Romans 1:16-17

Vs. 16

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ”

-This is not a command

-Paul is not commanding anyone not to be ashamed

-Now, that’s a good application, and we’ll get there in a minute

First, I wanna ask 2 questions:

-Why would Paul or any or any other Christian be tempted to be ashamed?

-Why was he not ashamed?

Why would Paul or a Roman Christian back then be tempted to be ashamed?

-If you were living as a Christian back then, you would certainly understand the temptation to be ashamed of the Gospel

-During this time, Christianity was not looked on well in many places in the world, as it is not always looked well upon now

-First, there would be danger from the Jews.

-The Jews hated Christianity

-This is evidenced by how many times Paul was kicked out of synagogues or persecuted by the Jews

-Paul himself used to persecute Christians, before Christ met him on the road to Damascus

-The Jewish rulers beat and imprisoned the Apostles in Acts 5

-You see, the Jews hated the message of the Gospel?

-Why?

-First, Jesus did not fit their expectations of the triumphal Messiah that the Jews were looking for

-They wanted someone to overthrow their enemies and restore them to prominence again!

-Secondly, and equally important, the Jews relied on their being God’s chosen people and being part of His Covenant to grant them access to God

-After all, God gave them the Covenant through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

-They recieved the Mosaic Covenant through Moses

-Their greatest king David, God made a covenant with him that promised him that he would always have someone to reign on his throne

-They had the 10 commandments, written by the finger of God

-They had circumcision, the outward sign of the covenant

-Because of these things, many of them saw the Gospel as tearing down these beautiful and glorious God-given things

What about Gentiles?

-Gentiles often hated the Gospel because of how foolish it was

-How could a crucified criminal be a Savior?

-Crucifixion was reserved for the lowliest of the low

-But maybe even bigger than that, how could someone possibly rise from the dead?

-This kind of scorn and disbelief is what Paul recieved in Athens in Acts 17:32

-People don’t rise from the dead!! that’s impossible!

-And furthermore, the Gospel got in the way of the idolatry people wanted

-Acts 19:23-27

-the Gospel gets in the way of people’s idolatry and keeps them from living in the sin that they so desire

That’s why Paul can say in 1 Corinthians 1:21-24:

-Even though we live 2,000 years later, many of the same circumstances apply to us:

-people think that Christianity is weak

-A religion based on a man 2,000 years ago who commanded people to turn the other cheek and love your enemies

-People don’t rise from the dead! The earth couldn’t be created in 7 days! That’s foolishness

-Or, the fact that the Gospel gets in the way of people’s idolatry

-Accepting Christ would mean the end of me putting money first, having sex with whoever I want, or believing homosexuality is ok

No matter what time period you live in, the Gospel is always going to be offensive to some

-John 15:18-20

So, why was he not ashamed then of the Gospel, the good news of Christ?

“for it is the power of God to salvation”

-Paul wasn’t ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God!!

-There are so many things in nature, that are so powerful

-A tsunami with a record run-up height of 1720 feet occurred in Lituya Bay, Alaska. On the night of July 9, 1958

-Great Chilehan Earthquake was a 9.5, and over 6,000 were killed worldwide

-Tri-state Tornado, It holds records for longest path length at 219 miles (352 km), longest duration at about 3½ hours, and fastest forward speed for a significant tornado at 73 mph (117 km/h) anywhere on Earth. In addition, it is the deadliest single tornado in United States history with 695 fatalities.

-Not one of these things is called the power of God in Scripture!

-The Gospel is called the power of God

Why is it called the power of God?

-Because the Gospel is primarily a person, and that person is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:24)

-Because it brings people to salvation in Christ!

-The Gospel takes people who are rebels to God, and turns them into slaves of God

-The Gospel takes children of Satan and turns them into children of God

-The Gospel takes people who hate God and turns them into people who love God

-The Gospel takes people who are spiritually dead and makes them spiritually alive

-The Gospel takes people who are self-worshipers, and makes them God worshipers

-The Gospel takes people who are filthy and makes them righteous

-The Gospel takes people who are guilty and makes them justified

-And the Gospel ultimately takes people who could never see God, and brings them into the presence of God for all eternity!

The Gospel is the power of God for salvation!!

Notice the next phrase:

“for everyone who believes”

-The Gospel is available for all through faith in Jesus Christ

-There is no work to be done!

-We cannot pay for our salvation

-We cannot work for it in any way

-The reason we cannot work for it is because we could never achieve it or buy it!

-We are rebels against God, filthy sinners without hope who could never please a holy and righteous God, but Jesus Christ has paid the debt for us!

-He’s given us His righteousness through faith!!

-We’ll get to more of that in a minute

Notice the last phrase:

“for the Jew first and also for the Greek”

-God does not play favorites

-That’s not what Paul is saying

-But there is an order and a priority in which the Gospel

-The Jews were given the Word of God and the Covenants in the OT, and Jesus came through the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

-So there needs to be a priority to share the Gospel with the Jews

But there is also grace for everyone else!! the Gospel is for everyone!!

-We as Gentiles can be just as much God’s children as any Jew can, through faith in Christ!!

-What a wonderful truth!

Vs. 17

“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed”

-In it, is referring to the Gospel

-In the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed

So, what does the “righteousness of God” refer to?

-Douglas Moo, an excellent commentator, narrows it down to 3 things it could be:

-An attribute of God (Psalm 25:28, Psalm 51:14)

-A standing given by God (Romans 3:21-26)

-An action of God (Mic. 7:9, Isa. 46:13)