Introduction to Romans 1:16-17
In the opening of this letter, we saw Paul telling us what the Gospel is: it is primarily concerning the Son of God and the finished work on the cross culminating in His resurrection from the dead.
Last week, we saw what the Roman believers and Paul did with the Gospel: they were faithfully proclaiming it, and so should we.
After all, if this is such good news, in fact, the best news anyone can ever receive, why do we keep it to ourselves?
And so Paul is eager to preach the gospel to the Roman believers.
But why?
Before we move on to v. 16, it is important to dwell here for a second. Isn’t the gospel meant for unbelievers?
After all, it is the good news of how Jesus died, was buried, and rose again to redeem sinful individuals and they need to trust in Christ and turn from their sins. And believers have already done that, so why is there a need for believers to hear the gospel?
Shouldn’t they move on to other deeper things of theology?
Believers need the gospel preached to them regularly because they need to see gospel ramifications in the different aspects of their lives.
The gospel is not some theoretical teaching but it informs how believers are to live. There is a gospel-centricity that must characterize the way believers live out their lives.
How does the gospel speak to the topic of leadership, finance, occupation, dating, marriage, parenting, retirement, and so much more?
Perhaps some people, when they hear about how theological this book is, immediately conclude that there is no practical purpose for the book of Romans. It is all academic, it is all theoretical.
I hope you can see how practical this book is. That the glorious gospel should drive a call to action for all of us.
I. Paul’s Gospel-Centered Thanksgiving (1:8)
II. Paul’s Gospel-Centered Prayer to Visit the Romans (1:9-15)
III. Paul’s Unashamed Stand on the Gospel (1:16-17)
With that, Paul is going to explain why his life is so centered on the gospel, why he is so compelled to give the gospel to the Romans. In explaining why he wants to give them the gospel, he is going to turn the spotlight away from himself and onto the gospel, revealing the theme of the book.
Why do I say that?
Because these two verses contain so many of the key words we have already mentioned that occur in the book of Romans: gospel, believe, righteousness, faith. Paul continues to give the gospel because he is not ashamed of the gospel.
What does it mean to be ashamed? Have you ever felt ashamed? You may have felt ashamed of yourself?
Perhaps some sin is found out about yourself and you feel ashamed. There is a sense of humiliation, there is a loss of status. It is a painfully humbling feeling. You may feel ashamed of something or someone else.
This would be a sense of embarrassment. You are embarrassed that something or someone has brought reproach to your own status. Therefore you would put a distance between yourself and whatever you are ashamed of.
In Paul’s case, the possible shame felt is regarding the gospel.
Why would Paul possibly be ashamed of the gospel?
In 1 Cor 1:23 Paul says that the gospel is a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles. With the gospel message bringing about such a response, Paul would be tempted to be embarrassed by it.
Additionally, notice how Paul has suffered much for the sake of the gospel.
He says in 2 Cor 11:23-27 regarding his efforts to proclaim the gospel:
23 “with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
Someone who is ashamed of the gospel will be tempted to stop proclaiming it.
But notice what our Lord says in Mark 8:38, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Paul says in 2 Tim 1:12, “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
Paul gives two reasons why he is not ashamed of the gospel.
A. The Gospel Contains God’s Saving Power to Everyone Who Believes (1:16)
Paul says something similar in 2 Tim 1:8-9, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”
1. What the Gospel Is: God’s Saving Power
Whenever the Scriptures talk about the power of God, it most frequently refers to God’s power in creation and in raising His Son from the dead. Think about how much power is needed to create the world and everything in it in just 6 days. You have to agree that it requires a lot of power to do that.
But God also uses His immense power to raise His Son from the dead. In Ephesians 1:19-20, Paul prays that we would be able to know
19 “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places”
The same power that brings this world and everything in it, into being in 6 days and the same immeasurable power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power to save a condemned sinner.
Every time you give the gospel, there is power from God to save a lost soul.
Just think about that.
That should greatly encourage our evangelism efforts.
Every time you open your mouth to give the gospel, there is power there to save a person.
Rather than being ashamed or embarrassed of the gospel, we need to be reminded of the immense power it has to save.
This is a supernatural power because it comes from God. Therefore, God is the one who saves. Only God has the power that is needed to save a lost soul.
How is one saved?
When he believes, that is when he puts his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. That faith is not just a mental assent to the facts of the gospel, but it involves committing one’s life to the Lord and relying and depending on Him.
2. Who the Gospel is For: Everyone
And this salvation is available to all.
Earlier, Paul says that he is obligated to proclaim the gospel both to the wise Greeks as well as the foolish barbarians.
Why?
Because the gospel is for everyone. In v. 16, Paul says “to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” The gospel reaches out universally to all regardless of whether you are a Jew or a Gentile (what “Greek” is representative of).
But what does “to the Jew first” mean?
First can be in terms of chronology or priority, and I think both are implied here.
God reached out to the Jews first before He reached out to the Gentiles. He chose Abraham to be the forefather of the nation, He gave them covenants, and promises, and laws, etc. They were His own.
While we can say that because of Israel’s repeated unbelief in God, God turned to the Gentiles. That is coming from the perspective of man’s responsibility.
But we can also say that God has a plan to redeem all of mankind unto Himself. That is the perspective of God’s sovereignty.
Second is the priority of the Jews in evangelism.
Even though Paul is an apostle to the Gentiles, everytime he goes into a new city to preach the gospel, it is the regular practice of Paul to enter the synagogue first where Jews worship, to give them the gospel first before going to the Gentiles of the city to proclaim the gospel.
B. The Powerful Soul-Saving Gospel Reveals the Righteousness of God (1:17)
Now Paul will explain why the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation. The gospel is the saving power of God because the righteousness of God is being revealed in it.
The verb “reveals” refers to uncovering. Paul uses this term to refer to the uncovering of God’s redemptive plan throughout the ages.
We did explain what “the righteousness of God” refers to in our introduction to the book of Romans, so let's do a very quick recap.
First, what may come to our minds is that this phrase means God is righteous. God indeed is righteous, but in this context, this is not the primary meaning Paul intends to communicate.
Second, the righteousness of God means righteousness that finds its source in God that is then given as a gift to unrighteous people like all of us. And as a result, sinful individuals’ status is changed from unrighteous to righteous.
We see this in Rom 3:21-22; in the example of Abraham in 4:3, 5, 6, 9, 11; 5:17
“For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”
Third, the righteousness of God possibly means the righteousness that is displayed by God. In other words, when God provides righteousness to unrighteous people, He is displaying that He is righteous in doing so. We see this clearly in 1:17 and also in 3:25-26.
One scholar Andy Naselli sums it up the three possible senses of this term this way: the righteousness of God is who God is, what God gives, and what God does.
Paul seems to use the phrase “the righteousness of God” in both the second and third ways as evidenced in other passages in Romans but especially in the second sense.
The righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.
In other words, from start to finish, the only way condemned sinners can obtain the righteousness of God is through faith alone.
The phrase “from faith for faith” is Paul’s way of emphasizing the centrality and exclusivity of faith in order for one to obtain the righteousness of God. Of course, the faith is in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no other way by which man can be saved from his sins. The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel by means of human faith.
Paul quotes an OT passage in Hab 2:4 to support his argument.
It is always good to use Scripture to back up your argument.
Briefly, what is the context of this passage in Habakkuk?
Remember that this prophet was complaining to God that he has been crying out to God for help because the wicked are getting away with impunity, justice doesn't seem to be served, and God doesn’t look like He is doing anything.
God responds that He is carrying out His plans to bring about judgment, and God tells Habakkuk to write the vision down for the people to read it.
But the question is, will they have faith in God to bring about deliverance for his people and judgment for the wicked?
At the end of the book, Habakkuk says that even though the fig tree doesn’t blossom nor the fruit be on the vines, no olives, the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, no herd in the stalls, yet he will rejoice in the Lord, he will take joy in the God of his salvation” (Hab 3:17-18).
Why?
He has placed his faith in God. He trusts in God for the promise of future salvation and judgment.
The same faith that is needed to believe that God will deliver Habakkuk from the injustices of wicked men is the same faith that is needed to believe that God will deliver us from our sins.
A person who is righteous is one who places his faith in God. The righteous shall live by their faith. Faith alone in Christ is absolutely necessary to one’s salvation.
Application
So Paul says that he is not ashamed of the gospel. Perhaps this morning we would say that we too are unashamed of the gospel.
But when we feel it is inconvenient to give the gospel, or we are overcome with fear, and we shut our mouths, are we then actually showing by our actions that we are indeed ashamed of the gospel?
This church in Rome was not ashamed of the gospel.
Paul thanked God for their faithful proclamation of the gospel throughout the Roman empire. But almost two thousand years have passed since Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome.
As you can imagine, a lot has happened in these last two thousand years. It is a sad thing that the church that received such an important letter as the one written by Paul lost the gospel.
When the head of the Roman Catholic church was in Singapore, he said to a group of students: “Religions are seen as paths trying to reach God. I will use an analogy, they are like different languages that express the divine. But God is for everyone, and therefore, we are all God’s children. “But my God is more important than yours!”
Is this true?
There is only one God, and religions are like languages that try to express ways to approach God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian. Understood?"
Does this sound like someone who is speaking from the Word of God, who is true and loyal to the gospel? Proclaiming the exclusivity of Christ as the only way to salvation?
Folks, we are talking about the fundamentals of our faith. If you take away the doctrine of justification by faith alone, you have no Christianity.
We are not talking about 2nd level or 3rd level issues, we are talking about 1st level, primary, fundamental doctrine.
You get this wrong, and you destroy the foundation on which biblical Christianity is based.
This is the hill that we must be willing to die on.
Conclusion
The Roman believers and Paul are not ashamed of the gospel. They and we have been called to faithfully proclaim the gospel. They and we live in a field that is white unto harvest and are eager to reap the harvest. They and we weld immense power that is the gospel that is able to save condemned sinners. That ought to encourage us to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel.
For Personal Reflection
Were there times when you were ashamed of the gospel? How is this passage an encouragement to not be ashamed to proclaim the gospel?
In what ways can we be faithful in giving the gospel both on a personal and on a corporate level?
Why is the theme of the book of Romans a first-level, fundamental doctrine in Christianity? What are the implications if that is so?
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