offer to sinners? He offers us the merits of Jesus Christ, which are more than enough to justify even the worst of sinner (1 Timothy 1:15).

We move to another section of our confession, (Articles Twenty-Two through Twenty Four) which deal with the application of Christ’s saving work to the individual believer. These three articles address subjects which are very familiar to many of us: faith, justification, and sanctification. These subjects are familiar to us because they lie at the very heart of the gospel. They are also familiar because many of us have had to wrestle with these doctrines in our own journey to the Reformed faith. Not only does the Reformed understanding of these doctrines amount to a repudiation of the Roman Catholic understanding of justification as a process (which was the major issue at the time our confession was written in 1561), but the Reformed understanding of these doctrines often differs significantly from the way in which many evangelicals understand them as well.

As you probably know, the Protestant Reformation largely centered upon the question of how sinners are reconciled to the holy God. At the time of the Reformation, the Roman church understood faith as essentially mental assent to the doctrines taught by the church. According to Rome, when enabled and energized by the grace received through the sacraments, this mental assent to the truth became a “formed faith” which produced genuinely good works. Some of these works are of such a nature that God must reward them as a matter of justice (condign merit), while there are other works which God chooses to reward because he is gracious and decides to reward them (congruent merit).

To read the rest, click here: "Jesus Christ Is Our Righteousness"

Belgic ConfessionKim RiddlebargerMarch 11, 2022Faith in Christ, Justification by faithComment