Romans 1:16 ¶ For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth
in unrighteousness;
Ashamed can mean embarrassed and disappointed at something you
wish were not so. It also meant, though, bashful and modest at the time of the
translation, something you held back. It confounded you, as in caused you
shame.
Ezra 9:6 And said, O my
God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our
iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the
heavens.
Jeremiah 6:15 Were they
ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed,
neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at
the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
Job 6:20 They were
confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.
Psalm 40:14 Let them be
ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them
be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
Paul is not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, not embarrassed by it, not holding back, because IT is how
God can save every man and woman who believes and trusts in it. The Jews were
preached to first but also the Gentiles, which is what is meant by Greek as the
dominant culture and language of the Gentiles among whom Paul moved. The just
shall live by faith is an allusion to a verse in Habbakuk.
Habbakuk 2:4 Behold, his
soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his
faith.
He says this again in Galatians and Hebrews.
Galatians 3:11 But that no
man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just
shall live by faith.
Hebrews 10:38 Now the just
shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him.
An important statement is made in verse 18 for the upcoming
religious history of mankind that is summarized. Man knows the truth, is
willfully ignorant, and is judged based on holding the truth he knows in unrighteousness.
Man knows in his heart there is a God, that he did not create himself or just
happened out of nothing by accident. He also has a pretty good, if general,
idea of right and wrong. But mankind, you and I included, usually choose to act
as if God did not exist and that we had no clue what right and wrong were. Paul
is beginning a great argument on justification or God’s declaration of our
legal right to not suffer punishment for our sins because of Christ’s
righteousness and sacrifice and resurrection, the commentators say, and this is
His beginning, establishing the universal, debased condition of men and women
and their guiltiness before a Holy God. God removes the guilt and the penalty
for sin declaring the ungodly to be righteous based on Christ’s actions. It is
most remarkable.
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