Faith In The Gospel Saves Series

1:16

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.”

[Once more we have a textual variation. The Textus Receptus says “of Christ”, the Nestle-Aland, no. But again not a serious matter. But this explains why your KJV/NKJV have “of Christ”, and other versions you might read, do not.]

Notice in this verse how he comes to the end of his greeting but moves carefully into the theme of his epistle. This letter is about the gospel. Here is Paul’s clear proclamation of what the gospel means to a believer.

First note that he is not ashamed of it. Why does he even bring up “shame”? No one was suggesting he should be ashamed. What could be shameful about this good news about Jesus?

Paul knows the world he is living in. It is the same world in which we live. This gospel, which he will describe carefully in Romans, is not popular.

Paganism ruled and rules our world. Many gods. Materialism. Comfort. Pleasure. Self-seeking. Privilege. Success. Political power. Political correctness. Being Accepted. Signs and Wonders. Prosperity. Health and Wealth. To bring up the gospel about a man dying on a tree to forgive you of your sins in the midst of such a culture is very difficult.

But Paul is about to bring it up anyway, and to anticipate the reaction that many will have to the true gospel, he says, By the way, I’m not ashamed of this.

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Are we ashamed? In the midst of polite society or even the ravages of revolutionary politics, how easy is it for us to broach the subject? How easily can we start talking to people about some good news concerning a crucified Jesus? How natural, normal, is it to begin a discussion that is so far off the charts of typical human existence, not just in Paul’s day, but in our own?

Paul was not ashamed.

As for me, I have been reticent to start such conversations. I love to go to the corner of Lawrence and Kimball, where this is a busy bus and train station, and raise a banner that cuts through the conversations of men and hopefully draws someone to such a discussion. Most people walk on by. I am constantly thinking, “Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by?” How can you see Jesus inviting you to rest in Him, and just ignore it?

The answer for us is simple: they have heard it over and over. And they have been disappointed in the followers of this gospel of Christ. And they have been misinformed about us. And their hearts are hard. But lift up the banner we must anyway. God has a people, and He will call His people through our faithful gospel invitations. We must not be ashamed.

“…for it is the power of God to salvation.”

The question implied in this statement is, what is powerful enough to save me? He’s writing in part to Jews who depended on the law. But the law was powerless to save, as we will see later in Romans 8:3:

“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin…” What did God do? He saved us. Through Jesus, according to the gospel Paul preached. The law was weak, the gospel powerful.

Implied in that last verse is the powerlessness of human flesh to save itself. Look at Jeremiah 13:23,

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“Can the…leopard [change] his spots?” You cannot change yourself. You cannot save yourself. You are powerless. But the gospel is powerful. It will save.

Paul uses this same line of thought to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 1:8:

“The message of the cross [i.e., the gospel] is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Look at its apparent weakness. A man dying on an accursed Roman cross is supposed to do away with the sin problem forever? Yes! For the man is no ordinary man, and the death is no ordinary death, for it will soon become resurrection, and he that had the power of death and sin and hell is defeated, as the ancient prophecy foretold.

Yes, that apparent weakness is the very powerful action that saves us forever. Macarthur [p. 53] shares that, through the years, this despised message has brought out the worst of comments and caricatures from the mouths and pens of men. I quote:

“While excavating ancient ruins in Rome, archaeologists discovered a derisive painting depicting a slave bowing down before a cross with a jackass hanging on it…” He quotes one Celsus of the 2nd century warning, “let no cultured person draw near, none wise, none sensible… if any is wanting in sense and culture, if any is a fool, let him come boldly to Christianity… [they are] the most uneducated and vulgar persons…” He compared them to swarms of bats, ants crawling out of their nests, to frogs holding a symposium around a swamp, and to worms cowering in the muck! God raises up these uneducated, foolish, vulgar worms, and saves them by his power.