For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
All Commentaries on Romans 1:16 Go To Romans 1
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Paul says that he is “not ashamed,” which is not what we usually say of things as glorious as the gospel. Why does he speak like this, when he exults over the gospel even more than he does over heaven? In writing to the Galatians he said: “God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” How is it then that in this instance he does not even get as far as glory but says only that he is not ashamed? The Romans were most anxious about the things of the world, because of their riches, their empire, their victories, and they thought that their emperors were equal to the gods…. While they were so puffed up, Paul was going to preach Jesus, the carpenter’s son who was brought up in Judea, in the house of a lowerclass woman, who had no bodyguards, who was not surrounded by wealth, but who died as a criminal among thieves and endured many other inglorious afflictions. Since it was likely that the Romans were pretending that they did not know any of these unspeakable things, Paul understates that he is not ashamed, in order to teach them not to be ashamed of Christ either.
