September 8, 2025 - Romans 1:16,17 - "Not Ashamed of the Gospel"

Romans 1:16-17

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."

Paul’s declaration is bold and unshakable: he is not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the Message of Christ Himself. This Gospel is not about man, nor is it rooted in human wisdom or effort—it is the Good News of the eternal Son of God, Who came into the world to accomplish salvation for His people. In Him the Righteousness of God is revealed, and through Him sinners are brought from death to life. The Gospel is Christ—His Person, His work, His glory.

The Gospel is called both the Gospel of God and the Gospel of Christ. They are the same. It is the Good News purposed by the Father from eternity, accomplished in time by the Son, and revealed by the Spirit to elect redeemed sinners. From eternity, before time began, God purposed to glorify His Son as the Redeemer. There was never a moment when Christ was not appointed as Savior. Election itself is bound up with Him: “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). If any are elect, it is because Christ stood as their Redeemer, the One Who would come into this world, establish their righteousness, and save them by His shed blood unto death. The Gospel is, at its core, the work between the Father and the Son (John 10:30).

This is why Paul can say he is not ashamed. There is much to be ashamed of in the counterfeit "gospels" of men—messages that add to or take away from Christ’s work, which are not the Gospel of God (Galatians 1:6-9). But the true Gospel is entirely of God’s grace in Christ. He alone is the Mercy Seat, the Propitiation. “God hath set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past” (Romans 3:25). Christ’s death is not merely a covering—it is the complete satisfaction of God’s justice, the turning away of wrath, the reconciliation of elected sinners to God. Everything begins and ends with Him.

And yet, how offensive this Gospel remains to the natural heart! The Jews stumbled at a crucified Messiah; the Greeks mocked at the foolishness of the cross. Today, many still stumble because this message strips man of all glory and gives it wholly to Christ. To some, it seems unfair. To others, it seems too narrow. But Scripture is plain: “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Romans 9:16). The Salvation of God is not by opportunity or chance—it is by God's sovereign will in Christ Jesus.

Here is the Wisdom of God: that through the death of His Son, He could remain just and yet justify sinners. “That he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). No human wisdom could ever devise such a salvation. The world’s wise men—religious leaders, theologians, and philosophers—feel around in the dark like blind men trying to describe an elephant. One touches the tail and says it is a rope. The other feels the side and says it is a wall. The other grabs the leg and says it is a trunk, etc. But in blindness, none can see what it is in truth. So it is with the salvation of God in Christ. Unless Christ is revealed, they see nothing. True Wisdom is found only in God’s Way of Salvation: “We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23–24).

This Gospel is unchanging. Whether preached in Jerusalem, Corinth, Africa, or America, it is the same Message: One Faith, One Hope, One LORD. The just shall live by Faith, (Christ the Object of Faith) not by works, not by feelings, not by experience, but by Christ Himself. Faith is not the ground or instrument of justification but the God-given eye to see that justification has already been accomplished in Christ’s death. By that Faith, the Spirit continually directs us away from ourselves and to Christ alone.

Therefore, Paul says, “I am not ashamed.” Neither should we be. Though the world mocks, though religion scoffs, yet this Gospel remains the very Power of God unto Salvation. It is by this Message that blind eyes are opened, dead sinners are raised to life, and Christ is revealed in His glory.

Those of us whom the Father elected, and the Son redeemed, we live by this Faith. It is not even our clinging to Christ that is our salvation, but rather Christ holding in His sovereign Hand each one that the Father gave from eternity and for whom He came and laid down His life. Our confidence is not in ourselves, nor in our works or will—but in Him. As Paul wrote: “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

The just shall live by Faith. The just shall live by Christ. This is the message Paul was not ashamed to declare. And by God’s grace, neither are we whom He has taught by His Spirit.