Romans 1:16-17
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 for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
“Here I stand. I can do no other.” Those immortal words forever changed the history of the Church and indeed, all the world. Because Martin Luther was not ashamed of the gospel, he could say these words. Because he discovered in his study of Scripture as an Augustinian monk the words that close verse 17, he knew before long he would not be a monk anymore. He would be a reformer. He realized that these two verses in Romans are the thesis statement for the truth that Jesus fulfilled the entire Old Testament and that God so loved the world. Now all who believe, whether Jew or Greek, are saved by the power of God from first to last.
From Habakkuk, who wrote that the just shall live by faith centuries earlier, to Paul who wrote it at the beginning of the church, the righteous have always lived by faith. From Abraham, Moses, David, and Elijah, we see faith counted as righteousness. In the rest of the chapter, we see the opposite of righteousness and faith. That is why we can never be ashamed of the gospel in a world filled with such people. They must see and hear the gospel. Let us pray for boldness to speak without shame.
Dear Lord, thank you for the gospel that is for all who believe the gospel by your power. May we be bold and loving as we seek to reveal the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.