“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.” – Romans 1:16
No matter what happened to Paul, he wasn’t going to be embarrassed or ashamed about what he preached. Mobs didn’t intimidate him. Arrests and beatings wouldn’t silence him. Near-death experiences couldn’t keep him quiet. Paul knew the profound truth and life-giving importance of what he proclaimed: the gospel.
Paul preached the good news of Jesus Christ: that the innocent Son of God sacrificed Himself on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins, dying and rising from death, so to that all who believe in Him are forgiven for our sins, reconciled to God, saved, adopted, beloved, Spirit-filled, and transformed. There is no better or more urgent and important news for every person on earth to hear. So Paul didn’t care who or what opposed him and would put up with whatever he had to endure to keep sharing the gospel.
In a world full of schemes to save ourselves, the gospel is the only power that truly saves. For everyone of every nation, race, ethnicity, and prior religious background who have embraced it, the gospel is God’s saving power. We must be similarly unashamed. As followers of Jesus, we too must be willing to be doubted, questioned, hated, embarrassed, opposed, silenced, ridiculed, rejected, and persecuted for the sake of the gospel. Because we believe, we must speak, and what we must speak is the gospel. No matter the cost.