1/26/2011 Devotional Thoughts... Romans 1:16-17

Text: Romans 1:16-17 (NKJV)

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:

These two verses really introduce the theme for this book and some of the most doctrinally significant verses in the entire New Testament.

First, let's note that Paul was not ashamed of this Gospel. He prayed for boldness in sharing it himself  (Ephesians 6:18-19), but he also visited the idea of not being ashamed of the Gospel elsewhere. Christians in his time faced almost certain persecution. Today, Christians become ashamed of the Gospel (embarrassed about it or not sharing it appropriately) for almost no reason. We psych ourselves out of sharing this good news because we are afraid of what people would think of us. Early Christians shared the Gospel and expected physical torture or execution for it. I fear that if Paul were to come to America today and evaluate our form of Christianity, he would declare that we are all effectively ashamed of the Gospel.

We must also recognize that the Gospel is "of Christ." The good news Christianity has to share is not about doing "good" in the world or being active in our society. Those are good things that Godly Christians should do, but they are not the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 clarifies the exact nature of this Gospel of Christ. That is the message of the church, or at least it should be.

Here is the kicker, this Gospel (good news) is the power of God to salvation. It is what gets it done. This dynamis (dunamis), in Greek, is a common term in the New Testament and in other extant Greek literature, but here it is incredibly special. Acceptance of the Gospel is all that we need for salvation. Awesome.

Another amazing thing to see here is the openness of the Gospel. During the time of God's plan with Israel before Christ, salvation was almost exclusive to the Israelites. Yes, outsiders could become proselytes, but that was comparatively rare. Christianity is found in this idea, that salvation was first offered to the Jews but now is open to all. Galatians 3:28 further illustrates this point. It doesn't matter if you are Jewish or not, master or slave- all that matters is faith in this Gospel of Christ. The ideas of faith and belief will become essential to our understanding of the rest of the book.

Look Back:

1/25/2011 Devotional Thoughts... Romans 1:8-15 
1/24/2011 Devotional Thoughts... Romans 1:1-7