"I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel"

In what ways might we be ashamed of the gospel? One way might be to teach part of the gospel message, but not all, that is to leave out or water down those parts which might offend people. Put bluntly it is possible for people to teach the positives of the message about Christ, without the negatives. That is to call people to faith, without calling them to repentance. We declare that ‘God is love’ but are shy of warning of His wrath against ungodliness. We speak about the joy of following Christ, but do not call people to count the cost. Similarly we can lose confidence in the gospel being the power of God unto salvation and instead believe, or at least act as if, people will come to faith through other means. As a consequence other things, such as social action or church events can become seen as the gospel, rather than an opening to make known the gospel. In all these ways, and more, people today do seem to be ashamed of the gospel, and have lost confidence in the power of the gospel. But, what did Paul mean when he wrote the word of our title in his epistle to the Romans?

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