1:16
1:16 and 1:17 are pivotal in Romans. “I am not ashamed of the gospel”. In Mark 8:38 Jesus warns that if anyone is ashamed of Him and His words, then He will be ashamed of us when He returns in glory. Nowadays someone may wear a cross as an item of jewellery, but in those days one would never dream of doing that, for the cross was an object of shame. Crucifixion was designed to be completely humiliating for the victim. That is why in 1 Cor 1:23 Paul says that the cross was foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews. How could a man on a cross possibly be the saviour of the world? But that was the message that Paul preached, and he was not ashamed to do so. We need to present the gospel boldly. Why? And why was Paul not ashamed of the gospel? “For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”. We are such fools when and if we put our hope in anything else, or present anything else as the means of salvation. Nothing else has the power to save. It is only God who can save, and He has declared that the gospel is the means of salvation. “To the Jew first and also to the Greek”. The gospel was declared first to the Jews, Jesus was born a Jew and ministered among the Jews. Then it was preached to the Gentiles (the Greeks). We should also never forget that the gospel has its roots in the Old Testament. Jesus is the Messiah who fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, without the Old Testament the gospel makes no sense at all.
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