I. The Word: Romans 1:15-17

15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

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.”

II. Reflection Questions:

1. Are you eager to preach the gospel?

2. If not, do you truly understand the power of the gospel?

3. Did you simply pray a prayer of salvation, or are you living your life sold out and trusting in King Jesus?

Chapter 1 of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome begins with Paul declaring his apostleship (v. 1), declaring who Jesus is (vv. 2-5), and then greeting the Christians in Rome (vv. 6-10). Paul then mentions how long he has wanted to go to Rome (vv. 11-14). It is the following three verses where Paul explains why he is so eager to go to Rome that are the subject of today’s devotional.

v. 15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Paul starts verse 15 with the word “So,” which I believe is a reference to verse 14, where Paul states he is  obliged to preach to Greeks, Barbarians, the wise and the foolish. “So,” he says, he is eager to preach in Rome….where presumably there are plenty of Greeks, Barbarians, wise, and foolish. It is a bit of a dig on Rome, and it is funny, but any humor intended should not overshadow the word that jumped off the screen at me: the word, “eager.”

Paul knew his calling. He was the Apostle to the Gentiles. Rome was full of people in his target group. He wanted to fish where the fish were, and these were the fish he was called to catch. So, he was eager to preach the gospel in Rome. As Ji Yun stated in a prior post, Paul “is a man who understood his mission.”

There is a group of people you are uniquely equipped to reach, and I am not referring to overseas missions; I am referring to across-the-street missions, specifically non-Christians with whom you have developed relationships. The non-Christians you know are those you are called to reach because your relationship with them and with Jesus makes you uniquely equipped to reach them with the gospel.

v. 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.

 The reason Paul was not ashamed of the gospel was because he knew the gospel was power, the power of God to change lives. That is what salvation is. Salvation consists of justification, sanctification, glorification. That is why Paul speaks in different places in the Bible of us having been saved (Ephesians 2:8), being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18), and states that we will be saved (Romans 5:10). It is the power that converts us, makes us more like Jesus, and through which we will ultimately receive glorified bodies and eternal life.

Paul’s life was Exhibit A. Paul had zealously persecuted the Church until he met Jesus on a road in Syria. When he turned for Jesus, he turned hard, the way we all should. What power could change a Church-hating, Christian-murdering, Pharisee into a Jesus loving member of that Church willing to give his life for what he once persecuted? The power of the gospel. Paul was not ashamed to preach about that kind of power, nor should we be.

v. 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.”

In “it” (the gospel) the “righteousness of God” (the nature of God to restore us to right living and right-standing with Him) is “revealed” (i.e., manifested) from “faith-to-faith” (from the beginning of our salvation journey to the end). In other words, the power of the gospel to change lives (save us, change us, give us eternal life) is evidence of God’s character. But, Paul reminds us, this is not a one-time experience or event because the righteous person must live by faith from the beginning of this process to the end of it. Salvation does not consist merely in a sinner’s prayer, but a life lived sold out to King Jesus.