The apostle Paul was on his way to Rome. He was planning a church-planting expedition on to Spain and wanted to visit the church at Rome for the first time on his way through. So he wrote the letter which comes to us as Romans to introduce himself to the church there and to explain the gospel which he preaches.
What is the gospel?
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
The gospel was foretold and foreshadowed by the prophets in the Jewish Bible, the Old Testament. The gospel was the culmination of God’s masterplan of salvation which unfolded over thousands of years.
2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son,
The gospel is all about Jesus, the Son of God,
3 regarding his Son,who as to his human nature was a descendant of David,
Jesus was a man, fully human, descended from David the greatest King Israel ever knew.
4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus was more than a human being. He was also the Son of God. As we have been thinking over Christmas, Jesus was the Word made flesh, Immanuel, God with us. And the proof we have that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, but more than that King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the proof we have is that God raised his Son Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is God’s proof to everybody of who Jesus really is.
Sometimes it helps to get a fresh perspective on a passage if we look at another translation, and here is how The Message paraphrase puts verses 3 and 4.
His descent from David roots him in history; his unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead, setting him apart as the Messiah, our Master.
Back to the NIV as we read on
5 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. 6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Paul, and the Christians at Rome, and every Christian everywhere are loved by God and called to be “saints,” holy people. And God has so many blessings for his people.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The gospel is all about Jesus and the grace and peace he gives to everyone who follows him. So Paul writes
16 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. 17 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.”
The gospel is
The power of God for salvation
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes
We had a whole series of sermons last year on “What is salvation?” Salvation is an umbrella word for all the blessings God gives to His chosen people. In the Old Testament it meant rescue from slavery in Egypt in the Exodus, deliverance from evil and redemption from captivity. In the New Testament salvation embraces forgiveness of sins and escape from Judgment, and new life as we share Christ’s resurrection life. Salvation includes eternal life and healing and wholeness and freedom from sin and death and the devil.
The old question, “are you saved” sounds dated. But it is still perhaps the most important question for anybody to answer. We still all need to be saved! D.L.Moody once said, “If we can get a man to think for just 5 minutes about his soul, he is almost certain to be converted.” The gospel is God’s power for salvation. The word power may remind our generation of electricity or of the atom bomb. In the world of Paul’s time it meant more political or military strength. But the gospel of Jesus’ Christ is God’s power – a simple straightforward message which can transform lives. The gospel is God’s dynamo and God’s dynamite to save! And Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because in it he himself has found new life in Jesus Christ.
The gospel is
A righteousness from God
Verse 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed
Righteousness is a central theme in all of Paul’s teaching. We find that word righteousness 35 times in Romans, and the related word righteous another 35 times! Applied to people, righteousness is talking about that gift of forgiveness and new life which changes us from God’s enemies into God’s children, no longer condemned as sinners but accepted as precious sons and daughters. By his grace, God puts us back in a right relationship with Him on the basis of Christ’s death and resurrection. The gospel offers us that righteousness and all the blessings of salvation which righteousness brings with it. At the same time, the gospel shows us the right way we should be living, and then gives us all the strength we need to live in ways which are pleasing to God. In a passage which literally revolutionized the church and shaped the understanding we have today, the founder of the Protestant Reformation Martin Luther explained it this way.
“I greatly longed to understand Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, “the righteousness of God,” because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous. … Night and day I pondered until … I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby , through grace and sheer mercy, God justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scriptures took on a new meaning, and whereas before “the righteousness of God” had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven.”
So the apostle Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because it has given even to him a new righteousness.
The righteous will live by faith.
17 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.”
Paul is quoting Habbakuk 2:4 where it says, “The righteous will live by faith” or spelling out what that means, “the person who is righteous – will live by their faith.” Here Paul turns the verse around and says literally, “The righteous by faith will live,” that is, the person who is made righteous by their faith – will live. Elsewhere Paul makes the same argument from Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Paul is not saying that we earn our salvation by trusting God. Rather our faith is the channel by which God’s blessing comes to us. Faith is not some kind of good work we have to do to deserve God’s love. We never could earn or deserve God’s peace. What Paul is saying is that we receive God’s free gift of righteousness and salvation simply by believing God’s promises and accepting them for ourselves, not just in intellectual assent but in in a commitment to trusting God which affects our whole lives. Somebody has said, “Belief is a truth held in the mind. Faith is a fire in the heart.” Paul had that fire in his heart. That is why he is so eager to share God’s message of salvation with others. As the Message puts it in verse 5
Through him we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus. You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ!
So Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because he himself has received God’s salvation by believing God.
16 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. 17 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.”
The message translation puts it this way. It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.
Paul first experienced that power of God for salvation face to face with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. So now his life was dedicated to making sure that everybody else would hear the gospel and have opportunity to respond to God’s offer of eternal life.
5 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
So Paul says “I am not ashamed of the gospel!” Perhaps he had in mind the words of Jesus Himself: Luke 9:26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
God does not want any of us to ashamed of Jesus, or ashamed of the gospel. In the weeks to come we will unwrap this gospel and understand more of just how God saves us. We will learn more about the wonderful blessings the gospel brings to all of us who believe, and just how those of us who have experienced this power of God for salvation should now live our new lives.
But for tonight I want us to take some more time to reflect on Pauls’s words, “I am not ashamed of the gospel!” Are WE ever ashamed of the gospel? Are we ever ashamed of Jesus?