Romans 1:16

Romans 1:16 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.

Jesus said that when He returns, He will be ashamed of whoever is ashamed of Him and his words. The gospel message, of universal human sin and the power of divine redemption, offends the world and the world hates the message. The world has no problem with a Jesus who was a great teacher of ethics and morals or with anyone being a follower of Jesus through self-effort, but does not want to hear about the sin of a human race they consider to be basically good. Not only are they offended by the truth of their sin; they are also offended by God’s solution for their sin, the cross of Calvary. If that were not enough, they are offended further because the gospel message does not include salvation through man made gods and false religions of their imagination. How should Christians handle these objections in explaining the gospel?

Paul tells us in this verse that he is not ashamed of the gospel and that he will proclaim it as it was delivered to him directly from Jesus Christ. Therefore, he rejects sugar coating the gospel so as not to offend the world. Unfortunately, Paul’s gospel is a gospel that many today, that claim Christ, do not proclaim. Instead, they edit, discard, ignore, reinterpret, and minimize portions they are ashamed to preach to the world. There is currently a movement that denies Christ’s death as atonement for the sin of believers. They call themselves followers in the way of Jesus and they are ashamed of the gospel as Paul lays it out in Romans. Other highly educated professing “Christian” scholars assert that redemption and salvation can be obtained by religions other than Christianity. They are ashamed of the gospel as presented in Romans and by the words of Jesus (John 14:6). Other false teachers fill huge mega-churches and preach a message of using Christianity to achieve health and wealth. They are ashamed of the true gospel that might cause a mass exodus from their services and collection plate.

Praise God that Paul was not ashamed of the gospel and presented it in great detail in the Book of Romans!