Not Ashamed – Confidence in the Gospel in a World of Compromise
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. – Romans 1:16
John looked at me puzzled, “I never would have guessed that you were a Christian.” I smiled, assuming that was a compliment. He paused. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing. If you really believe that stuff, aren’t you supposed to tell heathens like me?”
Despite my convictions about the truth and beauty of the gospel I’d been ashamed to share about it openly. John could tell.
If we define shame as the Oxford dictionary does, “A painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior,” then it’s fair to say shame isn’t always bad. A sense of shame is a necessary restraint against negative or destructive behaviors. A healthy sense of shame can strengthen the will to do what’s right in the face of temptation.
There is even a kind of shame which may be helpful as we reckon with the challenges of Christian history, past and present. A quick word association with the phrase “evangelical Christian” online or with friends will not yield precise theological definitions of either term. Instead, the most likely associations will be adjectives like; close-minded, pro-Trump, homophobic, judgmental, oppressive. These word associations may be pointed, perhaps even ungenerous, but they aren’t entirely untrue.
We have to come to grips with shame if we are going to live lives of Christian integrity. There are Christians who want to be unashamed of the gospel, but who are troubled by the unholy alliances between Christianity and colonialism, racism, and injustice. “If the gospel is supposed to transform people on the inside and teach them how to love their neighbors, how is it that Christians have supported racism?” John asked.
Other Christians who are anxious to be unashamed of the gospel readily admit the complicated Christian history, but assert that the racist, colonialist, or militarist history is evidence of a type of cultural Christianity, as opposed to genuine gospel fidelity.
Still other Christians are so ashamed of Christian history, past and present, that they abandon confidence that the gospel is good news for those outside of the Christian world. Christianity becomes a personal preference, and the gospel a message relevant only to those who might have a particular interest in this particular tradition of spiritual discovery.
What can we learn from Paul in Romans 1 to help us to not be ashamed?
Reflections on Romans
Paul mentions the gospel of Jesus Christ three times in the first 16 verses of Romans 1. His articulation of the gospel speaks to our shame and calls us to confidence and integrity.
The gospel is good news, not good advice. Paul does not present the gospel as a private spirituality for people who are into that sort of thing. He describes the gospel as an event that happened. “Jesus Christ… descended from David… risen from the dead” (1-4). There are, of course, personal implications that follow from this announcement, but it is an announcement of an event that happened, not of a personal or private experience.
Perhaps we need to be reminded that the gospel we proclaim is good news about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (and his call to repentance and faith) — not good advice fitting awkwardly into the smorgasbord of our cultural life. This gospel is globally relevant. It dares to claim that the inbreaking of God’s justice into a corrupt and pitiless world has happened. It recognizes the mercy and justice of God in a crucified messiah. It reveals a messiah who embraced shame to the point of torturous humiliation, strung naked on a cross, stretched between heaven and earth, raised from death.
This is good news for my friend John. It is also good news for the weary activist. It is good news for everybody.
Announcing gospel is worship. Paul sees his announcement of the resurrection of Jesus as the means of his worship and service to God (v 9). For Paul there is no division between gospel fidelity and gospel announcement. Paul’s fidelity to announcing the gospel put him in prison, exposed him to religious criticism, and caused him to be a tireless advocate for communion and table fellowship between Jews and Gentiles. A gospel that doesn’t denounce racism in both word and costly deed isn’t the gospel announced by Paul.
This is good news for those puzzling over Christian complicity in injustice. Where the church has failed to faithfully announce the gospel with integrity, we are invited to repent and to learn faithfulness.
The gospel brings change. Paul longs to share the gospel in Rome so that he might see a harvest (v 13). Paul uses the harvest metaphor, like Jesus did before him, to suggest a gathering together of a community that has received the loving kindness of God and are living out the justice / righteousness of God.
The change that Paul anticipates is not simply a subjective and affective one. He anticipates that the gospel will rearrange community priorities. Rome was decidedly hostile to Paul’s announcement, but he expected a harvest, nevertheless. Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because he knows that this good news is spoken in words, modeled with deeds, and demonstrated in power.
Unashamed
“I am not ashamed of the gospel…” Paul says. Are we? Paul isn’t ashamed because he recognizes the gospel as good news. Our cultural moment needs good news. It longs for wholeness even as it further fragments itself. We have hope and wholeness because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel…” Paul says. Are we? We can’t stop our witness to the world without stopping our worship to God. We can’t detach our witness to the world from costly advocacy for righteousness. If we are willing to see our witness as our worship, and our worship as a witness, it would change us. Paul saw his life and ministry that way, so can we.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel…” Paul says. Are we? The announcement of the gospel brings change. The announcement of Jesus as messiah and lord means that our current political arrangements are not. The announcement of the gospel liberates co-opted imaginations and calls us to hope.
Question: Where are you tempted to be ashamed of the gospel? How might you recover hope? Share your thoughts in the comments.