No Shame of the Gospel

We come now to Romans 1:16–17, wherein we find “the theme of this epistle … the essence of Christianity … [and] the heart of Biblical religion,” according to our commentator, Dr. James M. Boice. He supports that judgment by noting that these verses “tell how a man or woman may become right with God.” In other words, Paul here is giving us a summary of the exposition of the Gospel that he will unfold in much greater detail in much of the remainder of the book.

Paul already has informed the Romans of his longstanding desire to visit them. He has explained that he has not yet come because he has been “hindered” by God giving him fruitful work in other places. Nevertheless, Paul has assured his readers that he is absolutely willing to come to them anytime God should open the door, for he has an obligation to all people, whether simple or sophisticated. Though he has labored long in the provinces, he would not hesitate to preach in the capital, too.

Of course, the urbane Romans might well receive Paul and his message with disdain, treating him, like the Athenians (Acts 17:18, 32), as an outsider or a “country bumpkin.” Paul himself writes elsewhere that “Greeks,” the cultured classes, typically see the Gospel as “foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:23). Nevertheless, Paul is quick to assure the Romans that the possibility of ridicule will not cause him to hesitate in both coming to Rome and preaching there, for “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” He was unconcerned as to what any unbeliever, cultured or not, thought about the Gospel, for he knew it for what it was—the only hope of all mankind. As he says, the Gospel “is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.” After all, the Gospel has bridged possibly the greatest cultural gap of them all. Though it originated among the Jews, by the time Paul writes to the Romans there is no doubt in the church that God intends the Gospel for non-Jews as well. That being so, Paul is sure God will harvest His fruit wherever He chooses, and a few socio-economic differences will not impede the Gospel’s progress.

“How can one be ashamed of a Gospel which offers hope to the vilest, most desperate of men, as well as to the most respectable person?” Boice asks. How indeed?