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.”
Not ashamed of the Gospel. Paul was writing to the true Believers, the Elect, that were in Rome at a time when being a Christian was unpopular in society. He had a sense that the Church of Jesus Christ would have to face the culture and its mores head on. He knew that to know Christ was much more than owning a title of “Christian”. It meant life and possibly death for those he cared for and cherished.
To Paul, Christ was all He knew. (See a previous post on this site.) He wanted nothing more than to know Him…even to the point of being tortured for knowing Him. He understood that knowing Christ was a shameful thing to many, but not to him. Not to Paul.
Listen to this: “ …that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;” (Phil. 3:10).
Paul longed to know Christ more, moment by moment. It was all about Christ, not about Paul.
With that zeal for His glory, Paul scribes the words…”I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” He wrote with the Spirit’s inspiration to say that there was nothing he wanted more than to stand tall, carrying the Gospel message and live out the Gospel message. The message that Christ came so man could know God.
Paul knew also that the Gospel is an extremely difficult message to swallow to the carnal man. The unregenerated man cannot handle the Gospel; therefore, he will reject the men who live and preach it, and reject Christ Himself.
THAT is what Paul meant, almost to say “I don’t care what happens to my life. The Gospel is most crucial to me. So much so that they can strip me naked and beat my body for HIS sake. I am not ashamed to be one of Christ’s men.”
This was Paul…A man that hated Christ and His people. A man that stood approving at the innocent slaughter of a True Believer. A man that ran headlong into the destruction of families because they loved Christ… A man saved by grace.
Oh Lord, make me unashamed to be your mouthpiece so that without shame, I might proclaim the excellencies of You who have called me out of darkness into Your marvelous light.
August 30, 2006 at 8:37 am |
Brother, I love what you say. Not Ashamed of the Gospel. But likewise, we should not be ashamed to act according to the Gospel through our actions. Not ashamed to identify ourselves through our actions as Christians. James 2:14-25 addresses this:
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
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James says our faith is worth nothing if it isn’t accompanied with actions that show our faith in God. We can’t hide our faith, we can’t be ashamed to show that we are His. Certainly Paul didn’t in his teachings. But in our actions, must be Grace also. For while we chosen ones are extremely valuable in God’s eyes, we are but sinners, saved through God’s Grace, bought with a tremendous price, the very life of God’s own son, Jesus Christ.