Pastor Tom Grieb continues our series "Faith and..."

It serves as a summary of what’s to come in the Book of Romans.  Some consider it a thesis statement for that great book.  It was the very passage that revolutionized the life of the great reformer, Martin Luther.  Romans 1:16-17 is a favorite of many.

Romans 1:16-17 talks about the power of God to bring salvation.  The good news it speaks of is offered to all who with faith give their lives to God through Jesus Christ.  It talks about a righteousness that is not our own, but something God alone offers, an offer made possible by Christ’s work on the cross.   This is the gospel, the good news that is ours in Jesus.

About these things Paul was not ashamed.  He was ready to proclaim them wherever, whenever, and however he could.  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel,” he writes, “because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes; first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.  For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written:  ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”  (Romans 1:16-17)