The truth about “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,…”

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,…” Romans 1:16.

We often hear this verse used in the context of not being ashamed to preach from the Bible in public spaces or being bold enough to plaster posts about our Christian belief on social media. But let's take a closer look: in places where there is a level of religious freedom (like my country Nigeria,) preaching from the Bible and professing Christ isn't something that could make one ashamed. Not many preachers are being derided and persecuted for what they preach as Paul was. Many churchgoers even fear church leaders and and will give you extra respect the minute you tell them that you are a pastor. Bear in mind that it wasn't pagans/heathens and atheists that tried to make Paul ashamed of the gospel. It was the religious Pharisees whose lives were all about obeying the Ten Commandments in order to be godly.

But what really is the gospel of Christ and how could it have the capacity to make Paul or anyone else who believes in God for that matter feel ashamed to the extent that Paul had to express that he wasn't ashamed of it? Even the super-religious scribes and the Pharisees who did their very best to obey the law and do its works in order to get into God's good books (just like many who profess Christ teach and do today) were ashamed to be associated with the gospel of Christ: Nicodemus went to Jesus under the cover of darkness!

Let's see why.

Before his first encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul was a chief persecutor of Christians. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees, ruled by the Law of Moses which is summed up in the words “do good, get good; do bad, get beat.” Under the law, when you disobey, you get the punishment that you deserve. God will only bless you when you keep all His commandments (Deut. 28:1.)To receive from God, you have to “play your part.” No "Freely you have received" here. Making vows in order to get from God was the norm. You have to love God with all your heart... and love your neighbour as yourself, or else judgment will follow. If there is sin in your life, you can’t come into His presence or else, you die.

If there’s poverty, sickness, joblessness or anything bad in your life, it would be as a result of some sin you or your forefathers committed and YOU have to do certain things to make your issues go away. Generational and other curses abound here. You have to do good works and avoid sin/unclean things all by yourself in order to be righteous and receive from God. In essence, nothing goes for nothing. If you want to be set free or receive from God you have to "play your part" by doing certain things that the priests tell you to do, or else hell beckons.

Believers, the above is the doctrine of the Pharisees whom Christ called "brood of vipers." And this doctrine is akin to what is being actively preached in many places of worship today. The only difference is the "in Jesus' name" that is attached to each prayer point. Part-doctrine of the Pharisees (a watered down version of the Law of Moses which they could not uphold) and part-Jesus (Grace and Truth.) Neither cold not hot.

But this "part-Law/part-Grace" false doctrine is not what Paul preached after his encounter with Christ. Paul preached that we do not get God's righteous punishment/wrath that we deserve because Another, our Lord Jesus Christ, took our punishment. See Romans 5:9-

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Paul preached that we are made righteous by Christ's obedience and not our own righteousnesses which, according to Isaiah 64:6 are like "a menstrual rag." Romans 5:19 tells us how we are made righteous:

"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19.

Also see 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Paul preached that in Christ, the law is fulfilled in us but not by us. See Acts 13:38-39:

"Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses."

Paul preached that our Heavenly Father gives us all things FREELY with Christ and not because we know how to fast and pray to unlock the windows of heaven or command the morning as many teach today. See Romans 8:32-

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

No questions about which sin we committed last and no grovelling on some mountain to get our heavenly Father who gives us all things freely with Christ to bless us!

Paul preached that New Covenant believers have been redeeemed from the curse of the law (generational or otherwise) because:

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:13-14.

Paul preached that God’s Grace (which the religious folk of his time saw as license to sin) is a Person and that His name is Jesus Christ. Paul wrote of Him in Titus 2:11:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Christ came to free us from every kind of sin no matter how vile and make us live right. Grace is our Teacher, not you or I.

Paul preached that we are made right with God by faith (believing Jesus) and not by obeying the law. See Romans 3:26-27-

"...and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

Paul preached that if righteousness comes through obeying the Law, then Jesus died for nothing! See Galatians 2:21:

"I refuse to reject the grace of God. But if a person is put right with God through the Law, it means that Christ died for nothing!"

Paul preached that in Christ, God sees us as righteous, even though we are guilty of many sins-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.

But the religious leaders of Paul's day who thought they could be godly (be like God) by human effort at doing things could not bear him speaking the Truth; neither can many in the church today who are specialists in leading the flock on the wildgoose chase of trying to be godly/get right with God and getting the blessing through obedience to the law and good deeds. Nobody would need them anymore like the Israelites did the Levite priests if Paul’s message stuck! Everyone who believed Jesus could boldly enter into the Holy of Holies - come before the throne of Grace to receive mercy and find Grace in time of need. Paul was saying that anyone who believes Jesus Christ and the message of the cross, EVEN SINNERS, could enter into the Holy of Holies (God's presence) because of what Christ has done and live! Not just any life, but eternal life, enjoying ALL of His benefits, and all without keeping the requirements of the law of Moses. This is the Truth that makes free!

But the religious scribes, Pharisees and folk who depended on their useless arm of flesh-driven efforts at obeying God's law to make God bless and cause them to “not perish but have everlasting life" weren't having any of that. They tried to quell the message of Christ- Grace - as their counterparts in the church try to do today.

No wonder Paul was whipped, stoned and left for dead, imprisoned and killed for the message that he preached- this by highly esteemed religious folk whose lives revolved around observing the law and doing good things for God. No wonder Paul proclaimed that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Paul preached pure, unadulterated GRACE- God's undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour.

Bear in mind that these people who were ashamed of the gospel were not terrible sinners, robbers, tax collectors and prostitutes who, by the way, followed Jesus and were transformed. We often think that those who are "ashamed of the gospel" are "sinners," non-Christians and those who don't believe in God but these ones don't even know the gospel. How can they be ashamed of something that they do not know? The gospel-haters who were ashamed of the gospel and persecuted Paul were highly religious, Ten Commandments-toting teachers of religious law that were so eager to enforce what the law says in the lives of others and even execute its judgments, just as they tried to do with the woman caught in adultery that they brought to Jesus. But Christ did not condemn the woman. He saved her from the death that she deserved. He is still saving the entirely helpless (against sin and death) who look to Him for salvation.

Today, the counterparts of those accusers of the adulteress are manning church pulpits and preaching something that is definitely not the Gospel of Christ. These are the ones in the church who drag you to Christ and tell you that you who are helpless and held captive by your sins and addictions will be punished and even die in His presence! Christ sees how much you want and are trying to stop sinning and wants to save you but these false preachers (who cannot cast the first stone) believe that you love to wallow in your sins and tell you that the Lord will punish you for them, contradicting Matt. 1:21-

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Worse, they tell you that there is something you can do by your own power to save yourself and escape God's wrath, as if the adulteress could have done anything to save herself from paying the wages of sin. Believers, beware of such teachers! No matter how outwardly holy and pious they seem, like the Pharisees, they can never cast the first stone. Jesus could, because He is without sin, but He didn't, because He came to save, not to condemn, as it is written in John 3:17:

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Christ saves from sins (Matthew 1:21,) condemnation (Romans 8:1) and the wrath of God (Romans 5:9- "Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from God’s wrath.") It is His gift of "neither do I condemn you" that makes us "go and sin no more."

We might think "my sins are not as bad as adultery and armed robbery" but consider James 2:10-

"For whosoever shall keep the whole law yet stumble at one point, he is guilty of all."

We all need God's saving grace (undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour) that many who profess Christ are ashamed to proclaim today. Many are professing Christ but believe the doctrine of the Pharisees. Believer, ask the Lord to rid your mind of any wrong theology and wrong believing today. He is Saviour.

The Law and Grace are two entirely different covenants. The bible tells us “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” - John 1:17.

Under the law, we see God “…by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation” but under Grace- Christ Himself - He says:

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12.

Believers, we are not under Law but under Grace. These two cannot mix as many preachers of today try to do. You cannot have one leg on Mount Sinai and the other on Mount Zion. You cannot be trying to get right with God by keeping the Law and expect to be saved by Grace. Remember Revelation 3:15-16, Our Lord Jesus Christ says:

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. 16 I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

Don't let anyone misinterpret these verses for you, deceiving you into thinking that being "hot" is burning for Christ by keeping the Law and being made right with God by doing its works. Romans 3:20 says

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands..." and Galatians 5:4 says "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."

The wrong interpretation of "neither cold not hot" would also mean that being "cold" is living a hedonistic life without regard for God's law. Why would Christ wish for any to be this way? Our Lord said:

"I wish you were either one or the other!"

Christ would rather we were hot or cold: totally under Grace where we GET TO have Him as our righteousness and "live in triumph over sin and death" according to Romans 5:17; or totally under the Law in its pristine condition where we have to cut off limbs that cause us to sin and where breaking one law is equal to breaking all according to James 2:10. This way, people will realise the futility of trying to attain righteousness by keeping the law and be driven to His Grace and thus, overcome the world and live in triumph over sin and death.

But this horrid "neither hot nor cold" doctrine is being preached in many churches today! Non-Levite "high priests" are feeding the sheep a watered-down version of the Law ("neither cold") as the standard of righteousness before God, all with no shedding of blood for the remission of sins, while simultaneously calling on Jesus without seeing Him as Saviour to the uttermost ("neither hot,") an effort in futility since such that are trying to keep the Law in order to get right with God have been cut off from Christ according to Galatians 5:4.

These are the ones that say "Yes you are saved by grace through faith but you still have to keep the Ten Commandments and do such and such in order to be really saved or "maintain your salvation.""

Believers, "the Law is not of faith" and "without faith it is impossible to please God." You can never please God or be godly (be like God) with your efforts at keeping the Law, including the Ten Commandments in a bid to be godly like God as Adam and Eve attempted to do. See the forbidden fruit as a type of the law that many are trying to obey in order to be godly in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG.) All you need to do to be saved (including saved from the power, pleasure and penalty of sin) is "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" - the same way the Israelite looked to the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness. They were still and looked to the bronze serpent- for us, Christ lifted up to save us from the sting of death that is sin (1 Corinthians 15:55-57) and the death that follows, and even this we do by grace. Without Christ, we can do nothing.

Believers, as the righteousness of God in Christ, forsaking our own filthy rags righteousnesses from works of the Law and accepting that which Christ died for us to have, God is no longer dealing with us based on sin! How could He when His Spirit testifies to us in Hebrews 10:17 that “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds” because Jesus Christ "our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time." (Heb. 10:12.) Verse 14 says "For by that one offering He forever made perfect those who are being made holy."

Our sins have been utterly punished in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are forgiven in Him, "And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices." Says Hebrews 10:18.

But some will tell you who are in Christ that you are not healed or you lost your job because of some sin you are committing or something your great-grandfather did and you have to come and offer sacrifices of fasts and seed before God can save you! Believers, let's take our blessed brains to church! Matt. 1:21 says-

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

How can our Saviour Jesus Christ who came to save us from our sins use those very sins as an excuse for not saving us? Jesus never first asked the people He healed, saved and delivered from oppression when He walked the earth as a Man what sin put them in their condition or whether they had fasted and obeyed the Ten Commandments before saving them. The people that He healed back then were not even born-again – He hadn’t died on the cross when He healed them all! If you can save yourself from your sins, even after you became born-again, you don't need Jesus.

Under the LAW Deuteronomy 28:1 tells us, “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all His commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world...”

Deut. 28:15 says: “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:"

This is followed by a host of curses. Notice "observe to do all His commandments and His statutes." No one can do it all, "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands..." (Romans 3:20.) Those who try are under the curse says Galatians 3:10-

"Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, “Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!”

Because God so loved the world, He gave His own so to become a curse for us and die our death so that we might live. This is Grace. See the effect of His sacrifice for us in Romans 5:17-

"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ.”

We get to live in triumph over sin and death (fear, worry, sickness, lack, enemies' molestations, etc are all "death begun") not by obeying the Law but by receiving God's abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness in Christ, no terms and conditions attached. With this gift of righteousness comes no condemnation. It is Christ's "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us "Go and sin no more."

Believers, the Letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Apostle Paul who wrote "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ" was not a preacher of the Law or that horrid mixture of Law and Grace that is being peddled in many places of worship. In fact, he said that when you try to keep the Ten Commandments to get right with God, Christ becomes of no effect unto you - Galatians 5:4

“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.”

Believers, it was religious folk who claimed to serve God that falsely accused Paul of preaching that it is okay to sin because of the gospel of Christ - God’s Grace. See a record of their accusation in Romans 3:

"5 “But,” some might say, “our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Isn’t it unfair, then, for him to punish us?” (This is merely a human point of view.) 6 Of course not! If God were not entirely fair, how would he be qualified to judge the world? 7 “But,” someone might still argue, “how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?” 8 And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned."

Many of the religious Jews who believed in God were ashamed to proclaim the gospel of Christ which is Grace and only Grace. The same shame is prevalent in many places of worship today. The spirit of the antichrist is not Anti-God. It is simply one that rejects the finished work of Christ in making the sinner righteous and heaven-bound. It preaches that YOU must save yourself from your sins and become godly (be like God) by your own effort. Same way Eve was deceived into thinking that she could "be like God" by human effort. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a picture of the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil. We see this in Romans 7:8-12-

"Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me."

Through his mouthpieces on many pulpits, Satan is still trying to seduce many into attaining godliness by human effort at obeying the law. One can preach from the Bible in public spaces and on social media out but check what is being preached. Is it Christ or is it human effort at obeying the law and doing good things in order to be godly (be like God) and earn a ticket to heaven?

Believers, God provided a way for us to be righteous like Him and it is not through human effort at obedience. See the way in Romans 5:19-

"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

This is Grace. We don't deserve it. We cannot earn it. But there is something prideful about the arm of flesh (human effort at attaining godliness) that wants to be relevant in the story of our salvation. And so, in a bid to be godly, many eat of the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil. Believer, let's not be found following this thing that Paul described as "doctrine of demons" in Timothy. It is no different from the doctrine that Satan preached to Eve in Eden.

Plus, the law gives sin its power. See 1 Corinthians 15:56-

"For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power."

Also Romans 6:14 says "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." But many have this verse backwards, try to keep the law in order to be righteous and thus sin has dominion.

Paul wrote these God-breathed verses in Romans 1:16-17- "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Grecian."

The Gospel of Christ- Grace- is the power of God to salvation –salvation from hell, sins, addiction, all earthly ills and everything that we need saving from. Salvation here is not just being saved to go to heaven; it is also deliverance from the molestation of enemies and redemption from all earthly ills. It is being saved from the penalty, power, presence and pleasure of sin! The word used in the original Greek translation of the New Testament is Swthria (pronounced soteria) and it encompasses all these meanings. That is our Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew literally means Salvation.)

Christ our Salvation is the Way to living a righteous life, reigning in life and eternal life! Our Saviour “gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.” Titus 2:14. If we could do it on our own, we won’t need Him.

Believer, by Grace, lets not be found among the "do good, get good; do bad, get bad"professors of Christ. The world understands this language and expect us to be ashamed of what we believe: that in Christ, we are righteous apart from works and we always get the good that we don't deserve because He gave Himself for us. This is the message of the cross. It seems foolish and illogical to man's natural reasoning:

"For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18

In Christ, we get the good that we do not deserve because Another, Jesus Christ, got the bad that we deserve, not so that we should go on sinning sprees as many religious people say, but that the goodness of God should lead us to repentance. But many preach this backwards, saying repentance (usually interpreted as human effort at obeying the law and doing right) is what makes God bless us with His goodness.

Judas repented after he betrayed Christ, even tried to do restitution to make things right, but he died. Peter too betrayed Christ by denying Him thrice because he was afraid of the Jews. But Peter waited on the Lord to make him right with Himself: the same Peter, transformed by the Spirit, went on to preach a sermon in full glare of the same people that he was afraid of and 3,000 people got saved. Christ gave charge of His sheep to this same Peter (John 21,) the disciple that failed the most. The goodness of God leads to repentance (a change of mind from wrong believing about God which leads to right living.)

This is the gospel: justification/righteousness by faith. The Lord Himself who transformed Simon (meaning reed, easily swayed by the elements) to Peter (meaning Rock,) He will transform you too when by Grace, you look utterly to Him for Salvation as the Israelites did the serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness (John 3:14-17.)

Right living is a fruit of right believing. Believe Right and you will Live Right!