NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL
‘I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.’
What are we to understand the Apostle to mean when he says, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ’?
I. The words may be taken in two ways.
(a) Men may be ashamed of the gospel because of the dislike or ridicule to which a profession of it may expose them. If this thought were in the Apostle’s mind, he would mean something of this kind: I shall not be prevented from holding fast to my profession of faith in the gospel, or from proclaiming it everywhere because of the contempt or odium which I may undergo from those amongst whom my lot may be cast.
(b) Or again, he might mean something of this kind: The gospel of Christ professes to do a great deal for men; it proffers an unfailing satisfaction for their spiritual needs, and an adequate remedy for all their woes; it offers them the forgiveness of their sins and peace with God. It pledges to them the power to lead new lives, to overcome temptation, and to become ‘holy in all manner of conversation.’ Can it accomplish all these things? Will it affect such a transformation for those who commit themselves to it? If not, then they must incur the reproach as well as the disappointment of failure. The gospel is demonstrably a failure if those who embrace it do not obtain reconciliation with God and find in it the power to fight against sin, the world, and the devil. They might justly be regarded as the victims of a fraud, or of a delusion, or of both.
II. But St. Paul could face the issue here, for he knew in himself the power of the gospel as perhaps none had known it hitherto.—For in him it did not merely encounter the dull and stubborn resistance with which the natural heart of man has always met it, but it had to overcome the bitter hostility of a powerful and most energetic mind. It had wrought a wonderful transformation in his own being and character: it had brought about ‘a new creation’; ‘old things had passed away, all things had become new.’ His entire life had been changed by it; for now it was to him ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God,’ even ‘the power of God unto salvation.’ It had saved him already, it was saving him when he wrote, and it would save him at the last. He had tried other methods, and tried them thoroughly; he found peace and holiness only at the feet of Christ. His wonderful conversion and the results which have come from it to the world, are a sufficient proof that no one henceforth need ever to be ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
III. Nor was St. Paul an exception to the general rule; he was an ensample of them which should hereafter believe unto everlasting life. He held most strongly that what the gospel of Christ had done for him, it could do for every one who would but heartily embrace it. And this conviction was the motive power of his extraordinary career as a missionary, as the pioneer of all missions to the heathen until the end of the world. We glory in the belief that the gospel has this power to-day, for it brings us to Christ crucified, risen, glorified, interceding, and ‘able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.’ The gospel of Christ cannot fail to be the power of God unto salvation to all who will but believe what it teaches, and set themselves to do whatsoever it enjoins.
At the same time there is a real danger for us lest we be ashamed to confess before men what we believe in our hearts touching the gospel of Christ.
—Rev. F. K. Aglionby.
Illustration
‘Miss Phillips, of Baghdad, tells of a Mohammedan convert who stood firm under persecution: “A man was converted through reading the Bible at a bookshop of the Arabian Mission. He came to Baghdad on military duty, and was very bold, going frequently to the Rev. J. T. Parfit’s house, and coming openly to church. Of course he was soon arrested and imprisoned. His wife came to see us, and it was most touching to hear her tale, how the soldiers surrounded their house, entered, and seized him. ‘Ah, lady! they loaded him with irons and carried him to prison; the officials tried to frighten him, but he was not afraid. He never denied Christ, he never denied Christ,’ she kept repeating. ‘They threatened to crucify him if he dared say in their presence that he believed in Christ, but he answered, “Crucify me if you will; but I am a servant of Christ, and will not deny Him.” ’ We all knelt in prayer together, that he might be strengthened and delivered from his persecutors.” ’