![]() He recorded a transforming experience: “About a quarter before nine, while he (Luther) was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. At a meeting of an Anglican society in London, he heard someone read Luther’s preface to the Commentary on Romans. Soon after reaching Savannah, Georgia Wesley met Bishop Spangenberg, leader of the Moravians in America who asked him: “Do you know Jesus Christ?” Wesley answered: “I know He is the Savior of the World.” Said Spangenberg “True, but do you know He has saved you?” As a missionary Wesley was not very successful and was in ill health. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, came to America as a missionary in 1735. “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17), he discovered and this conviction resulted in the Reformation of the Church. ![]() ![]() Other great theologians influenced by studying Romans were Martin Luther who discovered in Romans that salvation was not achieved by works but by faith. He saw: “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying but put ye on the Lord Christ, and make no provision for the flesh and its concupiscences.” Then Augustine describes his transforming experience: “instantly with the end of the sentence, as by a clear and constant light infused into my heart, the darkness of all former doubts was driven away.” (The Confessions of St. Take up and read.” So he took up the book of Romans, opened it and read the first chapter. Augustine (354-430) heard a voice, “Take up and read. Reading just the book of Romans, some of the great persons of the church experienced the amazing and transforming grace of God. The Bible endures because lives are transformed by reading its witness to Christ. According to Peter “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:20) This makes Scripture, the written word, unique.Ģ. This concept distinguishes the Scriptures ordained by God’s authority from secular works.Īs to the method of God-breathing Scripture there is much debate among theologians. As God breathed life into humankind (Genesis 2:7) so He breathed life into Scripture by His Spirit. Some translators use the term “inspired” which is the Latin and is not the Greek (Theopneustos) “God-breathed” in Scripture. Paul, the Apostle, declares that “Every Scripture (Old Testament, later applied to New Testament) God-breathed is useful for teaching, for discipline and correcting error” (2 Timothy 3:16). Since Voltaire’s dire prediction more than two hundred years ago the Bible has had an incredible career. Voltaire, atheist French philosopher who died in 1778, declared: “If we would destroy the Christian religion, we must first destroy the Bible.” He declared that the Bible would soon become obsolete and forgotten. Through the centuries critics have chipped away at the Bible to little avail. Because we have an “unchanging Word of God in a changing world.” Above all the change, confusion and chaos stands God’s Word. In the midst of this crisis came God with the good news of comfort, forgiveness and restoration. Wars with neighboring nations were frequent and the invasion of surrounding nations finally resulted in the fall of Israel and exile. They were unable to make clear moral judgments. They called “evil good and good evil,” put darkness for light and light for darkness, bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20). Crime was rampant despair and fear prevailed angst and a longing for certainty filled the hearts of the people moral confusion blinded the political and spiritual leadership to reality. ![]() Isaiah, the prophet, spoke to a world similar to ours. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:8 and 1 Peter 1:24-25)
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