“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.”
King James Version (KJV)
1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel - To the world, indeed, it is folly and weakness, #1Cor 1:18|; therefore, in the judgment of the world, he ought to be ashamed of it; especially at Rome, the head and theatre of the world. But Paul is not ashamed, knowing it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth - The great and gloriously powerful means of saving all who accept salvation in God's own way. As St. Paul comprises the sum of the gospel in this epistle, so he does the sum of the epistle in this and the following verse. Both to the Jew, and to the gentile - There is a noble frankness, as well as a comprehensive sense, in these words, by which he, on the one hand, shows the Jews their absolute need of the gospel; and, on the other, tells the politest and greatest nation in the world both that their salvation depended on receiving it, and that the first offers of it were in every place to be made to the despised Jews.
Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel. Hence he is ready to preach it in Rome, in the very citadel of heathen pride and power. If there was any place where one would be ashamed of a crucified Savior that place was Rome in the reign of Nero. The gospel. God's plan of salvation in Christ. Its three great facts are the death, burial, and the resurrection of Christ (1Co 15:1-4). For. He now states why he is not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is God's only appointed means of salvation. The name of Jesus Christ "is the only name . . . whereby we must be saved" (Ac 4:12). All God's saving power is manifested through the gospel. To every one that believeth. The great fundamental facts of the gospel (see above) must be believed, in order to the enjoyment of the saving power. They are embraced in the proposition that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The gospel does not save unconditionally. Belief is a condition. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. The first to enjoy this saving power were Jews. To them the gospel was first offered. But it is offered to the Greek also, on the same conditions.