No Substitute for the Gospel
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
Romans 1:16
Why would anyone be ashamed of the gospel? Why does Paul feel the need to say he is not ashamed of the gospel? Are you ashamed of the gospel?
What is the gospel? “It is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” It is the good news that God forgives sinners like you and me for Jesus’ sake and promises us life in heaven. You would never be ashamed of that, right?
And yet, there likely are times you are ashamed of the gospel or times when you don’t trust its power.
1. When there’s a failure to communicate
One of the hardest things about talking about the gospel is that a lot of people just don’t “get” the gospel. It doesn’t make sense to them. It doesn’t mean anything to them. It just sounds like foolishness.
Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians: “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. “
If there’s a failure to communicate, how can you share the good news? You might think you have to dress up the gospel or find a backdoor way to get there. Convincing arguments and apologetics have their place, but ultimately we have the promise that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. There’s no substitute for the gospel when it comes to changing hearts.
2. When The Gospel doesn’t get anything done
Speaking of changing hearts, one of the reason you might become ashamed of the gospel or doubt its power is because you don’t see any real change. You don’t see any action. And I’m talking about action in yourself or in other people.
What’s the solution? It’d seem that people need to be told. Just tell them what to do—or dress it up as an invitation—and things will start happening.
The problem is that there’s such a great temptation only to tell others or yourself what to do. To bow to the idol of results and to be ashamed of the gospel because it’s not getting things done.
Paul writes about this in 2 Corinthians 3: “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The old covenant was the Law of Moses. The law of “Do, do, do.” What does Paul say happens when the law reigns and the gospel goes unused? “The letter kills.” It is the gospel that gives life.
Have you considered, then, that the problem is often not that people don’t know what to do or that they don’t think they don’t have any good works to do, but that every Christian retains their sinful nature—this sinfulness which still resists the call of the gospel?
The solution, then, is not more law, but more gospel. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The gospel is the only true motivator. Let the law do its most pressing work: putting that sinful nature to death. And let the new person daily arise through the preaching of the gospel. After all, it is the power of God. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
There is no substitute for the gospel of Jesus. The law can’t save us. The gospel does. The law can’t produce fruits in us. The gospel does. Do not be ashamed of the gospel. Lean into it. Treasure it. Proclaim it.