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

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24 and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

25 God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.

26 He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

— Romans 3:23-26

He [Jesus] was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.

— Romans 4:25

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

The central message of Romans can be summed up in one powerful statement that Paul makes in Romans 1:16 “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.” This declaration isn’t just a bold statement. It’s the heartbeat of Paul’s letter. The gospel he says is that God‘s power is so mighty that it can change hearts, break chains, and bring salvation to everyone, regardless of their background, status or history. But what exactly is the gospel?

The word gospel means good news and in Romans Paul unpacks the details of this good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world, lived a sinless life, died on a cross, and was raised from the dead to redeem humanity from sin. Paul emphasizes that this gospel isn’t a message of self improvement or moral striving. It’s a message of divine rescue. It’s God Himself stepping into our brokenness to bring us out of darkness and into His light.