Romans 1:16-17 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last…
To summarize: The gospel is not a report about God’s power but an event in which God’s power
becomes operative when it is believed. This is because in the preaching and believing of the gospel, God’s righteousness is not God’s fairness by which God gives everyone what is deserved, but God’s act of setting things right precisely where no one deserves it. For in the gospel a revelation of God’s true character happens, a character set forth in the event called Jesus Christ…. Moreover, I repeat, there can be no Christian conversion without the gospel. Christian conversion does not happen by simply talking about it… Christian conversion happens when the gospel is communicated and when there is response to it. It is only the person who trusts God as the gospel presents God who experiences Christian conversion.
The Mystery and Meaning of Christian Conversion, by George E. Morris, pgs. 75-77.