Devotion 6

Romans 1:13-17

Don’t Be Ignorant

There are some things in life that you must understand. The stove is hot and it will burn you for example. If while in the middle of a fight you end up on the ground and then attempt to bite your foe on his heel, his foot will naturally end up on your face (you’ll just have to trust me on this one). Sometimes the blunt approach is just the best approach. “Now I would not have you be ignorant brethren.” There are so many other ways I have heard that said. However none of them would be appropriate to write within this text. There are in fact several times in the Bible that this phrase is used and each one is in reference to a very important issue that God simply does not want us to miss. I will not get to each one of these areas in this text however I would suggest that everyone that reads this take some time and pull out the old concordance and spend some time learning them. When God says “don’t be ignorant,” what I really think he means is “don’t be ignorant.”

In the case of Romans 1:13, the leap from ignorance to enlightenment comes through the revelation that the gospel has gone to the Gentiles. That is not new news today but back in the day, the gospel was taking seed among the Gentile nations. I have always found the perfect design of God’s word amazing. Paul’s first book in order of placement in the Bible is the book of Romans which is defined as one of the church epistles. You then have I Corinthians through Philemon being the remaining church epistles/pastoral epistles. On the other end you have the book of Hebrews. So at the beginning you have the gospel explained to the Gentiles and at the end you have the gospel explained to the Hebrews. Prophetically you have a wonderful preview of the church age starting with the gospel going from the Jew to the Gentile in Acts with the full transition being explained in Romans. You then have the books representing the church age with the final book of Hebrews explaining the gospel as it transitions from the Old Testament law to the Jew, which is reflective of the state of affairs during the tribulation period once the church is gone from the scene.

Anyway, enough rabbit trailing. Not only does Paul reference fruit among the gentiles, but he also makes three very bold statements concerning himself in reference to the spreading of the gospel thereto. In verse 14 he says “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.” In other words, Paul owes the gospel to the gentiles. It is a debt that he must pay. Not only have we been entrusted with the gospel but we are indebted to it. There are people around us every day to which we owe the gospel. It has been given to me to give to others. You will also notice that Paul does not discriminate when it comes to giving the gospel. Regardless of race, nationality, social status or IQ, we are all equally hopeless sinners without God’s saving grace.

In verse 15 Paul makes his second bold statement. He said “So as much as is in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. Not only does he understand his responsibility to spread God’s grace but he is ready to do the job. He is totally committed to the task with everything that is in him. Like a boxer, he has trained and prepared for the event and he is ready. He has watched his spiritual diet and lifted his spiritual weights so that when bell rings, he is capable of winning the battle for the souls of men. He is as I Peter 3:15 says “ready always to give an answer to every man.”

“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” This third statement rings out in verse 16. How many times have we had the key to release the chained soul from the gates of hell only to keep it in our pocket because we were ashamed of possessing it? We were embarrassed. We did not feel the timing was right. The sad truth is that the primary reason the vast majority of Christians will never give the gospel to another is that they are ashamed. We are ashamed because we just do not want deal with the possible ridicule that may come along with it or we are ashamed because we have not prepared to give the needed answers from the Word of God. The Bible says that we should study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed. I understand that this has a prophetic context, for we shall give an account someday as to how we handled the word of God. But there is also a practical purpose in the meaning. Namely this, if we fail to study the Word of God, we will be ashamed. No one wants to look foolish because they open their mouth and then cannot back it up when the time comes. We need to make sure as believes that we have a working knowledge of God’s Word so that when the time comes and we present his

gospel we can do it in confidence ready to answer the questions that come our way.

Finally in verse 17 Paul concludes that “therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” Somebody passed the gospel to you. It is passed from person to person to person. When a person’s faith fails however, the movement stops. And after all, “the just shall live by faith.” The right thing to do is to live by faith being obedient to God’s call. Although there are many other nuggets that can be panned from this river of scripture, I will leave this passage with the following challenge: strive to be an unashamed debtor ready to preach the gospel to all men as God brings them across your path.

I love to tell the story

Twill be my theme in glory

To tell the old old story

Of Jesus and his love