Do not be ashamed of the gospel

Romans 1:16 (NIV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Define gospel.  Don’t read further; just define what gospel means to you.  Do you feel clumsy putting it into words?  We take the word for granted at times as we do many other words where trying to define such words to someone else is not easy.  For example, define art, beauty, pain, old, health, love.  Such words are difficult to define because they are subjective words with slightly different meaning to different people. 

Gospel can have many meanings

·  Good news of Christ

·  Good news concerning Christ, the Kingdom of God, and salvation

·  The life of Christ

·  The first four books of the New Testament 

·  The truth

·  The proclamation of redemption preached by Jesus and the Apostles

·  Evangelical

·  Relating to music

·  Any system of religious doctrine

The word Paul used for gospel was “euaggelion” meaning “good or glad tidings of salvation through the grace of God in Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God”.  This was the same word written in verses describing Jesus’ teaching, e.g. Jesus preaching the “euaggelion” in Matt 4:23 and  9:35; Mark using this word many times, e.g. 1:1, 1:14-15, 8:35, 10:29, 13:10, 14:9, 16:15, and Acts 15:17 and 20:24. 

It is this gospel, however you define it, that Paul boldly declares that he is not ashamed of.  Why?  He proceeds to give four reasons: (1) It is power (“dynamis”); (2) It is of God (“Theos”); (3) It is salvation (“soteria”); and (4) It is for everyone (“pas”). 

By this definition in Romans 1:16, the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to you and to anyone who believes……….believes in the gospel of God (Romans 1:1) that He promised in the Old Testament (verse 2) concerning His Son (verse 3) who had the power to be resurrected from the dead (verse 4).  So belief is referring to the resurrection of Jesus Christ , Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Jesus came to save sinners from being separated from God.

The Roman world knew what power meant and Paul used “dynamis” to describe just how powerful the gospel is, even more powerful than any Roman army, sufficiently powerful to defeat death.  Such power can take the greatest sinner and convert him/her into the greatest saint.  Paul was such a person, a former killer and persecutor of Christians, now a minister of the Christian faith.  

 

Is your faith in Jesus Christ sufficiently solid and deep that you could easily proclaim this same message to anyone else?  If not, why not?  Is there still some kind of shame or embarrassment in what you believe?  Where do you need to change, to grow, to deepen your belief?  What does power mean to you?  How can you apply that power in your daily life?  What weaknesses still exist in your life where God’s power can overcome (II Cor 12:9)?