Paul boldly declares in Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ..." Why is he not ashamed? What is this gospel (good news) that he is not ashamed of? Many people don't know what he is truly talking about, because they quote Romans 1:16 without quoting the next verse along with it. To many believers, being "not ashamed of the gospel" means "not ashamed to stand up for righteous, godly living. While there's nothing wrong with that, that's not the gospel! Paul explains in Romans 1:17, "For in it (in the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith..." He goes on to explain in Romans 3:21-22 that this righteousness of God comes apart from the works of the law. It comes "through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."
This is the gospel (good news) that Paul is not ashamed of. He had formerly been quite proud of his own righteous performance, but then when the revelation of Jesus and the gospel came to him, he counted his own righteous performance as dung and rubbish so that he could be found in Christ alone. He had formerly persecuted the church for saying that righteousness came from God apart from the works of the law, and now he himself was being persecuted for preaching that. Paul was preaching the gospel - God's righteousness given freely as a gift to all who believe - and he was making a bold, unashamed stand for it.
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