Gospel Foundations Part 1 - Ashamed of the Gospel

This is the first in a four part series of essays based on lectures delivered at Daniels Bible Church during the month of December, 2014.  They represent my attempt to faithfully and accurate exegete Romans 1:16-17.  Links to the other essays in this series once they are completed will be provided at the beginning or end of each essay, as appropriate.  My earnest prayer is that this work will assist Christians in more deeply and richly gazing upon the face of God and will provide an outlet for non Christians to perhaps encounter the truth of God's word in a life changing way for the first time.  All scripture quotations are bolded for ease of reference and are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 revision unless otherwise specified.

Ashamed of the Gospel

The book of Romans, found in the New Testament of the Holy Bible, is a seminal work of literature.  It has been called by some the greatest letter ever written.  It is a towering epic of theological discourse from the mind of the Holy Spirit inspired Apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus.  Even aside from the obvious affiliation with the Christian faith, this book is a grand and dizzying spectacle of complex literary structure which easily ranks among the great classics of history.  But when the truth of its position as the inspired and authoritative written revelation of God almighty who spoke the entire created order into existence by the word of His "mouth", gave life to the first man by the breath of His "nostrils", and rules over His creation with an absolute and unquestioned sovereignty, the book of Romans takes on an incalculable value as a source of absolute truth and wisdom for humanity.

And no passage of this great work expresses its theme better than verses 16 and 17 of the first chapter:

"16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith."

Although only two verses long, this passage of scripture is absolutely loaded with meaning.  Every phrase is worthy of deep investigation and consideration.  I am going to take the phrases one at a time, in order.  First we will consider "For I am not ashamed of the gospel".  But before we dive in and begin to unpack that phrase we need to provide some context to be sure our thinking is in line with Paul's intention here.  

This book of the bible is actually a letter.  It was written by the Apostle Paul in the late fifties to 60 A.D. to a church which existed at that time in the city of Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire.  Paul makes it clear in his writing that he had never visited this church, but in verse 8 of chapter 1 he explains that "your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world."  This gives us insight into the fact that this was a strong and faithful church, apparently not saddled with the kind of gross impropriety which afflicted the church in Corinth (see the book of 1st Corinthians).  Paul goes on to write in verses 11 through 13 that he longed to visit this church for two reasons: first so that he might be able to "impart some spiritual gift" to them, and second so that he might "obtain some fruit" among them "even as among the rest of the Gentiles."  We might say that Paul had ulterior motives in his ministry.  He was concerned with imparting truth yes, but the focus of his efforts in this life were upon obtaining a reward from God in the next.  This is what he is implying with the phrase "obtain some fruit."  After revealing his motives in this manner, Paul further explains that he feels a sense of obligation, or debt, to "Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish." By including both the socially civilized as well as uncivilized and the intellectually sensible as well as the imbecilic Paul is intentionally incorporating all of humanity in his view.  In other words, he felt that he owed something to every person on the planet, wherever they might be and whenever he might encounter them.  And because of this feeling of obligation, he reveals in verse 15 that he is "eager to preach" the gospel to this Roman church, with the obvious implication being a concurrent ministry to the general population of the city of Rome itself.

And so we come to verse 16, which is the focus of my examination here.  Paul writes that he is excited to preach the gospel for, or because, he is not ashamed of this gospel.  Upon reading this, two questions come to my mind as needing to be clarified.  First, why does he state it this way?  Why does he feel the need to clarify that he is not ashamed?  Is he just defining his own position clearly or is there something else on his mind here?  And second, just exactly what is this gospel he is referring to?  I will attempt to answer these questions in reverse order.

"The Gospel" is really the core of the Christian faith.  It encompasses and summarizes everything those who have placed their faith in Jesus are to be about and to focus on.  Every believer should be able to explain and defend the gospel from scripture.  But can we all do that?  I'm not so sure.  I fear that in this modern culture of "easy believism" where the popular approach is to dilute all people regardless of their religious worldviews into "people of faith" many professing Christians would not even be able to find scripture to explain the gospel much less be able to defend it to someone.  So rather than simply assume that everyone reading this has a solid grasp of the gospel I will take the time to try to (briefly) explain this central element of Christianity from the pages of scripture.

First, let us examine the word itself.  Gospel is an ancient word that, outside of Christendom, has very little usage today.  In spite of its ancient origins it actually has a quite simple meaning.  It comes from a Greek word meaning glad tidings.  In modern vernacular we might say the gospel is good news.  More specifically, in the context of New Testament historical teachings, the gospel is the good news about the man named Jesus who in the bible bears the title of Christ or "the Christ".  Christ is itself a shortened version of the Greek christos, which in turn is a translation of the Hebrew word mashiyach (or messiah), which means literally "anointed one."  In ancient societies it was traditional to consecrate persons to regal offices by anointing them with oil.  Thus what we have bound up in this word gospel is the idea of good news about Jesus who was consecrated to a royal position.

But why do we need good news?  Is there some bad news that this good news is supposed to counteract?  Indeed there is.  The bad news is that humans as a whole are cut off and alienated from God.  This is because Adam, the progenitor of the rest of humanity, fell victim to temptation in the Garden of Eden.  Genesis 3:6 records the events as follows:  When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.  As we know, this was a deliberate act of disobedience against the express command of God, recorded one chapter earlier in verses 16-17: "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."  On the surface this was a violation of a command of God.  But on a deeper level it was a defamation of His very nature.  Titus 1:2 tells us that "God cannot lie" and Hosea 14:9 reveals that "the ways of the Lord are right."  Therefore God's instructions are right because they are an extension of His character and to violate those instructions is intrinsically wrong and opposed to His nature.  This is the very definition of sin.  And pertinent to our discussion of bad news, Paul himself explains in Romans 6:23 that "The wages of sin is death."  The news for all of humanity can't get much worse than that.

Jumping back to Jesus, we have identified that He was consecrated and anointed to a royal position.  But what was this position that He was to hold and the purpose that He was to fulfill? Stated plainly, Jesus is the visible representation of God on Earth who is to rule the entire world after first restoring a remnant of fallen and sinful mankind to a right relationship with God after that relationship was shattered by Adam as explained above.  Scripture says much on this topic, but very nicely summarizes it in at least two places, both of which we will look at.  The first is 1st Corinthians 15:1-4:

"1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.  3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

In this writing of the Apostle Paul we find the three central components of Jesus's mission on earth.  First that He was to die as a surrogate to bear the punishment for the sins of humanity.  Second that He was to be buried as a visible and tangible evidence of His death.  Third that He was to be raised to new life as a symbol of the hope of resurrection which is given to all who place their faith and trust in Him.  In this Paul is really just echoing the words of His master, Jesus Himself, who explained these things to His disciples just after His crucifixion at the hands of the Jewish authorities and the Roman government, as found in Luke 24:44-47:

44 Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."  45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

In both of these sequences we see references to "the scriptures", the "Law of Moses", "the Prophets", and "the Psalms".  This is referring to the Old Testament of the Bible, the special revelation given by God to the nation of Israel.  Through this body of written communication God foreshadowed the coming of the anointed one who would take away sins.  This is an important point because it lends powerful authenticity and credibility to who Jesus was and is.  His life and ministry was the fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecies, as follows in brief:

• The Law of Moses
• Genesis 3:15 - The seed of Eve will bruise Satan on the head, and Satan will bruise Him on the heel.  Jesus's triumph over sin and death signified Satan's defeat while Satan symbolically bruised Jesus on the heel during His torture and death.
• Genesis 12:3 - In Abraham's seed all the Earth would be blessed.  Jesus was of the genealogical line of Abraham and is of course the great blessing of God given to the world.
• Numbers 21:9 - God instructs Moses to raise up a bronze snake to cure the Israelites of poisonous snake bites.  This foreshadows Jesus being raised up on a cross at His crucifixion.
• Deuteronomy 18:15 - Moses told Israel that God would raise up for them a prophet like Moses himself.  This describes Jesus very well, since Moses talked with God "face to face" and was God's mediator between Himself and the nation of Israel, just as Jesus was to be.
• The Prophets
• Isaiah 7:14 - A virgin will give birth to a son who will be Emmanuel (God with us). The synoptic (or historical) gospel accounts are clear that Jesus's mother, Mary, was a virgin when she gave birth to Him.
• Isaiah 9:1-7 - A child will be born, a son will be given, the government will rest on His shoulders.  This prophecy will see final fulfillment when Jesus returns to Earth.
• Isaiah 42:1 - God will uphold His servant, who will be the chosen one in whom God's soul delights.  God says emphatically in the gospels that He is well pleased with Jesus.
• Isaiah 53 - This chapter describes God's servant as one who would bear our griefs, carry our sorrows, and be pierced through for our transgressions just as Jesus ultimately was.
• Daniel 7:13-14 - One like a son of man is to come and be presented before the Ancient of Days (God the father), and to this one will be given dominion.  This is another future fulfillment prophecy.
• Micah 5:2 - One from long ago, from the days of eternity, will go forth from Bethlehem Ephrathah.  This prophecies Jesus's birth in Bethlehem.
• Zechariah 9:9 - A king is coming, endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a colt.  This foreshadows Jesus's bringing of salvation to mankind and His entering of Jerusalem on a foal, which He did.
• The Psalms
• Psalm 2:7 - You are My Son, today I have begotten You.  A foreshadowing of Jesus as "the only begotten of the Father" (John 3:16).
• Psalm 16:10 - You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.  A promise that Jesus would not decay in the ground, but instead rise to new life.
• Psalm 22:1-8 - My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?  The temporary disruption of the unity of God the Father and God the Son while Jesus was on the cross is in view here.
• Psalm 69:1-21 - For my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.  This is exactly what happened when Jesus was being crucified.  He was offered wine vinegar on a sponge to quench His thirst.
• Psalm 72 - Let all kings bow down before Him, all nations serve Him.  Another prophecy that will only be fulfilled when Christ returns to set up His kingdom on Earth.
• Psalm 110:1 - Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.  God the Father promising to subdue all opposition to God the Son.  Yet another future fulfillment prophecy.
• Psalm 118:22 - The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone.  The Jews, here depicted as builders, rejected Jesus, here depicted as a stone which ended up as the corner stone of the foundation of this metaphorical structure which symbolizes the kingdom of God.

Although this list is not exhaustive it demonstrates quite well that Jesus was unmistakably identified long before His appearance on Earth.  To summarize that appearance and the gospel message He brought; the good news of Jesus is that He came to enable a way back into a right relationship with God by offering Himself up as a sacrificial scapegoat to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind through His death, burial, and resurrection into new life.

Now then, having defined the gospel we need to go back to the first of our original questions.  Why would Paul state his position in the way he does; "For I am not ashamed of the gospel".  The word ashamed carries with it some very strong connotations.  Noah Webster defined it this way in 1828: Affected by shame; abashed or confused by guilt or a conviction of some criminal action or indecorous conduct, or by the exposure of some gross errors or misconduct, which the person is conscious must be wrong, and which tends to impair his honor or reputation.  That is very strong language indeed!  Phrases such as gross errors, indecorous conduct, and criminal action make it very clear that to be ashamed of something is to view it with a great deal of disdain in one's own personal view.

With this in mind it must be said that we know unequivocally from scripture that Paul was quite clearly not ashamed of the message of his master.  In 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 he explicitly records for our consideration a list of the sufferings he had endured for the sake of this gospel.

Paul says 23 "in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without numbers, often in danger of death.  24 Fives times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.  25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.  26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches."

With a laundry list of trials and persecutions such as this it seems rather painfully (no pun intended) obvious that Paul was not ashamed of the gospel he was proclaiming.  He had certainly been shamed on multiple occasions by his life's work.  But if he had been ashamed of it he would have quit trying long before this.  Why would anyone subject themselves to such intense trouble for the sake of something they were not proud of?  They would have to be either insane or else deeply devoted to that which they were being persecuted for.  In Paul's case it is clearly the latter.

So was this all Paul was getting at when he told the church at Rome that he was not ashamed of the gospel?  Was he making a statement as to his credentials to be able to preach to them?  Or is there something else at work here?  Is there something deeper and perhaps less obvious that he had in mind when he put these words to paper?  To answer that question, let us consider human nature for a moment.  We have already looked at the facts of Adam and Eve's disobedience by violating God's specific instructions.  Although technically only Eve's motivation for disobeying is recorded for us it can safely be assumed that Adam was of similar mind as his wife.  And as it pertains to our discussion the key component of their impetus was mainly their own self interest; namely that they wanted to obtain a greater level of personal advancement than that which had been granted them by God.  Stated simply, their sin was born on the wings of pride just as Satan's had been before them.  Pride and the desire to exalt oneself is the key element which led to their downfall.  That sinful condition of pridefulness still infects all of us today just as it did in Paul's day.  Pride causes us to want to be looked upon with favor by those around us.  It prompts us to be selfish with that which we currently possess and greedy to obtain more possessions.  And it drives us to avoid that which might impugn our own assessment of our reputation, namely embarrassment and shame.  

With that point established, consider the words of Christ in John chapter 15 as He instructed His disciples on what kind of treatment they would receive at the hands of the world by following Him: 18 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.  19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.  20 Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me."  With this teaching Jesus is making it clear that to follow Him, to be His disciple, to be chosen out of the world is to be guaranteed persecution caused by hatred.  In the context of this discussion we can easily connect the dots to see that this vilification by the world will result in being shamed, just as Paul was.

These two elements, our sinful condition of pride and the desire to avoid anything which would lead to a defamation of our ego, and the guarantee of Jesus that that is exactly what Christians will face, presents a clear and immediate conflict for anyone who follows Christ.  And it tends to lead unmistakably, if not checked, to being ashamed of Jesus and His gospel which we are called to profess.  Now, most of us would never utter such a thing aloud, that we might sometimes be ashamed of our Lord.  But if we are honest with ourselves, in the quietness of our hearts, we must admit the truth of this situation.  And lest we assuage our guilty consciences with any sort of reassurance that we are OK and God understands, I call to remembrance Mark 8:38: "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."  Woe to us if we are ashamed of this gospel, this good news, of Jesus Christ.

I believe Paul, and more importantly the Holy Spirit who is communicating through him, understood this point very well.  Therefore I am convinced that this was the real purpose in his statement "For I am not ashamed of the gospel."  I believe he was saying, in effect, "I know your human tendency is to feel embarrassment and shame because of the way the world treats you.  I know you struggle with standing up and representing Jesus to the hostile enemy that surrounds you.  And I am telling you to not be that way.  I am telling you to follow my lead.  I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus.  Take your cues from me and my life and let's run this race with endurance and finish strong!"

This is all well and good.  But to people like us, steeped in a culture of self aggrandizement, this may be easier said than done.  How do we reverse a perhaps life long stance of lurking quietly in the shadows of our communities, rarely daring to utter a word in defense of the One we claim to have allegiance to?  How do we become unashamed of the gospel like Paul was?  I believe the bible provides a very clear solution to this problem.  Consider Psalm 119:5-6: Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes!  Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Your commandments.  It really can't get any plainer than that.  The Psalmist is saying, in effect, that if one wants to know how to be unashamed of God and His commandments, and by extension His gospel, then by all means keep reading.  We could actually examine the entire chapter because it is loaded with helpful strategies.  But for the sake of space I will drill down and focus in on and unpack verses 14-16:

14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches.  15 I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways.  16 I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.

• I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches - The idea here is to be exhilarated with lively and pleasurable sensations over the pattern of life or methodology of existence that is defined and prescribed by God, to the point that this is valued equal to every single material possession, experience, or position that it is humanly possible to obtain in this life.
• I will meditate on Your precepts - This means to leisurely dwell in contemplation, turning and examining carefully from multiple angles, the subject of God's authoritative commandments.
• and regard Your ways - The ESV translates this as "fix my eyes upon Your ways".  I prefer that translation because it better conveys the idea of locking a penetrating and intent gaze upon the character, mannerisms, and conduct of the Lord.
• I shall delight in Your statutes - Just as a swimmer luxuriates in the cool water of a swimming pool on a blisteringly hot summer day, the author of this Psalm intends to fully plunge into and immerse completely and totally in the ordinances of God, in such an all consuming way that vision is clouded and obscured toward anything else.
• I shall not forget Your word - What is conveyed here is to adamantly refuse to ignore or cease to care about the speech that pours forth from the Lord.  This is a deliberate decision and act of the will.

The pattern of life that is described for our benefit in this wonderful passage of scripture is one of complete and total subjection of every area of life into the character and under the dominance of God.  Let me illustrate it this way.  Suppose a woman has been dating a man for a few months.  Their relationship is beginning to turn serious.  One day she gets a letter from her boyfriend in the mail.  Upon opening the letter, she reads the following:

My dearest love, lately I have discovered increasing joy over each part of my life that you have recommended I change.  It fills me with joy inexpressible to hear of each new item you select for me to implement into my behavior.  I have also found myself daydreaming for hours on end about each and every one of the commands you gave me last week.  This meditation even made me late for work one day.  I have been so enthralled with you that I've caught myself carefully studying the way you move, the actions you take, and the choices you make.  I've started a notebook and I'm up to page 20 so far with my detailed observations of you.  I'm having difficulty even thinking about anything except what you have most recently instructed me to do each time we are together.  The one thing I'm desperately afraid of is that I might eventually forget even the tiniest anecdote or the most innocuous of words that escape like filaments of gold from your perfect lips.  I love you.

Now, if you were to read a letter such as that what would be a word that comes to mind to describe the man who wrote it?  Liar perhaps, if we take the approach that he is insincere.  But let's suppose that the man's intent is genuine and that he really feels the way he wrote about the woman in question.  Then I think the only word sufficient to come close to the level of commitment on display here is "obsessed".  This man is absolutely infatuated, addicted, and consumed with his girlfriend.  I like the word obsessed here for two reasons.  One is that I believe it sums up all of that in a small amount of space.  Second, because the word obsession and obsessed have definite negative connotations in our culture.  Typically when we consider those words and then apply them to someone it is not in a positive light.  So I think to use them here in view of our commitment level to God causes us to pause, sit up and take notice, and reflect deeply.

That type of deep meditative contemplation is what is needed here.  Because remember, the Psalmist says that by following this pattern of life we can avoid being ashamed of God.  By striving for this level of obsession with our Lord, according to the bible, we can come to the place where, like the Apostle Paul, we boldly go forth in beaming proclamation and fearless defense of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If we make this the pursuit of our lives we will eliminate the systemic tendency that we have to devalue and marginalize the presence of God in our lives.

I trust you will think deeply on these things and seek to draw a full measure of the cup of God's wisdom in these matters, as I have striven to do.

Part 2 coming soon...