Salvation according to the Bible is the marvelous demonstration of God’s infinite power as a result of His incomprehensible mercy as Romans 1:16 proclaims: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” This means that anyone – regardless of his ethnic origin or his social, political, religious or financial status – can become saved according to the will of God. Because man by nature is a sinner and is spiritually dead, salvation is only by the grace of God. In other words, salvation from God’s eternal wrath is an undeserved gift.
In 1 Corinthians 1:18, we learn how the Gospel (which is also known as the “preaching of the cross”) affects both the Christian and non-Christian: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” Notice the range of responses that the Gospel elicits – it is “foolishness” to some and the “power of God” to others!
According to 1 Corinthians 2:12, the believer has “… received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” On the other hand, we discover quite the opposite reaction by the non-believer, as we read in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The “things of the Spirit of God” that the non-believer cannot receive or know have to do with the Bible, as Mark 12:24 reveals: “And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?”