The Glory of the Gospel

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 1:16-17

The moment we are saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ, we become indebted to all the peoples of the world to preach the gospel to them. Paul declared himself such a debtor and said that was why he was so eager to preach the gospel in the mighty city of Rome (Rom. 1:14-15). Now he gives the reason he is so eager: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16).

The Offense of the Gospel

Paul probably had been tempted to be ashamed of the gospel at some point, for the gospel is “a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23). Sinful man minimizes his sin and maximizes his own ability to save himself by his own righteousness. He glories in his homemade salvation-his philosophy, religion, materialism, science, asceticism, hedonism, morality, and social action. He hates to cry out, “Have mercy upon me, a sinner!” He refuses to confess that he is born a sinner and so can only sin. He will not admit that he can do nothing before God to save himself and that he must be saved from God’s wrath by God himself. God plans, accomplishes, and applies salvation effectually to every elect sinner.

Sinners hate and mock the gospel because it declares there is none righteous, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The gospel declares that every sinner is born under the wrath of God and remains the object of his wrath. The wages of sin is eternal death, and man is dead in trespasses and sins (Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:1). He cannot save himself because of his moral inability. He must repent of his sins and believe in God’s plan of salvation by trusting in God’s Son, who died on the cross for our sins. But sinful man resists this because he is offended by this gospel that first and foremost declares that he is born a sinner, practices sin, and is an enemy of God. Anyone who proclaims the gospel will experience persecution from such men.

However, though Paul may have been tempted to be ashamed of the gospel, says he is not. He was ready to go to Rome where powerful, civilized, educated, rich people such as Caesar and the Roman senators lived. Paul knew these were all sinners under God’s wrath. Therefore, Paul was eager to go to the very heart of Rome to give them the gospel they so desperately needed.

If we preach the gospel, the world will heap shame upon us. If we speak about Jesus Christ in our school or university, we will experience instant mocking and persecution. If we are not being mocked and persecuted, it is because we have been ashamed of the gospel and are glorying in the world, with its power, pleasure, philosophy, and values.

What should we do when people mock and despise us? Jesus demonstrated how we should live. Hebrews 12:2 says that he despised the shame of the cross, meaning he refused to let shame control him. In the same way, we must also despise the shame that comes to us from the world. Jesus counseled: “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). I am not worried about what the world says about the gospel and about me. I despise that shame. But I am concerned about the Son of Man being ashamed of me when he comes. I want my Lord Jesus to confess my name to the Father.

Young Timothy was ashamed of the gospel because he did not want to suffer for the cause of Christ. So Paul exhorted him, “Do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life” (2 Tim. 1:8-9). Living and proclaiming the gospel will bring suffering to us, but we can endure the suffering by God’s power. Paul also encouraged Timothy, saying, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7). Jesus told his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). A true child of God despises the world’s shame and is eager to suffer for Christ’s name, enabled by the Spirit of God upon him, and knowing that God has given us eternal life. The world can only kill us, but our death will not destroy our eternal life. Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). Secure in our salvation, we are therefore not ashamed of the gospel.

Paul told Timothy: “That is why I am suffering as I am” (2 Tim. 1:12). Living, proclaiming, and sharing the gospel involves suffering, mocking, and shame. Suffering is inherent in the gospel. But he continued, “Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). God will take care of our life. We are secure in Christ, to whom we have committed our lives. Then Paul gives an illustration of a brother named Onesiphorus who was not ashamed: “May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me” (2 Tim. 1:16-17).

The gospel offends the pride of sinners. Yet we are not at liberty to remove the offense of the gospel as anti-supernaturalist theological liberals have done. They say, “Do not worry about that statement that Jesus is God. He is only a good man-the best man who ever lived.” They also removed all miracles from the Bible because they are offensive to rationalist man. They would say man is not at all sinful, and that man can save himself by doing social work, that there is no eternal hell, that God is not wrathful but all love, and saves all people, including the devil and demons. They would say, in fact, that all are saved already; they only need to realize it. These people have taken away the offense of the gospel.

Those who preach the health and wealth gospel have also taken away the offense of the gospel. Such churches never say that man is a sinner under the wrath of God and must repent of his sins and believe in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for their sins. They only speak about how to make more money.

Surprisingly, many modern evangelical churches have also taken away the offense of the gospel. Such churches even take polls to find out what the people want the pastor to do. The results of such polls indicate that many people are more interested in certain styles of music than preaching about sin, repentance, hell, the blood of Jesus, and living a holy life.

But when we take away the offense of the gospel, we are left with a gospel that will not save anyone. It is an impotent gospel, a gospel that entombs people in their hell. Therefore, let the Athenians mock and call Paul a babbler for speaking about a poor carpenter who lived in Judea, was crucified by Roman soldiers, was raised from the dead, and is the Savior and Judge of the world. When Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” he means, “I am proud of the gospel. I glory in this glorious gospel.” Romans 1:16-17d is the theme of this great epistle. Dr. Lloyd-Jones states, “I suppose that, in a sense, there are no two verses of greater importance in the whole Scripture than the two verses which we are now considering.”¹

Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. Are we? Those who are ashamed of the gospel are respectful of the world. They cannot and will not say, as Paul did, that “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). They love the world and are alive to it. Since they follow the world’s ways, values, and pleasures, they are ashamed of the gospel.

The people of the world mock the Bible truths that affirm that the infinite personal God created all things. Instead, they believe in evolution. We affirm that there has been a moral fall, but again these people disagree and state that, in fact, man is getting better all the time. They do not believe in the fall of man but in his ascent. We declare that God is redeeming the lost world, but these people say there is no need for redemption because there was no fall. We say there is a heaven and a hell; they say not only is there no heaven or hell, but that death is the end of our existence.

I hope we will not be impressed by the world, but listen to what God says about this fallen world and its glory, rulers, powers, and philosophies. Paul writes, “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing” (1 Cor. 2:6). Paul also asks, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor. 1:20). “For this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). How many people are like Lot, buying real estate in Sodom! He pitches his tent near Sodom, then he moves closer to Sodom, and now he is living in Sodom as a judge. John warns, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and is desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15-17). Peter also writes: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. . . . But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:10, 13). This world is going to be destroyed and a new world is coming. May we invest in the world to come!

The Transforming Power of the Gospel

What were Paul’s reasons for not being ashamed of the gospel? Why was he glorying in the gospel and so eager to evangelize the whole world, including the capital of the Roman empire? First, he experienced the power of the gospel in his own life. We will not witness to the gospel if we have never experienced its transforming power in our lives.

Paul had earlier considered himself, not a sinner, but a good man who was perfectly righteous by keeping the law. He did not think he needed a Savior. Yes, Paul had heard Stephen and others speak of Jesus crucified, buried, risen, and reigning. He opposed them all, persecuting and even killing some of them out of his hatred for Jesus. But on the road to Damascus, the risen Lord arrested and saved Paul, opening his eyes to the truth of his sinfulness and need of salvation. Now Paul acknowledged the Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, and God forgave all his sins. Jesus justified Paul by his own perfect righteousness and commissioned him to be his apostle to the Gentiles.

Paul speaks of this experience in his letter to the Philippian church: “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless” (Phil. 3:4-6). This describes Paul before he was apprehended by Jesus. “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness the comes from God and is by faith” (Phil. 3:7-9). He also tells the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Gal. 2:20-21). After being confronted and saved by Christ, “Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. (PGM) At once he began to preach in the synagogue that Jesus is the Son of God” (Acts 9:19-20). When we are saved and transformed by this mighty Christ, we too will open our mouths and declare the gospel.

If we are ashamed of the gospel, it is because we respect the world and its philosophies. But we must realize that it is a fallen world, destined to be destroyed. In fact, if we are ashamed of the gospel, we may still be in our sins. If that is the case, we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and confess our sins, and he will save us from his wrath. When Jesus sets us free, we shall leap for joy and gladly proclaim the gospel, declaring, “I was blind but now I see; I was bound but now I am free; I was dead but now I live; I was depressed and helpless but now I rejoice in God my Savior, all because of Jesus.” Count Nikolas Ludwig von Zinzendorf wrote, “Jesus, thy blood and righteousness my beauty are, my glorious dress.” We appear before God in that glorious dress of the righteousness of Christ. May all of us who have experienced this great salvation open our mouths to proclaim the gospel.

What type of sinner did Jesus save? We all have a tendency to minimize our sin. But when we minimize our sin, we also minimize the glory of Christ. Paul writes, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life” (1 Tim. 1:15-16). Paul says he is the worst of sinners; yet Jesus saves the worst of sinners. Jesus Christ is a great and sufficient Savior. Elsewhere Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:35). The answer is nothing: “Neither death nor life . . . nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39). We are in Christ, safe and secure from all alarm. What is the reason? Christ is the reason. He has saved us from God’s wrath. He saved us from the power of sin and the pollution of sin, and he will save us even from the presence of sin. When he comes again, he will give us glorious bodies like unto Christ’s own glorious body and he is going to create a new heaven and new earth wherein dwells righteousness.

The Gospel Is Good News

The second reason Paul says he is not ashamed is that the gospel is God’s good news (tou euangelion). We live in a fallen world in which we hear only bad news from morning till evening. The gospel is the light of God in our world of pitch moral darkness.

When Adam sinned, all sinned in him. The whole world fell. Sinful man can only sin all the time. So man is fallen, miserable, wretched, and unrighteous, as Paul proves in Romans 1:18-3:20. In Romans 3 he writes:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes”

Rom. 3:10-18

But then he gives the good news: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known” (Rom. 3:21). This is the gospel! It is the shaft of light that enters the pitch moral darkness of this miserable world-the light that makes us alive, enables us to see, and causes us to look to God and be saved. The gospel light pierces through the darkness of the miseries of the world. God says, “Let there be light!” into our souls.

Yes, man is a guilty sinner, under the wrath of God. Man dies and must die; he cannot save himself. Man needs the divine, infinite, perfect righteousness of God so that he may stand before God. All of man’s philosophy, religion, science, military power, medicine, technology, politics, and morality fail to save him. There is no gospel in this world. We need the gospel that comes only from heaven. So Paul says, ” I am not ashamed of the gospel.” This epistle of Romans speaks of the gospel of God, the gospel concerning his Son Jesus Christ, who was crucified, buried, risen, ascended, seated, and reigning as Sovereign Lord of the universe.

This gospel was promised in Isaiah: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ . . . The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (Isa. 52:7; 61:1). This good news promised in the law and the prophets is now made manifest in history in Jesus Christ. Every time the gospel is preached, the righteousness of God is revealed to us.

God has brought good news for man from heaven, revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Luke writes: “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you [the gospel] good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:8-11).

The Power of God unto Salvation

The third reason Paul is not ashamed of the gospel is that it is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). Every sinner is drowning in the ocean of divine wrath. Not only is he alienated from God and from his neighbors, but he is even divided and depressed in himself, all because of sin. Fearful man is running away from God. He is banished from God and his blessings. Not only does he not love God and his fellow man, but he harbors enmity toward them. He hates his own brother and kills him.

Man needs to be saved from God’s wrath and from his own sin and death. He needs to be brought back to God, having dealt with his sin problem that prevents him from coming into God’s glorious presence, so that he can enjoy eternal life and everlasting communion with God.

We need to be saved from wrath (Rom. 5:9); from hostility to God (Rom. 5:10); from alienation (Eph. 2:12); from sin (Matt. 1:21); from being lost (Luke 19:10); from the frustration and futility of our life (1 Pet. 1:18); from the yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1); from demon possession (Luke 8:36); from sickness (Luke 8:48); from danger of going to hell (Matt. 8:25-26); and from this corrupt generation (Acts 2:40).

Every sinner has especially two needs, which God’s powerful salvation satisfies-the need for forgiveness and the need for righteousness. When God regenerates us and gives us a new nature, we are experiencing conversion. God justifies, adopts, sanctifies, and glorifies us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us to enlighten, teach, and empower us to live lives pleasing in his sight. Jesus came that we may have life and have it to the full (John 10:10). The gospel is speaking about abundant salvation-not a little bit of salvation, but fullness of salvation, beyond forgiveness. It is speaking about having communion with God, which is God’s true blessing. The gospel Paul proclaims is the gospel that saved us, that saves us, and will save us. We were saved by Jesus in the past when we heard the gospel and trusted in him. This Jesus saves us now by sanctifying us. And in the future, Jesus is going to glorify us. This is full-orbed salvation: both body and soul are saved, qualified, and fitted to stand in the presence of a glorious, all-holy God. God said, “Be ye holy as I am holy,” and it is he who makes us holy.

Later in this epistle Paul writes, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. . . . For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30). Jesus Christ has become for us righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,” that is, glorification (1 Cor. 1:30).

Proud of the Gospel

Once we were proud of our fig-leaf aprons of self-righteousness with which we covered ourselves. We were proud of our own refuse, as Paul was, glorying in it and parading it before everyone, especially before the holy God. We even called ourselves perfect. But when God opened our eyes, we understood our own righteousness was like filthy rags and dung.

Now we are clothed with the garments of heavenly salvation. Should we be ashamed of the gospel? No, we are proud of the gospel that saved and changed us. We glory in it, live it, and proudly proclaim it.

If we have been saved by this gospel of salvation, it is time that we showed it. May we not glory in our bank account, our family, our job, or anything else, but in the gospel that saved us. Let us not be afraid of the world, but remember that the world is going to be destroyed. God told Cornelius to send for Simon Peter to come and declare the gospel to him and his family. God is not depending on angels. He depends on us to declare the gospel to the world. If we are saved, let us be proud of it and proclaim it.

¹ Lloyd-Jones. Romans: An Exposition of Chapter One: The Gospel of God(Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1985), 257-258.