Paul the apostle and author of 11 books of the New Testament wrote to the church at Rome; “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’” (Romans 1:16-17).
What is interesting to this author is that Paul had never been to the church at Rome and he addresses them with a very long introduction and then states the theme of his entire letter in very few words. He is very blunt in his words and his life also proved it out as one would read in the book of Acts. Paul is on trial and he does not back down and is straightforward about the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the gospel; He is the good news of God come to earth as a man to reconcile man to God. What a blessed truth and promise!
According to historical records Paul was beheaded by Nero in about AD64. He definitely was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Philippians 1:21 he wrote, “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” He gained when his head was separated from his earthly body and then immediately he laid his eyes upon the One who called him out of his sin and into eternal life. His faith finally became eternal sight and he continues to bask in the very presence of Jesus Christ, the One who is the gospel.
Here in these most magnificent verses of Romans 1:16-17 where Martin Luther was dramatically changed as well as John Wesley and possibly countless others; we see that God’s power is at work through the gospel. Paul states that the gospel is the power of God to save those who believe in the blessed truth of the good news that Jesus saves.
There are two types of people in verse 16 – Jews and Greeks. The Jews are fairly easy to define here as those of Jewish descent, but the Greeks are a little more difficult to define. When we look at the word for Greek it can mean not only national Greek people but also Greek-speaking and even non-Jewish people. In that day the main language spoken was Koine or Common Greek and it was put into place during the reign of Alexander the Great. Many people of that day spoke the Greek language even though they were not from the nation Greece. There were two types of people in that day – Jews and non-Jews and that is what Paul was referring to.
In Luke 19:10 Jesus stated His reason for coming to earth as a man: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” The people of that day knew what Jesus meant but many today do not know what Jesus came to save people from. Paul writes in Romans 5:9 that we are saved by Jesus from the wrath of God. This sounds sort of brutal but as humans our sin has put a separation between us and God (Isaiah 59:2), but man in his natural state wants nothing to do with God. Paul also writes in the letter to the church at Rome that no one seeks for God, not even one person for everyone does right in their own eyes and really desire to be their own god. However, this is not the way we were created. We were originally created to have an intimate relationship with our Maker but we decided to do our own thing and go our own way and then we told God that we did not want Him either. So He allowed us to go our own way and to create our own path, but He knew exactly what He was doing and what we were doing.
We deceived ourselves, but not God. Romans 1:18-23 really gets to the heart of the matter.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (ESV)
Men know about God but most, unfortunately, choose to ignore Him; they know He’s there but they will do or say anything to satisfy their guilty conscience. Even though this is the truth God has it under control. In His mind in eternity past God put His perfect plan of sending His Son Jesus to earth as the Savior of mankind.
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconcile, shall we be saved by His life” (Romans 5:6-10, ESV).
So there it is – we were weak, while we were stuck in our sin and while we were enemies of God it was at that time Jesus Christ came into the world and then died on behalf of our sins. Why would Paul be ashamed of the gospel? No reason here.
God sent His Son into the world to pursue those who wanted nothing to do with Him because He loved mankind and desired to be reconciled to the prodigal. When you love something or someone you might do whatever it takes to get that something or someone. But God did whatever it took and it took sending His Son at just the perfect time in history to come to the earth as a man and to become the perfect sacrifice to reconcile us to God. Why would Paul be ashamed of something this marvelous?
The question now becomes are you and I ashamed of the gospel? Why should we be? Followers of Jesus have the greatest news in the whole world and it needs to get out. No, not everyone will receive the good news that we have to offer, but we must tell it and tell it often. Oh that God might revive us today to carry out His perfect will of making disciples by sharing the good news of His Son of whom Paul the apostle was not ashamed of and either should we.
Thanks to our Guest Contributor:
Pastor Ray Peters
Harvest Alliance Church
