Romans 1:16

For. am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

'I am not ashamed' -even in the capital city of the Empire, Paul would not back down.

'Many. youth who couldn't be made afraid was silenced in life by. sneer or. look of disdain.'

'Even at Rome; where riches, pomp, and glory are held in admiration, where the heights of genius and learning..the humbling doctrines of. religion that demands severe self-denial would be likely to attract derision..'

In other places, such as Corinth and Athens this message had been ridiculed. (Acts 17:32; 1 Corinthians 1:18)

'For' -the reason for his boldness and pride in the gospel.

'the power of God unto salvation' -this much Paul knew by experience. (Acts 18:8) He had seen the dynamite of God at work. 'God's effective means for saving man'.

In the whole Roman capital, yea, in the whole empire, no power existed that could save even one lone beggar.

Let the world bring forth it's religions and philosophies, which cannot save even one soul. The Gospel, is God's ONE message that can bring about salvation. This infers that all other messages/religions are powerless to save, in fact, they actually condemn!

'To everyone that believeth' -just listening to the gospel doesn't save anyone.

'Jew first' -first in point of time. (Acts 1:8)

Various truths are to be found in the above verse: (1) Salvation contains conditions 'believeth'. (2) The faith under consideration is an active faith, that includes repentance-baptism (Mark 16:16; Romans 10:9). (3) Man needs to be saved. (4) Man needs to be saved from something-i.e. eternal destruction. (5) The gospel MESSAGE IS ADAPTED TO MAN IS HIS PRESENT LOST CONDITION. That is, sinners can understand it, man is not so depraved that he cannot understand what God requires of him or what to do to be saved. In the great commission (Mark 16:15), Jesus gave not one hint that sinners could not obey the gospel. Sinful men can be CONVICTED by this message (Acts 2:37). This verse contradict the 'direct operation of the Spirit' theory, i.e. that God must operate miraculously on men prior to them even hearing the gospel, to make them receptive to it.