For I am not ashamed of the Gospel

Romans 1:16 is a powerful passage of Scripture. It is really the theme statement of the entire book of Romans. It reads: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." Pages and pages have been written on this simple verse, and pages and pages more will be written. Let's just focus on the first part. Paul tells us that he is not ashamed of the gospel. We may not understand what may have tempted Paul to temptation. Paul preached the gospel in a world where the popular religion of the day was works based. The sentiment being that if you weren't doing well (i.e. physically prospering) then your belief system must be flawed. We can imagine Paul trying to share the gospel with both Jews and Pagans alike and each saying, "How's that working out for you Paul? You've been stoned, imprisoned and impoverished for your faith. Why would I want that?"

We, also, are tempted to shame over the gospel. Our culture has painted Christians (particularly those of us who believe what the word has to say about the Creation) out to be fools and idiots. Additionally, because we believe that Christ is the only way a person can be saved (John 14:6, Acts 4:42) our world will try to make us ashamed of our "intolerance". Modern philosophers will mock us for relying on God to save us, and on and on. Each of these ways we may be tempted to feel ashamed of the gospel has a simple explanation. Each could be argued and shown to be ridiculous. But that isn't Paul's direction here. He doesn't argue with the specific reasons as to why one might feel ashamed.

The reason he is not ashamed of the misconceptions of others of his day is because the Gospel possesses the power of salvation. The Greek word for power here highlights potential energy. Much like an atomic bomb has the potential energy within it to destroy a whole city, or a good medicine has the power to eradicate bad germs, the Gospel of Christ Jesus has the power of salvation to everyone who believes. Share the good news this week! You have nothing to be ashamed of!