The Apostle Paul, a zealous Jewish scholar and “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Phil. 3:5), wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Gentile)”  (Romans 1:16 ASV)

Why would Paul mention shame in relation to the Gospel?  Why does he say he is not ashamed?  How does his declaration affect you?

Before we consider these questions,  let’s look at Paul’s understanding of the Gospel:  He believed that man’s righteousness, no matter how great, is insufficient in God’s sight. “For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Messiah is the end (fulfillment) of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”  (Rom. 10:3,4)

Paul makes clear that Messiah’s atonement, alone, provided the righteousness that God requires us to have in order to have access to Him and eternal life.

Then Paul clarified WHAT we must believe to be saved:

…Messiah* died for our sins according to the (Hebrew) Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the (Hebrew) Scriptures,
and that He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve (apostles).
After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time…to James, then to all the apostles;
and last of all…He appeared to me (Paul) also.” (1 Cor. 15:3b-8)

Paul taught us HOW TO RECEIVE this gift of salvation:

“…that if you confess with your mouth Yeshua as Lord,
and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness,
and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all,
abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” (Rom. 10:9-13)

(Please note the verses capitalized are quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures:  Isaiah 28:16 and Joel 2:32)

Paul knew that to believe that righteousness is imputed to our personal “account”, by faith rather than works, would certainly challenge Pharisaic Judaism–the predominant religious Jewish thinking of his day.

He knew that the Gospel, and how to obtain right standing before God, also challenges the heart of every human being today.

Over the past thirty five years that I have known Messiah and studied the Holy Scriptures, I have talked to at least a thousand people, one on one, about the Gospel.

I was not “experimenting”, but I have had a large enough “sample size” to draw some relevant conclusions.

In dialoging with the highly sophisticated and intellectual, famous people and the wealthy, the poor and uneducated, Jews and non-Jews, atheists, agnostics, Hindus, Buddhists, New Age, and those with eclectic beliefs, Americans and those from other lands …after a while I saw that people’s objections to the Gospel fit into basically two categories.

People from all walks of life either stated they have not sinned, and therefore have no need for a “savior”; or, they feel their lives and deeds are sufficient to merit favor with “God”, or a “god of their own choosing”.  Therefore they also have no need for a “savior”.  They had their own “righteousness” and did not need God’s!

It did not matter if they acknowledged God, or the Bible as God’s authoritative word, or were atheists.  Their self evaluations fell into those two categories. They were OK.

Of course, sometimes there was a humble person who knew they had no reason to boast in their own self-sufficiency or righteousness.  By the way, there were rich people who were humble, and poor that were prideful.  Sin does not fit easy categories.

Sometimes, in conversation, people put God on the witness stand for “His record” in dealing in human history, and deflecting the scrutiny away from their own lives and consciences.

In one instance I remember speaking with a man who told me he owned four homes.  He shared how his heart and life emphasized philanthropy.  Here was a good guy.  He was Catholic.  When I explained that even his Bible teaches that righteousness is through faith, and not works, and that his eternal destiny depended on faith in what the Word of God said, versus what his friend the priest said, he replied:  “I’m choosing what my priest says.”

The human spirit is rife with pride.  The Gospel of salvation, by faith in the finished work of Messiah Yeshua, cuts into that pride.  It’s humbling to say, “Your way, LORD, not mine.”  He declared that Way was Yeshua. (John 14:6)  He does not invite us to debate on this.

Many think the Gospel is simply foolish, naive thinking.

Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1 dovetail here:

“For the word of the cross (the Gospel) is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written,
“I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE,
AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.”
(He quoted Job 12:17 & Isaiah 19:11; 33:18)

Where is the wise man?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the debater of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God,
God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks (Gentiles) search for wisdom;
but we preach Messiah crucified (the atonement for our sins),
to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Messiah the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

He goes on, “but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise,
and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen,
the things that are not,
so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.” (1 Cor. 1:18-25, 27-29)

So why does Paul say he is not ashamed of the Gospel?

Because the message of the Gospel is foolishness to the non-believer. It is so “unsophisticated”, so non-demanding in terms of works, and so exhortative, and in fact, narrow– that those who believe, and want to communicate the truth, could feel ashamed at the simplicity, apparent foolishness, and yet boldness of the message.

Though the Gospel is simple, it was no small thing for Messiah Yeshua to “bear our sins in His body on the tree.”

Let us also not forget that, statistically speaking, the fulfillment of the prophecies by Yeshua of Nazareth–prophecies about the birth, life, death and resurrection of Messiah, were interwoven in the Hebrew Scriptures by many men from different stations in life, over a period of more than a thousand years.

This was no simple matter.  It involved kings, and nations, and simple maidens; the dispersion of the Jewish people in 586 BC; the preservation of the Jewish people in Persia; the return to the Land of Israel after 70 years; different Gentile nations coming into power; and, the Romans ordering a census that brought the Jewish maiden, Miriam, (Mary) back to Bethlehem in fulfillment of Micah chapter 5 verse 2. (Messiah Yeshua was born in Bethlehem.)

Remember this simple message of the Gospel turned the world upside down in the first century and influenced Western culture for almost two thousand years.

When I believed this simple message in 1973, it brought to me light, hope and peace, as it has to countless millions all over the world.  It has changed the lives of addicts, social climbers, Holocaust survivors, the broken, the successful, the atheist, and the religious.  There is not a person in this world of whatever ethnic, religious, socioeconomic, or emotional state that cannot be transformed by the power of the Gospel.

Two emotional states have been mentioned in this post:  Shame and Pride (boasting).

There will be no human boasting at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) when those who have not received the free gift of God (i.e., the righteousness of God and eternal life by faith) will have their “works” evaluated– literally judged by Him who sits on the throne.  Unfortunately, it will be a devastating experience for those who have trusted in themselves, or someone, or something other than the finished work of Messiah Yeshua; for as Paul forewarned:

“Now we know that whatever the Law says,
it speaks to those who are under the Law,
so that EVERY MOUTH MAY BE CLOSED
AND ALL THE WORLD MAY BECOME ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD;
because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight;
for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
even the righteousness of God through faith in Yeshua the Messiah for all those who believe;
for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Rom. 3:19-23)

Pride and boasting of self-righteousness will be out of the question.  Every mouth will be shut.  Only faith in the finished work of Messiah Yeshua, His substitutionary death on the tree, will rescue, free, pardon, save and absolve us from the penalty of our own sin.

That same Paul, a scholar with impressive lineage, said, “If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day (Jewish), of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church (he persecuted Jews who believed Yeshua was the Messiah); as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.  But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Messiah.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Messiah Yeshua* my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Messiah*, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Messiah, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith…” (Phil. 3:4-9)

It couldn’t be more clear. Righteousness is by faith.

Paul, a sophisticated Jewish thinker, communicating, at times, to sophisticated audiences in the Greek world of philosophical thinking, was not ashamed to tell men and women that what would free their souls from sin, their minds from oppression, and give them a place in the Kingdom to come, was a simple, unsophisticated matter of humble faith.

Believer, are you afraid of appearing foolish before non-believers who are, or appear, more sophisticated in knowledge, speech, education, dress and/or lifestyle than yourself?  Or are you walking “in the fear (reverence) of the Lord” and worrying what He thinks about, and knows to be, the other person’s eternal destiny?

Seeker, why would a God who knows and loves you want to make it difficult to find your way Home?

Our Heavenly Father wants you in His house, as it is written,

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son (The Messiah), that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world (and its false sophistication); but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16,17 KJV)

I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.

*  I have taken the liberty to use the Hebrew name of Yeshua the Messiah wherever the Anglicized Jesus Christ appears throughout this post. Also, as usual, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible except where otherwise indicated.