The Gospel’s Power
Why rugged individualism is incompatible with the gospel
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For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16 (NET)
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First, let me get this out of the way:
The gospel is for everyone in the world.
It’s not limited to Jews and Greeks. Paul here was writing to Romans, who are neither Jew nor Greek but Latin. They understood that he was talking about everyone.
All right.
So, why might Paul have faced shame? Why is he taking this head-on, right at the beginning of his letter?
Well, he likely wrote this while on his 3rd missionary journey and staying in the city of Corinth. By this time he’d been imprisoned and beaten for the sake of the gospel many times. That kind of societal reaction marks him as an outcast.
What could this criminal have to say about living life?
Turns out, quite a lot.
Here we see Paul encouraging the Roman church, a church he had yet to meet but was hopeful he would someday, to live out their salvation with shameless bravado.
We, too, can be encouraged from this.
How wonderful would it be for people to see us and always walk away knowing we’re “one of those Jesus people?”
Not in a weird way, but in a loving & powerful way.
A way that causes them to pause and consider why we receive so much more joy out of life than them.
So much of American culture is rooted in “individualism” and yet we would do well to tear down the walls of secular & sacred (i.e., integrate God with every area of life: work, social, home, family, friends, fun, etc.)
Something to think about …
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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