Description
Paul, in Romans 1:16, sets out his entire gospel in one verse. This is the reason he is fearless and without shame!
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Transcript
In Romans chapter 1, verse 16, we see Paul unleash his message. 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.
In the time that Paul was speaking this, this was completely radical. The Jewish nation knew that they were the chosen people. They knew that they were the ones with access to God. They knew that they were the ones to have the means to become righteous through the law. For the Jews to have access to that, for Samaritans, for anyone other than a Jew, was unthinkable.
And here Paul says that the gospel is powerful to bring salvation for everyone. Saying "the Jews and the Greeks" meant everyone. There were no exceptions. Everybody, even those that they in their society wouldn’t have imagined could ever become saved in any way – even those, they now had access to salvation. And it was the power of God that did this.
And this is why Paul is not ashamed. He’s not ashamed because this is such good news. And yet the people around him were saying, this is nonsense. How can you possibly believe it? And we face similar, don’t we today? How can you believe in Jesus? How can you believe all that stuff in the Bible that happened so long ago?
It’s outdated. It doesn’t apply anymore. Those were different times.
Well, we are here to say, That’s wrong. The gospel remains the power of the eternal everliving God for salvation for everyone. You, if you’ve not yet found Jesus, me, your neighbours, your friends, your family, your enemies too. It is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes and that is definitely not something to be ashamed of.
