Lessons #27 and 28
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ HCSB = Holman Christian Standard Bible +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +
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Gospel reveals God’s righteousness (Rom 1:16-17)
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
This section of Romans 1:16-17 is the third subsection of Apostle Paul’s introduction of his epistle to the Romans. It follows the apostle’s desire to visit believers in Rome with the express desire of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ as he discoursed in Romans 1:8-15 that we have expounded. This third subsection of the apostle’s introduction of his epistle to the Romans is indeed his introduction of the theme of the epistle which is God’s righteousness revealed through the gospel that he expounded in the rest of this epistle. The apostle recognized that without the gospel message Christianity reduces to one of the many religions of the world that claim to point people to God. Whatever message these religions purport to advance, the Holy Spirit, through the apostle in the introduction of this epistle, tells us that such could not possibly satisfy God’s righteous demands and so ineffective as far as establishing the right relationship between humans and the supreme God the creator. So, the apostle provided two characterizations of the gospel message that indicates its superiority to any other message advocated by religious groups as it pertains to establishing relationship with the supreme God.
The first characterization of the gospel of Jesus Christ is as God’s power to bring about salvation to those who believe in Jesus Christ. This characterization is given in Romans 1:16. The second characterization of the gospel that the apostle gave is that it reveals God’s righteousness that can be obtained by faith in Jesus Christ. He gives this second characterization in Romans 1:17. Because of these characterizations of the gospel, the apostle stated his attitude towards the all-important gospel message. Therefore, the central truth he communicated in the passage before us is that the Gospel reveals God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ that leads to salvation and so Paul is not ashamed to preach it. Since the epistle was first directed to Roman believers and so to all believers in Christ, there is a message the Holy Spirit intends the apostle to convey to believers in general. Consequently, a message we believe the Holy Spirit wants to convey to us is this: You should never be ashamed to give the gospel to people because it is a message that tells of how to appropriate God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, leading to salvation. This message is an important one that should be emphasized at the present time because quite often there is not much witnessing going on by us as believers. One of the reasons is that some of us believers are ashamed to witness about their Savior, the Lord Jesus. This feeling of shame is often not admitted by those who have that kind of feeling. Instead, such individuals reveal that they are ashamed of the gospel because they say that their faith is a private matter between them and God. Your faith as a believer could not be a private matter that you could not talk with others about it. For one thing, the Lord Jesus commanded believers to take the gospel to the world that is dying as per the great commission to preach the gospel message. Hence, when a person says that the individual’s faith is personal and so the individual does not like to talk about it, that is tantamount to being ashamed of the gospel. Why would a person not be willing to tell others about the only way to heaven if indeed the individual has come to recognize the truth that without the gospel message no one can be saved. The point I am emphasizing is that if you are one of those that refuse to witness to others about the Lord Jesus Christ on the ground that your faith is private, you are actually ashamed of the gospel message. Worst, it is possible that you may not even be a believer in Christ but a religious person that regularly join believers in Christ when they meet to worship. If you are a believer in Christ, there is no reason to be ashamed of the gospel. Someone may say that the individual does not know much about the Christian faith as to witness to others. Wrong! Are you saved? How did you become saved? If you know how you became saved, you can tell another person of how that happened to you and as you do so, you will be witnessing for Christ. Again, the message we should hear from the passage before us is You should never be ashamed to give the gospel to people because it is a message that tells of how to appropriate God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, leading to salvation.
Be that as it may, Apostle Paul continued with the subject of the gospel that he indicated he was obligated to preach to anyone that he comes into contact regardless of any human factor in the previous verse, that is, Romans 1:15. The apostle continued in verse 16 in such a way that he looked back to what he stated in verse 15 as well as looks forward to what he also gave in verse 16 and following. We say this because the apostle used a Greek conjunction (gar) that has several usages. For example, it can be used as a marker of inference with the meaning “so, then, by all means” or it can be used as a marker of cause or reason for something in which case it may be translated “for, because.” In our verse, although not translated in the 1984 edition of the NIV but translated “for” in the 2011 edition, it is used to do double duty. It is used to provide the reason the apostle is eager to preach the gospel to those in Rome but also it provides an explanation of his attitude towards the gospel. In effect, the Greek conjunction serves to provide a reason that is also an explanation for the apostle’s attitude towards the gospel.
The attitude of the apostle as it pertains to the gospel of Jesus Christ is that he was not ashamed to preach it. It is this attitude that is given in the first sentence of Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel. The apostle asserted strongly that there is no time that it could be said that he was ashamed of preaching the gospel. We say this because the word not the apostle used is translated from a Greek word (ou) that is an objective negative, denying the reality of alleged fact fully and absolutely in contrast to another Greek negative (mē) that is a subjective negative, implying a conditional and hypothetical negation. Thus, the apostle states strongly and absolutely that he was never ashamed of the gospel message. Furthermore, the apostle used a present tense in the Greek that here implies that he habitually is never ashamed of the gospel.
The word “ashamed” is translated from a Greek word (epaischynomai) that means “to be ashamed,” in the sense of “to experience a painful feeling or sense of loss of status because of some particular event or activity.” It is a word that was used by the Lord Jesus to describe what would be His response to those who are ashamed of Him and His word as reported in Luke 9:26:
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Apostle Paul used the word more frequently than any other writer of the Scripture primarily in connection with the gospel and suffering related to it. He used it to encourage Timothy not to be afraid to testify about the Lord and not to be ashamed of him since he was imprisoned because of his preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ as stated in 2 Timothy 1:8:
So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.
He used the word to convey his attitude towards his suffering for the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ as he wrote in 2 Timothy 1:12:
That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
It is a word that is used to describe the Lord Jesus’ attitude towards us that He redeemed as the human author of Hebrew states in Hebrews 2:11:
Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Anyway, the Greek word in Romans 1:16 is used with the meaning “to be ashamed,” that is, “to be or become characterized by feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment, or remorse.” Apostle Paul, of course, indicated that he was absolutely not in the habit of feeling shame as it relates to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The apostle’s refusal to be absolutely ashamed has to do with the gospel since he wrote in Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel. The word “gospel” is translated from a Greek word (euangelion) that may mean “details relating to the life and ministry of Jesus,” hence means “good news of Jesus” as the word is used in the introduction of the book of Mark in Mark 1:1:
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The phrase beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ is more literally beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ. The Greek word may mean “good news as a proclamation” and so means “gospel” as the word is used by Apostle Paul to describe the message he preached to Gentiles, as recorded in Galatians 2:2:
I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.
In our passage of Romans 1:16, the apostle used it in the sense of “good news, gospel” in relation to Jesus Christ. So, the apostle was never ashamed of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of where he finds himself.
What is this gospel the apostle was not ashamed to preach? This question may appear trivial, but it is not for at least two reasons. First, no one is a Christian without understanding and responding to the gospel. You see, there are those who claim to be Christians because they were born to Christian parents and so brought up in the church. No one is a Christian by heritage or any other way except by proper response to the gospel message through faith in Jesus Christ. Christianity as such is different from the other religions of the world in which a person becomes whatever religion the parents were at birth. No! Christianity requires an individual’s response to the gospel message to be born again and so to become a Christian. Therefore, it is important to understand what the gospel is so that a person can respond correctly to it so as to become a Christian. In fact, understanding of what the gospel is, is a matter of life and death in heaven or in hell. So, nothing is as important as being clear about what the gospel message is. Second, this is the third time the apostle used the word “gospel” in this epistle, and he used it five more other times, but he nowhere defines what he meant by the gospel in this epistle. Therefore, it is important for us to understand what the apostle meant by the term “gospel” in this epistle before we proceed to consider all the apostle says about not being ashamed of the gospel message.
The Holy Spirit had directed Apostle Paul to define the gospel message that he preached as recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:1–4:
1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
I am not going to exegete the entire passage since I have done so in our study of first Corinthians and so if you are interested in the full exegesis of this passage, I refer you to begin with lesson #517ff of the 1 Corinthians study found on the website of Berean Bible Church, Bay Springs, Mississippi. My intention at this point is to summarize the gospel message the apostle presented in the passage we cited. That aside, a surface reading of what the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 suggests there are three elements to the gospel Apostle Paul preached but there are indeed five elements to the gospel the apostle preached although the second and the third elements of the gospel components are intricately intertwined.
The first element of the gospel the apostle wants us to recognize is that it is a message that is first and foremost about Jesus Christ before anything else. In effect, it is not even about us although we are the beneficiaries of the message but at its core, it is a message about Christ as in the clause of 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. The word “Christ” is translated from a Greek word (Christos) that also means “the Anointed One, the Messiah” as the fulfiller of Israel’s expectation of a deliverer. The word may be used as a personal name ascribed to Jesus. The apostle used the word here in the sense of “Christ” the fulfiller of Israel’s expectation of a deliverer. The use of the word Christ is a reminder that Jesus is the Son of God. We can recognize this truth by considering the confession of Apostle Peter when the Lord Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was as we read in Matthew 16:16:
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Peter’s confession is that Jesus is the Son of the living God. To be the Son of living God is the same as confessing that Christ is God. It is because it is important to recognize that the word “Christ” is linked to the deity of Jesus Christ that Apostle John in closing his gospel conveyed that it is important for one’s salvation, in John 20:31:
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
We are saying that Apostle Paul’s use of the word Christ in his summary of the gospel message is significant. The apostle wants us to recognize that the central focus of the gospel is Jesus Christ, the God man. It is as we understand this truth that the gospel is about Jesus Christ that every other thing about the gospel makes sense. Thus, when you are getting ready to give the gospel message to an unbeliever, you must think first and foremost that you are ready to talk about Jesus Christ and no other person since the Holy Spirit asserted that it is only through Him that anyone receives salvation as stated in Acts 4:12:
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Once you get squared in your mind that the gospel message is about Jesus Christ then you proceed to the second and third elements of the gospel that we said are intertwined as implied in the clause of 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
The second implied element of the gospel is that it is about sin as conveyed in the sentence Christ died for our sins. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of good news but to appreciate the good news, we should first bring the element of bad news that makes the good news welcomed. The bad news is sin exists in the world of humanity. Sin in its simplest definition is disobedience to God’s law. We give this basic definition because sin is presented severally in the Scripture. For example, sin in the NT is presented not only as the act of doing wrong but as an internal, personal force within each human. So, sin is a reality in the world we live in spite of those who are bent on denying its reality, such as the Christian Science group. This aside, a fact that is inescapable is that all humans are sinners. This truth is stated in the sense of the fact there is no one who does not sin as we read in Ecclesiastes 7:20:
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.
The Holy Spirit described this universality of sin through Apostle Paul later in this epistle to the Romans that we are studying, specifically, in Romans 3:23:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
The sentence all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God means in a sense that all who are born in the natural way of through human parents are sinners who although created in the image of God forfeited being His image because of sin. We are sinners because we are descendants of Adam in the natural way of being conceived by a man and a woman as stated in Romans 5:19:
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
The fact that we are sinners implies that we are separated from God, that is, that we are spiritually dead. It is this death that is described as the wages of sin in Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Apostle Paul in a sense elaborated this truth of humans being spiritually dead as he addressed the Ephesians that are typical humans as we read in Ephesians 2:1–3:
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
Prophet Isaiah acknowledged the fact that sin separated Israel from God in Isaiah 59:2:
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
The point is that sin separated humanity from God. Therefore, it is important that the second element of the message of the gospel is indeed a piece of bad news that we are sinners, so we become aware of the necessity of a savior. You see, if a person does not understand sin or that the individual is a sinner, it is difficult to state to the individual that the person needs a savior. For the person would be asking “saved from what?” It is for this fact that I am wary when someone tells me that a child has been saved. I am saying that I have a hard time accepting that a child who does not really understand sin and its impact on humans has been saved since such a child could hardly know from what the individual is being saved. Anyhow, it is our assertion that the second element of the gospel message is really a declaration of the fact that humans are sinners. This second element may be considered a prelude to the gospel message but an important one. Often, this element is assumed by many when they present the gospel. That may or may not be correct. It depends on the person or the audience as to whether or not one emphasizes this second element of proclaiming the gospel. For, if there is no mention of sin in course of proclaiming the gospel, it is difficult to make sense of the third element of the gospel message that we will get to shortly. We are saying that somehow, in course of preaching the gospel, the fact of sin must be brought to bear on the hearer for the third element of the gospel to be coherent. It is the assumption of the fact of humans being sinners that is reflected in the explanation of an angel that appeared to Joseph in a dream to explain the virgin pregnancy as recorded in Matthew 1:21:
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
The angel that spoke to Joseph referenced sin to indicate that the Savior, Jesus Christ, was coming into the world to deal with the matter of sin since that separates humans from God. This being the case, it is important we recognize that the subject of sin should, in one form or the other, be brought to the sinner so that the individual would see the need for a savior from sin. Once this second element or prelude to the gospel message is presented then the third element that is concerned with the solution to sin makes good sense.
The third element of the gospel message Apostle Paul presented is the solution to sin problem which involves the death of Christ on the cross. It is this element that is given in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
It is interesting to note that Apostle Paul used more the name Christ in describing the death of the Savior than he used the word Jesus. The clear example of the apostle using the name Jesus in describing the death of the Savior is in what is tantamount to a confession of faith as recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4:14:
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
The apostle used the word “Christ” predominantly in his epistles to describe the death of the Savior. For example, he used it in Romans 14:9:
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
He used it in 1 Corinthians 8:11:
So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
There is no clear reason the apostle used the word “Christ” predominantly in describing the death of the Savior in his epistles. This notwithstanding, it is probably because he wanted to focus on the fact that the One who died on the cross is the expected deliverer of Israel and also to convey that He is the God man. Anyway, the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
The sentence Christ died for our sins is to be understood to mean that Christ died to atone for or to remove our sins. His atoning for our sins implies the death of Christ is substitutionary, that is, He died in our place. Our assertion that the death of Christ is substitutionary is a concept that was conveyed in the OT Scripture. God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his unique son, Isaac. Abraham obeyed but just as he was about to slaughter his son, God provided him a substitute according to Genesis 22:13:
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Later in God’s dealing with Israel, the idea of substitute for one’s sin was conveyed through the concept of sacrificing an animal for the people’s sins as, for example, in Leviticus 1:4:
He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.
Jesus Christ Himself conveyed that He came to give His life for the elect as we read in Mark 10:45:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The concept of Christ dying for us as our substitute was put in the mouth of Caiaphas, the high priest by the Holy Spirit at the time of death of Jesus Christ as we read in John 11:50–52:
50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.
After the death of Christ, the Holy Spirit conveyed the concept of Christ dying as our substitute in that He took care of our sins in terms of atoning for them. That is what Apostle Paul conveyed in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. It is not only through Apostle Paul that the Holy Spirit conveyed this truth. He did that through others. The human author of Hebrews conveyed that same concept by indicating that Jesus Christ tasted death for everyone as we read in Hebrews 2:9:
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Apostle Peter conveyed the same concept that Christ was our substitute in that He atoned for our sins as we read in 1 Peter 2:24:
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
Apostle John stated the same concept in 1 John 2:2:
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
So, one gets the idea that when Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins he meant that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins. He took our place so that because of His death our sins are forgiven, and we receive God’s righteousness as the apostle also wrote in his second epistle to the Corinthians. I am referring to 2 Corinthians 5:21:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Anyway, the point is that the third element of the gospel message is the death of Christ on the cross for us in that He bore the penalty of sins for us.
The fourth element of gospel message is the fact of burial of Jesus Christ. It is this fact that is given in the first clause of 1 Corinthians 15:4 that he was buried. This declaration is indeed part of what is included in the OT Scripture concerning the Messiah. We say this because Prophet Isaiah conveyed that the Messiah or the Servant of Yahweh was going to be buried in the grave of the rich as we may gather from Isaiah 53:9:
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
It is a fact that Jesus Christ was buried. His burial is described in Matthew 27:57–60:
57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.
The prophecy of Isaiah concerning the identification of the Messiah with the rich is fulfilled in that Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man and he buried Jesus’ body in his own tomb that no one has ever been buried, hence the clause of Matthew 27:60 placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. This burial of Jesus’ body was referenced by Apostle Paul as he preached his longest recorded message of the gospel as we read in Acts 13:29:
When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
Why is it important to assert as an element of the gospel that Jesus Christ was buried? One may ask. Is it not obvious that if someone dies the individual would have to be buried? You may ask. Well, the reason for this assertion is firstly to indicate that the Scripture about the Messiah being associated with the rich in His death stated in Isaiah 53:9 was fulfilled. Secondly, to convey that Jesus actually died on the cross. The Holy Spirit knew that there would be those who would deny that Jesus actually died on the cross. For example, there are those who claim that Jesus did not actually die but went straight from the cross to heaven or that someone other than Jesus was on the cross. Third, to set up the next important element of the gospel that we will get in the fifth element. Anyway, we should recognize that the information about the burial of Jesus Christ is not something that was not needed for the reasons we have given. This brings us to the fifth element of the gospel.
The fifth element of the gospel message concerns the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that is, being raised from the dead never to die again. It is this element that is conveyed in the clause of 1 Corinthians 15:4 that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Unlike those who through miracles of God were brought back from death that eventually died at a later time, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day and no more subjected to death. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the heart of the gospel because if there was no resurrection nothing else about Jesus’ work on our behalf makes sense. No wonder, Apostle Paul underscores the importance of Jesus’ resurrection as it relates to us being in good standing with God in Romans 4:25:
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
In any case, the five elements of the gospel we have presented are the essence of the gospel that Apostle Paul preached. Of course, we should not suppose that these are the only things the apostle mentioned when he preached the gospel. In addition to these elements, the apostle spoke of God’s coming judgment. We know this because of the response of the governor, Felix, when the apostle defended himself and so the gospel he preached before the governor as we may gather from Acts 24:25:
As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”
The apostle confirmed that he brings up the subject of judgment when he preached the gospel as implied in what he wrote in Romans 2:16:
This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
We have considered briefly the gospel message Apostle Paul preached, so we return to our consideration of the sentence of Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel.
Why should the apostle have even stated I am not ashamed of the gospel since there is nothing in the epistle that warrants such an assertion? Authorities have provided all kinds of answers to this question. One popular answer is that Paul was speaking of his own confidence and employs the literary device known as litotes, which is a form of understatement in which something is affirmed by denying its opposite (e.g. “I am not unhappy” when what is meant is “I am very happy”). This answer implies that what the apostle wrote I am not ashamed of the gospel should be understood to mean that the apostle is proud and overjoyed to have the opportunity to preach the gospel or that he has complete confidence in the gospel. Of course, some counter this answer by stating that the apostle rarely used “litotes” in his epistles. Anyway, there are other answers commentators provide to explain the apostle’s declaration that we are not going to discuss since these answers are speculative. However, it seems to me that the Holy Spirit simply directed the apostle to speak from his personal experience of preaching the gospel.
Preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ invites ridicules from all kinds of people. You see, preaching of the gospel, as we have noted, requires declaring that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. The idea of the Messiah being crucified on the cross was offensive to the mind of a Jew while it sounded foolish to the Greek philosophers. It is because of these facts the apostle states that the message of the cross was offensive to both Jews and Gentiles in 1 Corinthians 1:22–24:
22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
To say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross was ridiculous to Greek philosophers since such fact attributes weakness to Christ while Greek heroes were presented as invincible. So, if the apostle preached the gospel message that involves both the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he exposed himself to the ridicule of the Greek philosophers as we learn, for example, when he was preaching in Athens as reported in Acts 17:18–20:
18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”
Hence, the apostle knew that he would be ridiculed by the philosophers of his time and the Jews but that did not deter him from preaching the gospel. He was not ashamed of the facts of the gospel. Consequently, you should not be ashamed of witnessing about Christ to anyone regardless of their status or educational level. You have the truth and so you must never shy away from preaching the gospel or witnessing for Christ. You should not be ashamed of the truths of the gospel. Again, let me emphasize that if you fail to give the gospel and you claim to be a believer, either you are ashamed of the gospel or that you may not even be a believer despite your claim.
Apostle Paul said he was not ashamed of the preaching of the gospel but let me remind us that we are not to be ashamed of anything related to the gospel message. Thus, you should not be ashamed to associate with a fellow believer in prison because of the individual’s faith. It is no wonder the apostle commended Onesiphorus for not being ashamed of him in his imprisonment as recorded in 2 Timothy 1:16:
May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.
It is not only that you should not be ashamed of a fellow believer in prison for the gospel of Jesus Christ, you also should not be ashamed of any suffering that comes to you for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is in keeping with the instruction of the Holy Spirit to us through Apostle Peter as recorded in 1 Peter 4:16:
However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.
The point is that we should never be ashamed of preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and any suffering associated with the gospel. However, there are at least two instances that we should be ashamed of our actions. If we act in a manner that would belie our faith before an unbeliever, that should cause us to be ashamed. Of course, we should avoid such a situation. Ezra conveyed that he was ashamed to ask for help from a king because of the implication of such a request in light of his declaration about God as he wrote in Ezra 8:22:
I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.”
Ezra realized that having described God to the king in a glowing manner that it would be a let down of his faith in God to ask for protection from the king. His example means that when we say we are Christians and speak of the greatness of our Savior, we should be careful not to do anything that will nullify our testimony. It goes without saying, if we sin that should cause us to be ashamed contrary to unbelievers who have no shame when they sin as implied in the penetrating question of Yahweh through His prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 8:12:
Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD.
The point is that we should not be ashamed of the Christian faith and so we should not be ashamed of presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ to people. Apostle Paul states in Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel but why? We will take up the answer in our next study but let me end by reminding you of the message of the section what we considering which is You should never be ashamed to give the gospel to people because it is a message that tells of how to appropriate God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ leading to salvation.
07/05/24