That's Power

I was looking at Romans 1 and found something interesting. Look at the verses starting with verse 16. That one starts with "for," as does 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21. Go down a couple more and you get "therefore" (24), "because" (25) and "for" again (27). Don't miss these cues. Paul is writing a single thought here. It's just kind of hard to follow. So let's just look at the first verse in that string and see if we can unpack it. To do that, we'll need to start with the premise.

"So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (Rom 1:15)

Verse 15 is the first thought ... almost, since it starts with "so." That is, it is a natural result of the previous verses. But his point is clear. He is eager to preach the gospel. Then,

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel" (Rom 1:16a).

That is, "I am eager to preach the gospel because I am not ashamed of the gospel." Ashamed? Why would he be ashamed? Obviously, Paul is aware that there are reasons that some people might believe the gospel to be something to be ashamed of. Why? Remember, Paul was the guy originally trying to kill Christians. Remember, in Paul's own ministry, his treatment everywhere he went for preaching the gospel. He was persecuted in Antioch (Acts 13:50). They tried to stone him in Iconium (Acts 14:5) and they succeeded in Lystra (Acts 14:19) There were riots, beatings, and impisonment in Philippi (Acts 16:22-24), riots in Thessalonica (Acts 17:5-6), and he had to sneak out of Berea (Acts 17:13). He was mocked in Athens (Acts 17:32). He was reviled in Corinth (Acts 18:6) and Sosthenes was beaten. There was a riot in Jerusalem (Acts 21:34ff) where he was arrested and sent to Rome. And, remember, he wrote to Corinth and told them "The word of the cross is foolishness" (1 Cor 1:18). "I am eager to preach the gospel," he had said, "because I am not ashamed of the gospel." Why?

"For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom 1:16b).

Paul said, "I am eager to preach the gospel because I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not ashamed of it because God's power is revealed in it." What power? "The power of salvation." Are there exceptions? "Yes; you must believe." Okay, anything else? "No. It includes the Jews and it includes the non-Jews." When you look at the list of Paul's history with the gospel and then hear him say he was eager to preach it and was not ashamed of it and gives, as his reason, that it was the power of God for salvation, how big must that power be? I mean, if it's a simple thing, it wouldn't be significant enough to overcome Paul's instinct of self-preservation, would it? If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth dying for, would it? But this power of God for salvation is not easy. It is one of a kind. Every other religion on the planet is predicated on "You be good enough and you'll get there." Every one. The gospel alone is the power of God for salvation based solely on faith. Not nationality. Not works. Not effort.

Now, the next verse and the next and the next and so on are all linked into this thought. You can't really stop at verse 16 because he goes on to explain more from there. But the first look here should give you a glimpse of just how big the gospel really is. It isn't minor. It isn't "things are gonna be okay" in simplistic terms. It isn't "Don't worry; be happy." It is something that normal people would be ashamed of but that is actually a visual display of God's power in that it saves people who believe. It's huge! So how about you? Are you ashamed of the gospel? Do you even know what it is? Don't miss it!